Andy Beal

1. A billionaire Texas banker who challenged the best poker players in the world to ultra-high-stakes heads-up matches from 2001-2004.

How it Went Down

At the beginning of the century, Andy Beal issued a challenge to the elite poker population--players such as Jennifer Harman, Todd and Doyle Brunson, Ted Forrest, Phil Ivey and others--to play heads-up limit Texas Hold 'Em for stakes that were previously unheard-of.

In order to come up with the money necessary to battle such a well-bankrolled man, these players formed a syndicate, known as "The Corporation," to pool funds. The individual players then took turns playing Beal heads-up with varying results.

The stakes reached such outrageous amounts as $100K/$200K limit hold 'em. The story was detailed in a 2005 book by Michael Craig, The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time.

101 Andy Beal Jokes

Jokes on internet message boards regarding Andy Beal became fairly commonplace in response to such questions as, "Who is the wealthiest poker player alive?"

Another very hilarious comment made on 2+2 message boards revolves around the fact that Beal almost certainly has a bankroll that is "greater than one million dollars." This is considered rather funny in most contexts, since it is well known that Beal's "bankroll" is well over 1000x greater than "one million dollars."