Sklansky thread

I'm not sure what the answer would be. But I'm certain that during his last year of life, he wasn't able to think well enough to win at poker no matter what the stakes. In fact, during his last year, he couldn't stay awake at the poker table.

In fact, it was quite sad watching him. I and another friend would try to play in his game just to keep him awake so he wouldn't hold up the game.

Not quite. He always thought he could beat the games no matter what the stakes. However, some of his small stakes play, and this goes back a couple of years when we were working on the small stakes book, was for exactly that purpose.

Thanks. Much appreciated.

I also want to add that this website was essentially the only place where problems in the poker world could be openly discussed in a professional manner, and all opinions were welcomed. As an example, does anyone remember the CEO Poker Tour. (I think that's what its name was.)

Could he have played away all his money if he thought he could still beat any stakes? Guess you only need a few nights for that.

I doubt it.

But speaking hypothetically, there are many ways you can quickly lose all your money. My guess is high speculation in the stock market and/or poor business ventures are most likely.

The way poker players go broke is usually not losing their bankroll in a high stakes game, like in the movies. It isn't like you have a skill or government job or whatever which pays so much. If you don't make much, you go broke paying expenses. If you think you can beat any stakes, then you won't realistically work out what you can beat. That is a big disconnect: thinking you can beat any stakes and not making much. If you go 20-30 years without making money from poker, you could maybe go broke. I don't know what kind of assets he had in 2000 or so though.

His health and financial problems do also sound like something out of a novel or movie. A curse of Brandi.

Me too, although it is pathetic, pitiful, tragicomic, horrible, inexcusable, and stupid.

I remain baffled how a man who had been in Las Vegas since the early 70s, knew everyone who was anyone in the gambling business, spent years working closely with/for Bob Stupak, and was a partner in a very respected & successful publishing company, could possibly have been reduced to this. His mental illnesses must’ve been far worse than anyone other than Mat or Mason suspected.

I still can’t understand how a man who must’ve met hundreds of young women very similar to Brandi in his prior four decades in Las Vegas, could’ve gotten so obsessed with her. Monstrous ego & narcissism,

David’s health & financial problems were caused by Brandi about as much as Brandi’s suicide was caused by David.

What happened to 2p2? It used to be beautiful. You couldn’t swing a dead mouse around without seeing a smug “correlation /= causation” post.

One thing you DIDN’T see much of back then were white knights trying to defend Brandi—here, there, or anywhere.

FWIW Johnny Carson’s longtime lawyer/fixer & confidante Howard Bushkin tried something very similar with Carson and wound up deeply regretting it. Bushkin’s biography of Carson is as good as that genre gets.

Bushkin didn’t have problems like Ohtani’s interpreter, but I guess too long that close to the sun melts most people. But talk about blowing a billion to one lifetime platinum backstage pass.

He wasn’t a partner in the publishing business. He was a very successful author who we paid royalties to.

Ah, I misinterpreted your earlier post.

What years were the prime david skalansky? How good was he in his prime at poker? Dont remember much of him battling with the top names, besides maybe some occasional episodes he made it on back in the day. Did david ever play online? Did theory of poker alone make him rich mason where he basically was set after that? When he passed away did he likely have some money or was he close to broke? Feel free to answer what you want with this, just genuinely curious.

I honestly dont know much about the guy, seemed like his greatest contribution will always be theory of poker, i know very little of his poker history and more about the drama that came with the name, besides that pretty yellow book which helped many of us and will likely always stand the test of time. RIP david.

Also since we never know when something sudden could happen, mason thanks for giving us the 2+2 forums, things changed over the years, but the forums were quite amazing during certain stretches. You always seemed level headed and I got a kick out of you now calling fossilman out for projecting his covid political views as facts when none of what he was saying was so cut and dry, i would of left the thread open for the popcorn but understand either way.

I agree,, this forum killed Brandi. I am sick and disgusted about the behavior on this forum.

Sluggo has embraced the white knight role with a passion. D.S. is rent-free in his head, apparently.

Sklansky was probably a top player in the 1970s when Doyle asked him to write a chapter in his book. Not sure when Sklansky became not a top player, but it seems like with once being a top player and being a famous author, he didn't determine what type of games and stakes he could beat. He maybe didn't deal with that he needed to grind mid stakes.

Brandi was a beauty contest winner, who went to Hollywood, probably trying to get roles by .... Then she went to Vegas and seemed to be involved with several well known poker players simultaneously.

I didn't mean there was any logical relation between Brandi's death and Sklansky's later problems. It just seemed like her ghost put a curse on him or something.

When I grow up, I want to white knight a 16 year old death and dance on the grave of a dead man too! Slugant, you are a clown.

But, this forum can also avenge her!

David use to play games of fairly high limit, like $75-$150 stud (30 years ago). But he always played them sporadically and was known for walking a lot. So, exactly how he did in those games, I don't know.

As for online, he liked to play small buy-in tournaments. He did this under a different name, and again I don't know how he did.

While The Theory of Poker is probably his greatest contribution, he did write other books as either the author or co-author which were well received. For instance, we sold approximately 280,000 of Hold 'em Poker for Advanced Players which is the second best selling book that his name is on.

Thanks for your positive comments relative to this website.

I always thought Sklansky on Poker, specifically the Razz section, was his best contribution outside of Theory of Poker. Even if it wasn’t his best selling or most popular.

David liked razz because he felt that some poker concepts could be easily illustrated using this game. And that's why you see razz popping up in some of his works even if they were books not about razz.

I think the opposite of this is true. He was always looking for good games and weak players, and put more emphasis on that than virtually anyone I knew. Thus, he wasn't interested in grinding, and would often quit games if a bad player or two were replaced by a much better player.

I need to reread this—it’ll be my first time sober! Word for word, it’s definitely the most bang for your buck imo. No filler at all. Lean & mean.

I think your rush to label people as White Knights is clouding your views. Especially now that he is dead.

People labeling David's actions as horrible aren't doing it to give him some sort of power. We can all argue all we want about how much actual influence David had over Brandi's suicide, but that doesn't matter either.

What matters is that David's actions in themselves were absolutely deplorable. Even if they mattered 0% or 100%, it doesn't matter. Telling a clearly mentally disturbed individual that they should commit suicide is an absolute horrible act. Period. And makes that person a piece of shit human being. There is no defending that.

It doesn't take a White Knight to grasp this. It just takes a normal human being with a normal sense of compassion to get this.

There is no way to ever know just how much David was responsible for her death. It doesn't matter. The fact that he even tried to influence it in a negative way is what matters.

David had a very largely positive influence on poker and general poker knowledge. In fact he had a huge influence on how to think about problems of incomplete information in general. He was a giant in this. That is to be respected and can never be taken away from him.

However it can be equally said that he literally tried to influence a mentally disturbed person to commit suicide. That makes him a terrible human being and should be disrespected by almost everyone, not just White Knights. That is just as much of his legacy as any of his positive attributes.

Recognizing the terrible side of David doesn't give him any sort of power nor does it make anyone a White Knight defender of Brandi. It just makes the person a decent human being.

That is wrong. David sent the email March 1, 2008 and Brandi died April 13, 2008.

Damn. Can imagine that time for letting David's words sink in. At least he threw one of the stones sealing her fate. Guy was full of hate he couldn't conceal or smoothen properly, used his writing talent ruthlessly. Kind of human, but the bad human.

He softened his text just enough for not being criminal, but that's just about it.