Michael Craig's Journal

Days of Steve Wynn, Picasso, Beal, Hansen, Forrest … and Me

One of the fringe benefits of the Andy Beal games and my proximity to them is that I got to meet Steve Wynn. I saw a story today about Wynn that I had to share, and use as an excuse to tell my Wynn story and a few other details.

According to Reuters,Â Steve Wynn, owner of Wynn Las Vegas, recently sold “Le Reve,” a 1932 Picasso masterpiece and the inspiration for his eponymous resort (which he had originally planned to name “Le Reve” which means “the dream”), for $139 million. He was showing the painting to a friend in his office when he accidentally put his elbow through the canvas, creating a finger-sized hole. He released the buyer from the sale and is going to keep the painting and repair it.

I saw the painting earlier this year at Wynn’s gallery. It’s supposed to be Picasso’s mistress. Am I the only one who noticed that it’s a painting of a six-fingered woman masturbating? Or that her head, tipped on her right shoulder, makes her left eye and cheekbone look like a penis? I’ve read breezy explanations of about the painting, but no one wants to come out and say these rather obvious things.I met Steve when Andy Beal was playing Ted Forrest back in February, the day after an epic match I have called, variously, The War of Two Furies or The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Beal had Forrest pinned down at the beginning of the previous day. Ted won $8 million, and then Andy won it back. Early the next day, they played again.That day, February 15, 2006, should be marked on poker calendars as The Day Andy Won. Ted Forrest started the day with $3.8 million in chips, the remnants of $10 million raised by 20 of the world’s best poker players just 4 days before. In less than 4 hours, it was gone.

Here’s a picture I snapped of Ted Forrest’s end of the table early in the day. I call it Bagel & Chips.

But I’ll remember that day for a lot of other reasons.First, Gus Hansen showed up about 40 hands into the match. It was the first time I had met Gus. The wayÂ I would sometimes see some the pros HUNGER to play Andy was how Andy looked at the prospect of playing Gus. He greeted Gus warmly and said, “I still remember the last time we played [which was the only time they had played], like it was yesterday. It was like aÂ war.” Almost as if Hansen had Crazy Fairy Dust with him, both Andy and Ted started playing much more aggressive. Gus hung around for a few minutes and disappeared.

Second, a half-hour later, Steve Wynn appeared. He introduced himself to Andy and Ted. (He had met Beal before but, even though Beal Bank led a bank syndicate that financed construction of the resort, they didn’t know each other well.) First, he delivered The Benediction. He talked about how Forrest and Beal were engaged in the purest form of gambling and how much he admired their spirit. He said it was the most remarkable thing that has happened on one of his properties in his 37 years in the casino business. Then he sat down (in my seat, so I took seat 8, to his left) and we whispered about the game for about 20 minutes.

Even if Steve Wynn was putting on a show, it was an AWESOME show. I was mesmerized by the man. If he had told me that it would increase his profits by 3% of that pesky Venetian wasn’t such an eyesore, I’d have charged out the door and dismantled the place, brick by brick. Steve Wynn is really an impressive guy, even if you’re a cynic.

Even though he didn’t have any assistants or bodyguards attending him (and he was on crutches from, I believe, knee surgery), it was pretty clear to me that he was almost blind. Whether for vanity or pride, he doesn’t make compromises based on his vision. I admire his determination, but I feel a little sad for him. Not sad for his condition, but that he feels he has to hide it.

After he sat down, Andy won a couple hands and said, “You must be good luck for me Steve. I won 2 hands in a row.”

Ted Forrest, the coolest customer on earth, said, “You’ve won 2 hands in a row before, Andy. I think you won 10 hands in a row earlier.”

Even Andy Beal was awed by Steve Wynn’s presence. He was a little uncomfortable maintaining his “brick wall” image and trying to talk with Wynn.Â Beal lost a little and told me later that he felt bad that Steve might have left because he believed he was hurting Andy’s game.

Third, after Andy won, there was general and predictable chaos. Forrest had to field a bunch of calls. Andy expected they’d immediately put up some more money and continue, which was what he wanted. The other pros had all left for L.A. for a WPT event starting the next day.Â Andy almost followed them. After things settled down a bit, Gus Hansen re-appeared.

I wrote this in a draft of the BLUFF articles, but had to cut it for space considerations. I wanted to call the section, “Who Was That Bald Man?”

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Only minutes after Ted Forrest left the Wynn poker room, Gus Hansen returned. Andy is very fond of Gus and it’s hard not to be. Hansen personifies all the things that are fun about gambling: bravado, child-like joy, daring, indifference bordering on recklessness about money. (I heard a story about a high-stakes game in which Gus missed the beginning of a triple-draw hand, got the permission of the other players to play a discarded hand, called two raises, drew five cards, and pulled down a huge pot.)

Gus told Andy that he thought he could raise the $10 million to continue the match and would call Beal in his room at the Wynn by 5 PM. Was this new bankroll coming from the same players from whom Andy had just won $10 million? From different players? From a splinter group?

Beal, still in the euphoria that comes with winning $10 million, wanted to know if it was worth it for him to hang around the Wynn, waiting.

“I like math,” Gus said, “and I think there is a 72.9% probability that I can raise the money by 5 PM.”

That was the last anyone saw or heard from Gus Hansen.

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All afternoon, I had to field calls from Andy Beal, asking if I heard from Gus, if I could try to reach Gus, if I thought Gus would raise the money, if he should stick around for Gus. Then I had to call all the players I knew who knew Gus to see if I could reach him. No one had his number. One pro said, “He’s playing at the Commerce. Call the poker room.” This was only an hour after I saw him at the Wynn.

No one ever explained to me what happened from all this.