The Big Game with Andy Beal:

I had the feeling that Andy would be in the room and I would get a chance to visit with him. I had my business card out, with my phone # on the back in my shirt pocket, wanting to hand it to him in the event he would give me a ‘poker interview’. My intuition paid off. I crossed his path as he was heading for his room, he was alone and had his baseball cap, upside down, like a bowl, cupped in his hands. He looked horribly dejected and I was sure what was left of his chips from today’s play were carried in the cap. Yesterday he needed security to escort him and the ‘carrying tray’ to the Casino Cage, today he could carry it in his cap. Ugh!

I stopped him as he was oblivious to anyone walking by. He said ‘hello’ and explained that he’d had one of the worst days ever. I asked him if he would give me a poker interview, not on his wins or losses, but just the general on why he started playing, how he felt about it, etc.

He said he would if he had anything exciting to talk about but he felt that he might never play again. He said Gabe Kaplan had caught every card he needed, no matter what it was, and beat him up.

I agreed that poker could be pretty brutal and that it was hard to overcome some of mental stress involved in playing.
He agreed and said that he was thinking about giving it up and just going back to banking because that was something he understood.
I pursued the interview, he hemmed and hawed, I followed with, “Not right now then, it’s not a good idea!”

He agreed, he took my card and dropped it into his hat. He continued with how badly he’d been beat and he just couldn’t believe it.

I told him I was rooting for him. I understood how much the game could affect a person mentally. I then said, “Well give me a hug, I’ve got to go to work.”

He did give me a hug and told me to have a good night.