Story of the Richest Heads Up Poker Game feat. Phil Ivey | Poker Documentary 

Learn more about our sponsor VIP-Grinders.com and how to get access to $8,000 exclusive freerolls every month here: www.vip-grinders.com/go/poker-bounty

A dealer at my local casino actually was one of the people who dealt at this game. He told a story where Todd Brunson showed up 5 minutes late for one of their matches, and when he arrived, Beal told him that they weren’t playing today, and to show up on time tomorrow. Beal apparently enjoyed playing mind games like with the pros to throw them off their game.

Pretty crazy that he did that well against multiple people who were each rested up and experts . He was his own worst enemy but he kicked ass while he was thinking clear . Imagine if he had teammates like Dwan and Daniel or other greats on his team so he could rest .

100k/200k is absolutely insane, imagine playing for a house every hand and a mansion for big hands

Ive heard portions of this story before, but this is by far the most elaborate retelling I’ve ever come across. Cheers!

imagine having a whole team of the best poker players sweating and losing against you. even if it were only 2/5 times, it's still an amazing achievement.

Absolutely relatable to a lot of us I’m guessing, couldn’t live with the fact that there was a missing piece he could find if he tried, finding out why,how he was losing to them, knowing their weakness and figuring out how to exploit it, two understandings, Andy’s, and the pros.

If you see this as a maniacal billionaire learning poker, you missed the entire story. He's a top tier mathematician, not just a billionaire. He had a theory that risk tolerance was higher in the players, because they had experience.He wanted to see if they would play with the same fear amateurs would have at ricking large sums of money. He also tested the poker wisdom of the time, using his watch as a random decision aid, causing his behavior to be unpredictable , and many other things. He ran an experiment to prove out what was commonly held as gospel in the poker world of the time - lots of learning for all of poker after his work In some respects, he won - pro players could only face him AFTER pooling together. The core premise, pro vs an amateur psych difference was absolutely proven out

Ivey saved their asses, dudes a legend. But man heads up for this short of a sample size is so risky, either side could just run way above ev and destroy the other.

Man this was a hell of a story. Knew that the corporation played beal, but not in so much detail. Really appreciate it, good job :)

When Dan Bilzerian said he made his money playing poker, this is the game he tells his friends he played in.

So this guy took on a team of the best players in the world, by himself and WON? (The first match to 10 million). What an animal.

Andy Beal was running syms before Pio solver lmao

Enjoyed the piece...One interesting note I read in the book but didn't hear here is that on all these trips back and forth between Vegas and Dallas, Beal always flew commercial!

I know that he is the billionaire, but I found myself rooting for Beal in all of these cash games. And Howard Lederer, screw that thief!

There is an entire book about this game; Beal realized a big part of poker was stakes so he ultimately raised the stakes so high he could break them in any given game because at that those stakes it can shake anyone’s game. The lesion is that a large part of poker is the stakes and how much money you have to keep your game stable.

Very well done vid. I have read "The Professor, The Banker and the Suicide King" which is the best-written account of this amazing period of poker history and you nailed all the essential information. Incredible story. Sick amounts of money wagered for sure.

Wow! One of the best poker stories I've heard... Phil Ivey is intimidating and super good. But the Billionaire guy was not a pushover

So basically… PHIL IVEY IS THE GOAT 🙌🏼

Yo this is a great documentary of one of the most epic events in poker history that we know of! Thank you so kuch for putting this all together i remember learning all of this through random snippets on 2p2

Absolute pack hunters. Loved to hear this story, if you read between the lines you get to learn about a group of people who are masters of more than just one game. Really cutthroat stuff, all without any bloodshed. So much respect to "the corporation"!

The irony I keep seeing in these comments with their so called “expert” opinions is hilarious given the simple fact that even if they were only slightly paying attention they would’ve immediately realized that all of these games were LIMIT hold ‘em. I remember hearing about these games during the time as I was playing a lot of poker but this was an excellent breakdown of this story and very well made. Thank you for your work and sharing.

I love watching videos like this. Filled with poker lore and all these stories that people talk about, but never know the true story. Great video. Also, money is basically fake when you're worth 7.8 billion. He could have been playing 10k/20k hands and it wouldn't make a dent in his bankroll.

