A bit about me before delving into my book:
I’m an empath, and a depressive. I see the world in multiple perspectives. Sometimes it’s a good thing, oftentimes it’s a bad thing.

KingKrab’s “The Degenerate Journey” is a true story of my personal hardships and failures that came along with the transition from being a recreational player with a normal 9 to 5 job, into a professional/successful mid-stakes poker grinder.

The anecdotes presented in this book go beyond the realm of poker theory and into the realm of poker philosophy and moral dilemmas such as: sociopathy in poker, and the balance between true freedom from the working class wage slavery and a desire to have stability and normalcy.
We barely read about the negative aspects associated with playing poker for a living. By manifesting both sides of the argument, the reader may make a conscious choice before making a life changing leap as I did.

hey, i happened to see this on big A retail site in the last week..

and then went and read part of your "move to LA to play poker" thread.

KingKrab,
I don't see this book available on kindle. Is there a way for me to purchase an e-book?

there's only a hardback edition available on amazon as of right now, but we're working on the kindle edition (should be accessible by August 10th)

I've read this book. Holy **** what a ride. Fans of his thread will not be disappointed to see the inner-workings of KK. Once on Kindle you will sell a lot more books for sure.

https://www.amazon.com/KingKrab-Dege...=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

hope you consider an audio version of a 2nd edition too as i'm enjoying this quite a bit

is there any actual strategy in this book?

I suspect this is more of an autobiography and discusses the lifestyle of a professional player than it is about strategy.

Almost spot on. I do present some detailed strategy on how to be a winning player in the oddly designed mid stakes no limit game structures in California, but it's definitely not the main theme of the book. I exemplify many things that came with making the jump from wage slave to poker grinder.

My personal touch is showing what effects it has on your social life in terms of social balance, as it may throw off your relatability with basically everyone else (those who don't play poker and instead have a "regular" job)

From what I hear from fans of the book, the value is comparable to the book "Outliers" in terms of seeing what dark characteristics are necessary in order to succeed in poker, taking stories, intense hand histories, and my experiences with live angling, taken from my experiences playing at the biggest and juiciest (live) poker room in the world, Commerce Casino.

Thanks Krab,

I look forward to reading this book soon when it is on Kindle.

I want to thank Mason Malmuth for reading through my book, and both directly and indirectly encouraging me to push forward through this life. It’s sick to know that one of my poker heroes has one of my paperback copies in his possession. I don’t know if our struggles were exactly the same, but at the very least I’m certain you’ll find the journey through my eyes refreshing.





As promised, the kindle edition is now available and linked on amazon

Sounds like it could be an interesting read. Had a quick peek on Amazon and I have to say that cover doesn't look great. Just my 2 cents worth.

I have a paperback and can say the cover is not that bad. I told KingKrab when I got it that I think his name-spacing needs work, but it's the way his name is.

The cover actually fits the book well as there is darkness to the story.

My 2 cents...

1. The price of both the print and Kindle are to high and are going to keep people from buying it.

2. While KK may disagree, the book is really niche and non-poker players will not be drawn to it (a lot of hand histories and nobody out of poker really wants to read that chit).

3. In the poker niche the people who like it will be loyal KK thread followers. It may get banged pretty hard by non-lovers of KK.

4. If you have met KK and/or follow his thread it's going to be a great read.

5. This is his first book and he needs to work on his craft. All writers need to evolve and I do believe if he ever put out another book it would be a huge improvement. The second book which hopefully would contain a lot of success would make the value of the first book go way up, as old content does not die if the creator spins something special down the road. It took Tucker Max first book years to get noticed, think over 6.

KK I would say just take all the positive and negative criticisms in and roll it around. It was hell to write this book, but if you don't get the sales you really want, I don't think it's a failure, but part of the process if you want greatness. I can tell you if you quit what you're doing you will regret it, and you will always wonder. It could take a lot of time so prepare for a new grind, but one day once you evolve there is a good chance u can get over the hump that faces all serious content creators.

I appreciate both of your honest opinions.

I’ve had mixed reviews about the cover, but pretty fairly unanimously positive reviews about the book. Funny thing about the cover: I met the artist on a 9gag forum, liked his fantasy art so I hired Lukaz. He’s from the Czech Republic. Once you read the book through and you have any ideas on improving the design, I’m all ears

Love your gif profile pic btw. I think I remember you commenting in my earlier days on my original thread.




TBH, the criticisms I’ve received from people have been mostly positive. You’re literally the harshest criticism I’ve received haha
But I do appreciate it.

