Online Poker

According to the Public Relations Department of Beal Banks, Andy Beal will no longer be playing poker. In a phone call to the Texas billionaire’s office this afternoon, Beal’s PR representative stated for the record: “Andy Beal will not be participating in the 2006 NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship (NHUPC) and he’s done with poker for good.”

Beal is the banker, real estate developer, and mathematical theorist who established fame, but not fortune, when he repeatedly challenged the elite of the poker world. Last week he appeared at the Wynn in Las Vegas for a five-day session of heads-up matches against the Corporation; a team of professional poker players who aggregate their money and match it against his in a spirited game of limit Texas hold’em.

The Corporation put $10 million up against Beal’s $20 million and the game was a $50,000-$100,000 limit hold’em, heads-up challenge. After five days the match ended -- apparently for good -- only moments before the Superbowl.

The burgeoning aerospace entrepreneur suffered a loss to his bankroll, and possibly his ego, during the 2005 match, but Beal appeared confident and ready for a new challenge in 2006. He was ahead approximately $2 million, until Ted Forrest went up to bat and brought his team back for a win of over $3 million in the end.

That must have been the last straw for Beal. He had already accepted his invitation to participate in the NBC event, even before he returned to Las Vegas to face off with The Corporation. Upon returning home to Dallas, Texas he apparently changed his mind.