Amazing stuff PB. Keep them coming!

Thank you for sharing the story ! I’ve heard small talks about this never got the full story thank you!

Very Elaborate, love the chapters. Great job!

This was a damn good piece of content. Kudos

Andy also deserve respect.

Ivey is the GOAT...

Great doc bro. Thanks

Great to hear the full story thx

Great video and commentary!!!

You make great videos , thanks 🙏

Ivey the goat for real

Dude basically just casually invented PIOSolver in 2001. Legend.

Beal was undoubtedly an excellent player but the real test would be to put him in a poker tournament where everyone starts with the same # of chips, with no reloading permitted. He would lose badly to top players in this tournament format. The only thing that made him dangerous was that he could play absolutely fearlessly due to his bottomless wealth.

Amaizing video, thank you !

I can respect Andy Beal, because I see the statician/mathematician in him at work. It certainly was an experiment, but also a test of his own wits/mathematical knowledge against pros.For an amature/newbie to challenge the all time greats and even beat them at all was amazing in itself.Further more they had to team up to bring him down. One by one, they wouldnt stand a chance. Also if beal was a pro they would stand a chance against him.They won because they do that full time.He was running a billion dollar business(which is a challenge in itself) and also playing world champions in the afternoons. Thats crazy. But as a Mathematician he should have known he wouldnt stand a chance agains these guy, but he certainly made them shake in their boots.

This history of poker game here with da pros Andy b did is insane . Cool vlog this is wow

22:04 The king of Apples is my personal favorite card.

Never knew Chumlee is that good at Poker! ^^

What a cool story. Thank you for sharing this. I never knew about it.

Andy Beal has got to be one of the coolest people of all time 🤣😂😎😎😎😎😎 absolute genius!

They only had that bankroll because they were stealing money from full tilt customers

Pretty sure lederer made this whole thing up

Such an underrated video

Am such fan of Phil ivy here

I wonder why Andy felt the need to take on all,of Vegas by himself. I think his zeal and own ego was his downfall..he should have formed and anti -corporation to help him battle. Take the pressure off and be able to do some of the work so he could rest and relax . But a guy like Andy with his ego ,that would not be an option.

For a billionaire he actually took a very hands on approach

The Higher the Stakes the advantage goes to the person with the most disposable income.

Even if Beal lost $10M in a single sitting, it was a rounding error in his bank accounts. He truly has an unlimited bankroll compared to the pros, he would have cleaned them out eventually.

Had no idea Lederer was so good. He seemed so scared on high stakes poker.

Solid video

wow, amazing story, i thought i was gonna see a fish going to a shark fest and asking what's for dinner, but he really turned out to be a formidable opponent... esp. when they get to change sharks every few hours...

Andy Beal prove to be a top poker player, he was able to beat the most of the top players at that moment and he lost against the GOAT

someone needs to make a movie on this

I want to see Andy Beal come back...

Yes thank you so much

This video and several other poker documentaries will be reviewed in the next episode of the Two Fish at the Table Podcast!

I sat and chatted with Todd Brunson in 2013 and he told me about how he was preparing for play Andy Beal Hu for 5 million in a few weeks so I don’t think the story ended with Phil Ivey

The video was amazingly put together, love your work.. also can I play in Vegas at 18 or is gambling age in the US 21 like the drinking age?

the ironic thing is that none of these 'pros' can beat 200nl these days. just goes to show the level of so called 'pros' back then and how far the game has come.

so sick!!

The problem with someone already a Billionaire, like Andy is that the money don't matter. While for the Pros, it does. Theire results are what they live of and by. So all the years of practice and the natural talent can't be "cheated" by having just the money to play, but not the Billion Hands that have done it before you, in your experience.....

Funny part of the story: "Howard Lederer play aggressively"

Howard Lederer flexing so damn hard:)

This Andy Beal guy really had an advanced computer for the time.

Buying into a 3 handed game with your whole bankroll that's only 50bb is one of the dumbest poker decisions I've ever heard of.

amazing story

He is now worth more than 11 BILLION. The Professor of Poker is now The Pariah of Poker after Full Tilt scandal.

and the Phil Ivey Myth becomes Legend

If they played no limit holdem it would have been a different story

Ivey to the rescue

Now Andy Biel has picked up chess and is playing Magnus Carlsen for 500k a game…

This video shows you why billionaires are billionaires, tremendous focus and dedication to everything,

Great .

