Michael Craig's Journal

*I wrote this entry on July 1, as soon as Linda Geenen told me that Pokerworks.com was going to hire me to write a blog. I started with some goals and background, and finished with what I hope is a BANG: the identity of the suicide king in my book, The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time. I had guarded the person I was referring to for reasons explained below, and I now recognize that I can tell the secret.*

Party Animal

I have become very popular at parties over the last two years. I tell stories about my experiences with the best poker players in the world, both what I see and what they tell me. Almost always, someone will say, “You sure lead a fascinating life.”

“I actually lead a boring life,” I tell them. “But I know people who lead fascinating lives.”

That’s what ‘Michael Craig’s Journal’ is about: the lives and games of some very unusual and very talented man and women who have become famous for their ability to play poker. What you are reading is my actual journal, or entries based on notes written in my journal. I am always taking notes, collecting stories, keeping track of ideas. Now you’ll see those notes, stories, and ideas.

Me, Me, and More Me

My name is Michael Craig. I am a 47 year-old retired lawyer. I live with my wife and three children in Scottsdale, Arizona. I have written three books. Many people connected with poker are familiar with the third book, ‘The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time’.
I conceived of the book while on a trip to Las Vegas in October 2003, preliminarily researched it and sold it to Warner Books in May 2004, then did the principal research and writing during the Summer and Fall of 2004. It was published on the first day of the 2005 World Series. It received excellent reviews, sold over 40,000 copies in hardcover, and was released in paperback about a month ago.

The most valuable benefit from writing that book has been the relationships I developed. But I got so much more: an opportunity to write one of the great all-time poker profiles (three parts, nearly 10,000 words, on Ted Forrest, in Card Player); a column at Card Player (from which I have since been fired); an opportunity to write one of the great all-time reporting stories about poker (about Andy Beal’s 2006 games against the pros, for BLUFF, two parts, nearly 20,000 words); a column at BLUFF (from which I have not been fired yet, but I easily could be); a contract to co-write and edit ‘The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide: Tournament Edition’ (which will come out at the beginning of the 2007 World Series of Poker).

Then, of course, there is this blog. Other than my last book and my next one, I’ve been all about keeping tabs on my friends in poker and sharing my experiences and theirs. Having a forum to do that is a great opportunity. A giant added bonus is that I’m working for Linda Geenen, who conceived of Pokerworks.com and still runs it and continues to produce what I think is the best blog ever written about poker, Table Tango.

I owe you so much, Linda, but I’m gunning for you!

I was also pleased to hear that Craig Cunningham is going to be writing a blog for Pokerworks.com. I met Craig just last week at the World Series and I like him a lot. Smart, knowledgeable, no foul stench. And when we were working in the media room, he not only watched my stuff to make sure no one stole it while I was away, but he didn’t steal it himself.

What I’d like this blog to do is become a primo destination for people who want to read the inside stuff about the lives and games of the world’s best poker players.

Some of the Good Stuff: Midnight with the Suicide King

I have been asked by at least 20 interviewers and 200 readers of the book, “Who is the suicide king?” Obviously, the banker is Andy Beal, the billionaire who started the biggest poker game of all time. The professor is Howard Lederer, who was nicknamed that by the announcers of the WPT while he was winning two of the first five events.

I have always kept the identity of the suicide king a secret.

Until now.

Here is my (prior) answer: On one level, the reference is to the king of hearts, who is sometimes called the suicide king because he holds a broadsword at (or behind) his head. A number of players have read the book and thought they were the suicide king. Others have guessed other top players. Howard Lederer suggested that they are all suicide kings (and queens), walking that thin line between great success and self destruction.

OK, it’s really Ted Forrest.

A lot of people figured that out, because Ted is one of the main characters, especially in the first part of the book, and his fearlessness made him phenomenally successful and also a great candidate for self destruction. But I never acknowledged that, and here is why.

The original title of the book was going to be The Big Game. It sounded similar to A. Alvarez’s ‘The Biggest Game in Town’ and a little like Anthony Holden’s ‘Big Deal’. I liked that because I considered those among the best poker books ever written. I considered it a tribute to those giants to name my book “big”. With the success of ‘Positively Fifth Street’, however, Warner Books wanted a more “literary” title.
I gave them a list of about thirty titles. My favorite was what I call my “American Pie” of titles, after the Don McLean song. Like that classic 1971 ballad, I wanted to throw in the kitchen sink with references. The title was ‘The Banker, the Professor, the Bulldog, the Goddess of War, and the Suicide King’.

The banker: Andy Beal.

The professor: Howard Lederer.

The bulldog: Todd Brunson (who had such great success against Beal that other players described him or his style with these terms: bully, bull, bulldoze).

The goddess of war: Jennifer Harman. (Also, the queen of diamonds, as the only armed queen, was supposedly patterned after Athena, the Greek goddess of war.)

The suicide king: Ted Forrest, and the king of hearts.

Warner loved it, but they wanted it shorter and they wanted the professor to go first. ‘The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King’ was born. My apologies to Jennifer Harman and Todd Brunson, who were certainly interesting enough and accomplished enough to have my made-up nicknames for them appear in the title, but this combination ’sounded’ best.

One of the first people I shared the title with was Eric Drache. We had spoken several times on the phone and finally met in L.A. during the 2004 Bicycle Club WPT event. Phenomenal guy who has lived a remarkable life.

He asked me the title and, because I came up with it just a couple days before, I explained all the references. When I explained how Ted was the suicide king, he frowned.

“Have you told this to Ted? I don’t think he’d like it very much.”

The second-to-last thing I wanted to do in the world was have Ted unhappy with the project. But because the last thing was to give up that title, I decided I’d just not tell Ted (or anyone else) the identity of the suicide king.

I have since seen Ted embrace the persona of the suicide king. I admit that I tired to steer him in that direction by titling the first part of the three-part ‘Card Player’ profile “The Education of a Suicide King.”

When Ted’s business partner and girlfriend Roxanna showed me the photos shot for the cover of the May issue of Poker Pro, I knew it was cool to spill the beans. The cover shot shows Ted balancing the king of hearts on his forefinger.

The last time I saw Ted, a couple weeks ago at Roxanna’s house – a meeting that started at 10:30 PM and didn’t end until after 3:30 AM – I told Ted the story of the suicide-king title and my reluctance to confront him about it.

His response was typically nonchalant: “I think I have a pretty thick skin.”

This entry was posted on Friday, July 21st, 2006 at 3:43 am and is filed under My favourites:.