Pages Menu
TwitterFacebooklogin
Categories Menu

Posted by on Nov 26, 2012 in Blog, Las Vegas, Personal | 2 comments

Remembering Poker Writer Barry Tanenbaum (Video)

I loved Barry Tanenbaum.

I miss Barry Tanenbaum.

He passed away a year ago, this week.

For those who don’t remember Barry, he was probably best known for his widely-read column in Card Player magazine which ran for nearly ten years.  Barry also authored two excellent poker books — both on Limit Hold’em, which was his specialty.

Barry was a real poker pro.  He spent most evenings playing at the Bellagio, where the $30-60 Limit Hold’em game served as his office.  Barry’s contemporaries included highly-respected player-writers — including Roy Cooke, Mason Malmuth, Jim Brier, Dr. Alan Schoonmaker and others who wrote about the game as they played it for a living.

But Barry was so much more than just a poker writer and colleague.

He was one of the most decent men I ever met.  He was a genuinely good person.  He was both an intellectual and emotional mentor to those who were fortunate enough to know him.

Please take a few minutes to watch this short 11-minute video I made last year as a tribute to Barry.  The video was shown at his funeral.

A few notes about this video:  Special thanks to Betty Tanenbaum and Lupe Soto for providing many of the photos which appear.  Also, thanks to Ashley Adams, the excellent writer and radio personality who provided the two-minute audio clip of Barry which is heard during the middle of this video.

The first part of the retrospective shows Barry’s personal life.  The second interlude highlights his career in poker.

 

 

 

2 Comments

  1. Barry was a great poker player and a great human being. It was truly an honor to know him. Whenever we got togethet, we talked a liitle about poker. Almost everything I know about poker, I learned from someone else. Much of what I’ve retained and practice came from Barry.

    But we talked about more than poker. We talked about business, politics, baseball – Barry LOVED to talk about baseball as much as I loved to coach it. We shared meals together. We talked about life. Barry was a wise and kind man, and I miss him. I can honestly say that I am a better person because I knew him.

    Every time a ball is hit, every time I have a pastrami sandwich, and I every time I 3-bet at late position raiser from my small blind, Barry Tanenbaum lives on.

  2. I had the pleasure of talking with Barry on several occasions and Kevin is right, it was rarely about poker. I got a chance to sit next to him in several tournaments and was inspired by his love of life and people. I miss him because we have very few people like him and I had so much more to learn. Thanks Nolan for helping us remember that we are more than just the games we play, we are defined by how we affect others, by what we bring to our lives and by what we bring to others lives. I was lucky to have known him, and I am a better person for having had the pleasure.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. My Homepage - ... [Trackback] [...] Read More: nolandalla.com/remembering-poker-writer-barry-tanenbaum-video/ [...]

Post a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

css.php