The Professor, The Banker And The Suicide King

In 2001, a stranger from Texas descended upon the high-stakes poker room at the world famous Bellagio in Las Vegas and challenged some of the best poker players in the world. At the start, the stranger and one opponent each brought $1 million to the table, betting $10,000 and $20,000 per hand. But after warming up at those stakes, the Stranger, a self made millionaire by the name of Andy Beal, wanted to play even higher....And so began what would become the richest poker game in history. In order to play at such high stakes, the top ten poker professionals in the world had to form "The Corporation" to pool their money and keep playing against Andy Beal and his seemingly limitless bank account. The result was a series of seven games, culminating in October 2003 with a jackpot of over $20 million dollars.But THE PROFESSOR, THE BANKER, AND THE SUICIDE KING is more than just about a few hands of poker. It is a story of outsize egos, appetites, and ambitions; it is a story about the highest echelons of poker playing that very few are able to see; it is a story about one man, twenty million dollars, and one of the most exciting poker games in history.

“'Craig includes enough details about the professionals to allowthe reader insight into their gambler personalities. Havinginterviewed many of the participants in this legendary poker battle,he describes it with an appropriate sense of awe and readers will beawed as well' - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY”

'Craig includes enough details about the professionals to allow the reader insight into their gambler personalities. Having interviewed many of the participants in this legendary poker battle, he describes it with an appropriate sense of awe and readers

Michael Craig, a long time gambler and poker player, has published two business books for small presses and has written for Penthouse, The American Spectator and Cigar Aficionado. He has visited Las Vegas over 100 times and has been collecting gambling stories for over two decades.

• One of the author's sources for this book is a member of the illustrious and mysterious "Corporation" of top-10 poker players who pool their money to play for millions--revealing for the first time the secrets of their games, strategies, and partnership. - Books about gambling sell extremely well, as evidenced by the success of Bringing Down the House (Free Press, 2002), which has 320,000 hardcover and trade paperback copies in print combined, and Positively Fifth Street (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003), which has sold more than 80,000 hardcover copies. - With celebrity poker tournaments boosting the Bravo cable network's ratings, and ESPN drawing over one million viewers per episode to its coverage of the World Series of Poker (held every June), public interest in the game has never been higher. Additionally, it is estimated that more than 90,000 Americans play poker on the Internet daily, with as much as 55 million dollars being wagered on any given day. - A brilliantly told, fascinating adventure story. The Professor, The Banker, And The Suicide King gives readers a view into an exclusive world--one that very few have had the opportunity to witness. - Michael Craig has written for The American Spectator, Cigar Aficionado, and Penthouse.

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