Bear Stearns Casualty Turns Poker Pro With $8.55 Million Chance
(David P.)
With $8.55 Million Chance
By Mason Levinson
Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- The collapse of Bear Stearns Cos.
left executive Steven Begleiter without much of a plan,
so he took his poker pot and went to Vegas. Begleiter,
the Wall Street firm’s head of corporate strategy before
it collapsed and was bought by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in
2008, took winnings from his hometown poker club and
headed to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas that
July. Adding $5,000 of his own money, he played in the
$10,000 buy-in main event, No-Limit Texas Hold ‘Em’s
world championship, and lasted three days, finishing
just outside the money. Now he’s back, fully funded by
poker-club winnings. Begleiter sits third in chips after
outlasting all but eight of the 6,494 entrants over eight
days in July to reach tomorrow’s final table at the Rio
All-Suite Hotel & Casino. Two players will meet Tuesday
at 1 a.m. New York time for the championship.
“I had never even played the main event when Bear Stearns
got sold,” Begleiter, 47, said in a telephone interview.
“I played that first one shortly after that because I felt
like, why not? How much worse can it get?” With the help
of steady play & many lucky flips of the cards, life has
gotten better. Begleiter is guaranteed at least $1.25 mil
and would win $8.55 million with a main-event victory.
The Chappaqua NY resident is now a senior principal at
the private-equity firm Flexpoint Ford LLC in New York.
After graduating from Haverford College outside Philly,
he spent 24 years at Bear Stearns & was a member of the
investment bank’s management and compensation committees.
The firm fell apart in Mar08, brought down by excessive
leverage & large bets on subprime mortgage bonds. JPMorgan
bought it with help from the Federal Reserve.
Went ‘Poof’
“It was a big part of my identity, & then it just goes
poof,” Begleiter said. “And it goes poof in a way that
casts a lot of negative aspersions on the institution
that I proudly represented for a long time.” While his
background at the failed firm has led to some ribbing by
commentators on Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN, which is carrying
the main event, Begleiter’s play has made him a poker
celebrity. He enters the final table with $29.9 million
in chips, trailing only Maryland logger Darvin Moon
($58.9 mil) & pro gambler Eric Buchman ($34.8 mil).
“I’ve been very lucky not to be unlucky,” Begleiter said.
“I never ran a big hand into a bigger hand.”
Hold ‘Em Rules
In Texas Hold ‘Em, players bet on whether they have the
best five-card hand from two individual cards & 5 cards
shared by all the players. Begleiter was in trouble
with 28 players remaining, a 70-30 underdog holding an
ace and queen against a pair of kings, and all his money
in the pot. He paired the ace on the 4th community card
to stay in the tournament. “If I don’t hit that card,
I’m just another guy who finished 28th,” he said.
Instead, Begleiter spent the last four months playing
a lot of poker to prepare for this weekend, finishing
ninth in a World Poker Tour event in Los Angeles.
He’s sought advice from professionals about playing the
game as the number of opponents dwindle, a situation
where he’s had little experience. He declined to say who
he spoke with, fearing that, like him, the other eight
players are trying to learn about their opponents through
media interviews. “He’s always been extremely analytical
and smart,” said Michael Levine, who hosts Begleiter’s
22-person club, called the Newcastle Poker Tour, in his
Chappaqua basement. “To make it to the upper echelons of
Bear Stearns senior management as he did, you have to
have talent. He certainly does.”
Bear Buddies
Levine, who is now a private investor in mortgage-backed
securities, became close to Begleiter while working in
the same Bear Stearns group in 1989. Their club plays
12 times each school year, setting aside 20 percent of
the pot each game for a year-end tournament. A $10,000
buy-in to a poker tournament goes to the champion, with
20 percent of any winnings going back to the other club
members. Each will be in Vegas supporting their friend
with chants of “Begs! Begs! Begs!” whenever he wins a hand,
and hoping to make about $81,000 apiece should he take the
championship.
“It’s good to see good things happen to good people,”
Levine said. “There were a lot of good people working
at Bear Stearns and it was very sad. As sad as that was
going down, I couldn’t be more happy for Steve.” Poker
likely will become a bigger hobby rather than a new
profession, Begleiter said. He’s already learned from
his good fortune. “It just shows you, life is a little
bit like a poker game,” Begleiter said. “You do well,
you take a couple of tough beats, and you have to come
back again.”
.
.
--