Lyle Berman started playing poker early in his childhood. As he became more involved in business and more "responsible endeavors," he steered more toward casino games, which took up less time, and moved away from poker.
Around 1980, Lyle purchased my dad's book
Super/System and, when he finally read it two years later, became interested in Texas hold'em. Lyle had grown up on stud and stud high-low, so this new form of poker was both new and intriguing to him. The fact that the World Series of Poker championship event was no-limit hold'em was icing on the cake.
In 1983, Lyle traveled to Vegas, as he did several times a year, for a vacation. After winning $10,000 at his game of choice at the time (craps), he heard of a $300 buy-in no-limit hold'em tournament that was about to start at the Stardust Hotel and Casino. This was his chance to try out this new game that he'd read about and been so interested in.
Lyle started off well, actually holding the lead for a while early on. Throughout the tourney, he knocked out several big-name players (including the reigning
World Series Champion Tom McEvoy), but was himself eliminated out of the money. "I got more pleasure from losing $300 in a poker tournament than I did from winning $10,000 at the craps table!" Lyle told me about 20 years ago. I know it must be true, because whenever Lyle's in Vegas and not sleeping or in a business meeting, I know he's at a poker table. I don't think I've ever seen him play craps more than once or twice in the 20-odd years I've known him.
Lyle's new love affair with Texas hold'em was almost cut tragically short. While most of us who know him know that there's something seriously wrong with his head, we had no idea of the actual magnitude. While skiing in Vail in the spring of 1988, Lyle became dizzy and then unconscious. Did he pull a Sonny Bono (hit a tree)? No, he just collapsed on the slope.
After regaining consciousness and his composure, Lyle skied back to his condo to rest, but his terrible headache wouldn't let up. He called his doctor and, on his advice, went to a Denver emergency room. It was a good thing he did, too, as he was quickly diagnosed with having had a brain aneurysm!
Once you have a brain aneurysm, you can die at any time until the blood vessel is repaired. They can't repair it until they locate the exact location of the problem, which in Lyle's case took a grueling four days. They had to thread a tiny camera through his circulatory system into his brain (ouch). Fortunately, that's the only real hard part of the procedure. After that, all they have to do is cut open your head and poke around in your brain for about 10 hours (piece of cake).
Through all of this, Lyle claims that he was never scared or nervous. "What good does it do to worry about it? What ever happens, happens." He actually worked on business right up until the time of surgery, when the nurses had to take his paperwork from him.
After three months of recouping, Lyle came out all right. All of that downtime gave him plenty of time to reflect on his life. Had he been working too hard? Ignoring his family? Not getting the most out of life?
Lyle made a life-changing decision: He would once again sell his company and stop to smell the roses. Once again? Yes, you see, Lyle and his family sold the original family business in 1979 for a cool $10 million. In 1987, Lyle (and some institutional investors) rebought the company for $99.3 million. In 1988 (after the aneurysm), Lyle sold it again for $220 million.
As if all of that weren't enough, Lyle quickly realized that he wasn't one to sit back, relax, and enjoy retirement. For him, smelling the roses meant being out there in the daily hustle and bustle of the business world. So, finally, in 1996, Lyle (and a few friends) rebought the company one more time for $87 million.
Lyle wasn't (and probably isn't) done yet. Always a glutton for punishment, Lyle decided that he had too much free time on his hands. He started a few more companies that you may have heard of: Grand Casinos, Rainforest Cafe, and the
World Poker Tour!
Lyle started Grand Casinos Inc. in rural Minnesota in 1990. He put up all the initial starting capital and was both CEO and chairman of the board of the new company. Lyle took Grand public in 1991. By 1995, Grand Casinos had opened eight casinos in four states. Four were in partnerships with Native American tribes. The other four were owned outright by the company. That year, Fortune magazine named Grand Casinos the fastest-growing company in America.
As if building mega casinos in the middle of rice paddies and cotton farms, hundreds of miles from any major city, wasn't crazy enough, Lyle opened Rainforest Cafe in 1994 and served as president of the new company. If you've never been to a Rainforest Cafe, it's hard to believe. Imagine this: More than a thousand moving animatronics (birds, monkeys, gorillas, elephants …), thunderstorms, jungle foliage, and a 35-foot mushroom-shaped bar are just a few of the items that make this themed restaurant so unique.
Lyle took this company public, as well, and within a few years had local restaurants all over the U.S. as well as in France and Japan. At one point, Rainforest Cafe was the top-grossing restaurant in the U.S. Like most of his investments, Lyle decided to sell while the price was right before starting his next project.
I'm sure you've heard of the
World Poker Tour (
WPT). I'm at one of its tournaments as I write this column. We started playing
WPT tourneys in 2002, and when they aired on March 30, 2003, … bingo! Lyle and his partner Steve Lipscomb had a winner on their hands.
After one year, the
WPT was the
Travel Channel's highest-rated program, with some 5 million viewers watching every show! Now, many poker players are big-time celebrities. I think this has in turn attracted many mainstream celebrities to the game, and the cycle continues to grow the game as a whole.
On a funny side note regarding the
WPT (funny, that is, unless you are my father or me), I stated in an earlier column how many get-rich-quick schemes/investments my dad has gambled on. Well, he and a few friends were offered the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the
WPT, and passed on it. Lyle has estimated that they have missed out on more than $50 million each to date! Oh well, at least you haven't messed up your batting average, Dad.
Lyle has also recently penned a book,
I'm All In, with Marvin Karlins, published by Cardoza Publishing. It's a biography of Lyle's life, and it's one great read. I highly recommend it. I also owe many of the facts in this column to the book.
