Todd Brunson Wins $5 Million from Andy Beal

January 27th, 2015 | by Greg Shaun

Andy Beal was back at the poker tables last week, losing $5 million in a heads-up session against Todd Brunson. (pokerisivut.com)

Andy Beal was once one of the biggest names in the world of poker.

About a decade ago, Beal played a series of incredibly high-stakes poker matches heads up against many of the world’s top players in the dominant form of poker at the time:Â Limit Hold’em.

Now, it appears that Beal is once again trying his luck against at least one of the world’s top players, though he may not have found much more success in 2015 than he did last time he tried his luck in 2006.

According to reports, Beal was seen Friday night in Bobby’s Room, the exclusive high-stakes poker room at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.

There, he met up with Bronson to play a high-stakes Limit Hold’em match with $50,000/$100,000 blinds, with each player buying in for $5 million.

Throughout the night, poker pro Kyle Loman kept an eye on the stacks and updated the poker world as to the progress of the battle.

“Andy Beal playing HU 50K/100K with Todd Brunson in Bobby’s Room,” Loman tweeted. “I’m about to lose my mind.”

Over the course of several hours, Loman reported as Brunson began to build up a lead, eventually taking all of Beal’s cash for a $5 million score.

Beal Played Legendary Matches in 2004, 2006

The sighting was the first time that Beal has prominently played poker since 2006.

Beal first came the attention of the greater poker community in 2004, when he played high-stakes limit matches against a group of top professionals that pooled their money to act as “The Corporation,” including individuals like Phil Ivey, Ted Forrest, Jen Harman, and Todd and Doyle Brunson.

Losing to the group in 2004, Beal came back in 2006 to see himself go on a $13.6 million winning streak against several members of the player group.

That lasted until Phil Ivey came in to play against Beal for three days, beating the Texas billionaire for $16.6 million before he finally called it quits.

That was the last anyone had seen of Beal in poker circles until last week, though rumors had previously begun to circulate that he was getting back into the game.

According to Loman, he didn’t initially recognize Beal, but was told what was going on in Bobby’s Room by David Levi, a fellow poker pro.

Still, he imagines that he would have eventually figured it out: after all, the list of people playing Limit Hold’em for millions is pretty short.

“Had I looked in there and seen they were playing crazy high stakes, I would have been like, I wonder who Todd Brunson’s playing $50,000/$100,000 with,” Loman told ALL IN. “I think I could have put two and two together.”

Matches Made Famous by Michael Craig Book

As with many people, Loman was familiar with the infamous Beal heads-up matches in large part thanks to the Michael Craig book “The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time.” That book chronicled the battles between Beal and The Corporation in both 2004 and 2006.

The $5 million figure seems to have been confirmed by Brunson in a tweet he made later in which he referenced a trip to a steak house.

“They asked if we were celebrating anything,” Brunson tweeted. “I said yes I won 5 mil yesterday.”