Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi 1871, not finishing the massive sandstone statue until 1880. In 1871, he made his first trip to the United States, where he pitched the idea of a massive statue gifted from the French to the Americans in honor of the centennial of American independence. The idea, which had first been broached to him in 1865 by his friend Édouard René de Laboulaye, resulted in the Statue of Liberty in New York harbor. After years of work and fundraising, the statue was inaugurated in 1886. During this period, Bartholdi also sculpted a number of monuments for American cities, such as a
Joe Bartholdi Jr. and later on Texas hold 'em. He turned professional at the age of 21, but lost much of his profits due to poor bankroll management and playing blackjack. He ended up taking a job as a poker dealer to supplement his income. Bartholdi met Dutch Boyd at the 2002 World Series of Poker (WSOP), who invited him to become a member of the poker playing group known as "The Crew". Later, Bartholdi felt he had let the group down when losing $4,000 while tilting in online poker and left the group. However, he maintains that they all remain friends. In