Ivy ivy ivy 😂

Very interesting video have been a poker fan since mid 2000's but didn't know about this. I wouldn't bet against Phil Ivey on anything!

I remember playing at the Mirage. The two tables on the riser, by the brush station. The inner table was empty at 7pm and the game I was in, was full with about 6 names waiting. 75/150 Limit Seven Card Stud $1500 min buy-in. I buy $3k and after two hours, I was up $2500 and I noticed a few people filing into the main table. An hour later, 7 people let them fly. There were some chips, but they were primarily for the dealer taking the rake. They were playing Chinese poker, ostensibly to kill the time waiting for a few more players for whatever game they were there for. 1 and 2 limit, that would be 1 and 2...stacks of 10k in hunids, rubber bands no extra charge. Just when I thought I stepped up. No, I guess not

Since this is a private game are the winnings taxable?

There's a book about this called 'The Professor, The Banker and the Suicide Kid' fun read

This guy is f🤬🤬kin legend... the best poker pros in the world were just his play things lol

The morale of the story is that Andy Beale suffered too much from lack of discipline and Main Character Syndrome.

@6:44 the pros were already colluding against Andy in the full game, which is why they didn't want to play heads up, except in their own private game. Colluding is easier and safer than outright cheating with stacked decks, marked cards, UV cameras, and hidden electronics such as ear pieces. Colluding is simply playing the single best hand amongst the colluders, who can't get caught doing anything. If Andy was such a fish, the pros would have been fighting each other to play him heads up. HU is the easiest way to destroy a bad player in fixed limit Hold'em. Andy challenged the pros to play him in Texas, but none would play. Neither Andy nor the pros would play in the other's private games, for reasons which should be apparent. The video insinuates the Bellagio was a "safe" play to play, but the pros run the big games. It's Bobby's room, after all. By pooling their bankrolls and playing only their best single hand vs. Andy, the pros can't lose over time. All the pros need to do is use subtle signals to each other, and it's not like several pros have playable hands on the same deal often. Andy never gets multi-way action in this scenario, eg., if one pro has AA and another KK, the KK folds. If Andy has JTs, he's never getting 3 or 4 way action, and he'll be facing something like AQ and not AQ + 99 & K9s ect. The colluding pool of pros split the winnings after the game, so nobody ever really loses even if one or two colluders have bad runs. There's no way to prove pros are colluding except by their own admission. There's no body of "experts" to discuss the issue, as the pros themselves are the experts who never discuss the issue in any detail. In Chess, cheating is taken seriously and measures are taken to stop it, but in poker the issue isn't discussed, other than when it's patently blatant cheating, but professional scamming is never discussed in poker media.

There was no Bobby's Room when they played the first time. Bobby's Room didn't exist until the Room was remodeled years later.

Made respect to Andy!

He was smart enough to know that big bank take lil bank

Imagine that, Phil Ivey being the unflappable goat

100k/200k...that is something else though

It only took Phil Ivey to beat this guy. He should be a pro fo sure

When you the goat 🐐 only other cash game is dwan durrr

have to think within last 20 years something similar has taken place behind closed door completly confidential

Beal had some success against the best in the world, i imagine he,d be pretty darn good against regular,s.

I had heard that Ted Forrest originally turned down being part of the corporation; only to then show up to play on his own dime. This said he had been unavailable. The other members were pretty pissed about it.

Nice story.

Imagine playing in a game where the big blind is a brand new top of the line Lexus.

I’m not sure how I’m going to pay rent next month and these guys are playing small blinds worth more than my car. 🤦🏼‍♂️ *I know people in other countries would say:* _You can’t complain when you have clean water and indoor plumbing_ … but it still blows me away to hear *how much money rich people spend on “having fun”*

Nowadays something similar could happen with pros gathering money to play some Asian billionaire in Macau for like a 50 or 100 million cash game

I have a 3mo CD at Beal bank, had no idea.

So basically Andy Beal was the inventor of the GTO-concept 🤔?! My mind is blown