Andy Beal v. The Corporation: The Saga Continues

If you aren’t following the latest on Andy Beal’s stratospheric-stakes, heads-up, limit-hold’em matches against The Corporation, well, you’re missing out on the makings of a very entertaining follow-up to The Professor, The Banker and The Suicide King, the book by Michael Craig that chronicled the most expensive poker game ever played.

The brainy billionare Beal, who’s made some serious bucks in banking, real estate and poker and has lost some serious bucks in wacky space exploits and poker, came back to Vegas recently to take on the Corporation (a consortium of top cash players including Doyle Brunson, Chip Reese, Todd Brunson, Jennifer Harman, Howard Lederer, Chau Giang, Barry Greenstein, Ted Forrest, Gus Hansen, Ming La, Phil Ivey, and Johnny Chan).

This time at the Wynn and starting Super Bowl weekend, Beal and members of The Corporation fought a seesaw battle of $50k-$100k limit-hold’em, with Beal out ahead until Ted Forrest got the best of him, as well as $5 million. A drop in the bucket to a billionare, Beal surprisingly declared that he was “done with poker for good” soon after his losing session against Forrest. As many expected though, including Lou Krieger, who predicted Beal’s return on his blog, the billionare was back in Vegas just 5 days after his announcement, and most recently was going heads-up against Jennifer Harman.

For those looking to catchup, here’s how it has played out, via CardPlayer‘s coverage, since September 2004, just a few months after the famed Bellagio series of $100k-$200k limit-hold’em:

– Sept. 2004 – Frustrated with the fish tales being told, Beal makes an offer to the Corporation for a rematch.

– Oct. 2004 – Doyle responds on behalf of the Corporation, saying ‘Let’s Play an $80 Million Freezeout!’

– Nov. 2005 – Mediator Barry Shulman proposes a compromise.

– April 2005 – Beal accepts Brunson’s counter . . . almost.

– Feb. 2, 2006 – A deal has been struck and Beal is back to take on the Corporation.

– Feb. 10, 2006 – Andy Beal announces “he’s done with poker for good.”

– Feb. 11, 2006 – 5 days later, Andy Beal unretires and heads back to Vegas.

– Feb. 12, 2006 – Beal v. The Corporation continues.