Michael Craig's Journal

In the last two days, three people have asked me what I’ve heard from Andy Beal, what he’s up to, whether he’s ever going to play the pros again.

So I gather people are interested in knowing stuff like that?

I have some great stories. A few things, I can’t tell. Some things, I have to wait for a form of statute of limitations to expire. (Not a legal statute of limitations!) But there’s plenty there to mull over.

I have never written anyplace about my role in the LAST set of matches between Beal and the pros. The way I’ve left it in print, I had something to do with it, was just hanging around in the poker room, and then I was sitting in Seat 7 in the corner table at the Wynn.

I’ll share that here, but not now. It’s a very involved story and I want to REALLY write it up before telling it. But I can tell you about my three encounters with Andy since the February matches.

I.

Within hours after losing $10 million to Phil Ivey and giving me his lucky/incredibly-useful pocket watch, Andy asked me to deliver a message to Phil Ivey. If Ivey came to Dallas in the next week, Beal would play him at whatever stakes he wanted. But it had to be Dallas and the offer was open for just one week.

That game never took place.

II.

A couple months later, I saw a story about the heads-up match between Erik Sangstrom and Liz Lieu. Because Erik was one of the pinch hitters the group was going to use if Andy got ahead of Phil Ivey (which never happened but was definitely within the realm of possibility), I thought Beal would be interested in reading about it, especially because Lieu won two games out of three.

I sent him a link to the article on May 10. The next day, this is what he wrote back, in its entirety:

Mike: thanks but no interest –i’m devoting my time to other things and am afraid to even read it because then i’ll start thinking about it and that can be dangerous –best regards –andy

I thought that was a fascinating little note. I’ll let psychologists, poker nuts, and Kremlinologists mull that over.

III.

So many people asked me during the World Series whether Beal was coming to town - pros because they thought he purposely timed his visits to coincide with the Series, so they would be worn out from playing events or disorganized juggling his game with all their other activities during the tournament, and others because they thought he should PLAY the main event - that I e-mailed him in early August about an offer he made the previous fall.

A couple pros and I were playing poker with him - that’s a long story that I will share PART OF sometime - when he revealed that he has gotten the auto racing bug. He bought a couple street-legal Z05 (is that the name? People who know will know what I mean.) Corvettes and was customizing them for racing. He wasn’t going to enter them in racing events, but ride them on a private track with some friends and family. He eventually was going to get rid of the Corvettes - he didn’t like how they were modified - and buy actual race cars.

He invited me and the two pros in the game to join him and race cars sometime. It was undoubtedly a sincere offer and we discussed it frequently, but hadn’t been able to follow up.

I knew he wasn’t coming to Vegas during the Series. It was just a coincidence that he made trips to Vegas during the 2003 and 2004 Series, and the 2006 Series (or a lot of it) coincided with an extended annual family trip to the Midwest. I e-mailed him about the interest regarding his absence, and to ask if we were actually going to go driving.

Andy wrote back the next day with information about the track we would be driving in - my ringer, a race-driver/Southern belle/comic book model/penpal named Bobbie had asked me for the track layout, to help me develop a game plan - and said he would be gone the rest of August and we should make contact about dates that were convenient (and the track was available) for him, me, and the two pros.

I haven’t heard from him during September, but I haven’t pressed it. I’m so busy finishing this book that I can’t take the time out to visit him, drive cars, and play some friendly poker. One of the pros had mentioned taking a race-driving class and I certainly wouldn’t have time to join in that effort.

When the book’s done, I’ll follow up. I’m certain, unless the track season ends early, that we’ll be racing cards, playing poker, and pontificating on what went right against the pros, what went wrong, why Andy will never play them again, and why he might.

Now you are up to date, though things can change. I value my friendship with Andy Beal so there are certain things that I’d never disclose. But otherwise, keep your ear out.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 26th, 2006 at 7:18 pm and is filed under Categorized.