As a writer/artist, as in life, I don’t think anything will ever be perfect because there is always something to be improved upon. I remember writing one section of the book for the entire month of November 2015. literally almost 100 hours of writing (on that section) and by the time I was done, I ended up scrapping that entire section to be replaced by a few sentences. Sure, there was gold in that portion of my story, but it simply didn’t flow well with the rest of the book.

2. To my knowledge, about 5 “non-poker players” have read my book. All which have skipped through the interesting hand histories, which I italicize so it’s easy to skip. Again, the reception has been positive, I even received a page long text on my phone from one of the “non-poker players”, about how engaging my story is, how it flows so well, and how it had her “laughing at regular intervals.” (I can screen cap these and post them some other time, this text was from mid July or so) But it is a book about poker, so I don't expect an overwhelming population of people who aren't 2p2ers to read it. This is a no-brainer.

1. It hasn’t kept people from buying it. I think you underestimate the earning potential and ability of the readers here. As long as they’re playing levels above the 1c/2c, I’m certain that a 11.99 ebook won’t dent the grocery or rent fund for the month lol
Sales are doing much better than expected But it’s about more than sales. It’s about getting my writing out to the right people. As mentioned above, I want to give a certain audience of people a full picture of making the transition to a full time live poker player; the good, the bad, the toll it takes on you as a human being.

3. The main target audience would all Live players, as it’s most relatable in the human aspect of the game. Next would be players transitioning from online to live poker, in which their goal would be to win at poker for a decent wage. Last but not least, would be the online players who may want to open the window into self realization and motivation for playing the game that they play.





So I mostly understood that I had a following in the US, but I especially want to thank my friends across the pond in the UK for purchasing my paperback editions, I didn’t even know I had an a
udience over there! Oh, and my neighbors up north in Canada for purchasing one of the first Ebook editions, Cheers!

I await your unbiased judgements!

Just purchased, will give my thoughts soon. Excited to read it based on both the description and your thread!

Hey KingKrab,
I am the Canadian who probably bought your very first kindle edition. I am about half way through the book and am really enjoying it so far.
I do agree that the book does need a bit of editing as I have seen/noted some grammatical and spelling errors. However, the errors do not really detract the quality of the book. I have read a lot of biographies and the two that are comparable to me are: Poker Tilt by Dutch Boyd and Mike Matusow's Check Raising the Devil. Actually, I think it more closely resembles Matusow's book because Mike really delves into his demons, addictions and how it affected his professional poker life. All in all, I am pleased with the book and look forward to finishing it in the next few days. I think anyone who reads this book can relate to many of your anecdotes - I know I do even though I don't have substance addictions and am not considered a professional player.

Thanks bud
feel free to write here or PM me too!


Yeahhh, Canada’s a close second to the US when it comes to the ebook version, whereas Europe is fairly close to US sales in paperback editions

I’m glad to hear that you’re enjoying it man! I don’t know if you were following my thread this summer, but I had actually planned on going up to Vancouver Canada after touring Seattle, but things fell through due to some life run bad…

I’ve never heard that comparison of me before haha
I don’t know much about Matusow besides what I saw from his character on televised WSOP, which just made me think that he had absolutely no sense of filter or self control. My filter is usually nonexistent when I’m ****ed up.

Maybe you’re one of the few individuals that don’t abuse substances but if you’ve gotten to page 83 of my book it shows addictive tendencies in all human beings. The majority of adults over-abuse both alcohol and caffeine, followed by drugs such as anti-depressants and pot. And many people might be in denial about it.
These (addiction) leaks are exploited by the alcohol industry, starbucks, and the pharmaceutical industry. In the same way, the majority of the “value” live poker grinders get from “Recreational” players, aren’t from people that love to lose thousands of dollars of their hard earned money. It’s from people that have no self control, and have degenerative tendencies spewing money. As a winning player at a predatory game, it took me a quite a while to accept these kinds of things as a part of life.

is there any full reviews out? 20 bucks plus shipping is steep for a non strat book imo

Won't bother with a full review. It's an infantile justification for a degenerate lifestyle not of gambling, but addiction. You can read his thread in Poker Goals and Challenges here: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/17...light=kingkrab

I recently completed book as well. While I did enjoy the read, I agree that the book seem to emphasize a lot more on addiction than it does about poker. Some poker is covered - however, not nearly to the extent I was expecting. I was hoping that this book covered more about the lifestyle of what a grinding pro goes through day in and day out.

If you are looking for an indepth book on poker lifestyle, I won't really recommend this book. If you are looking for a very authentic book on addiction with some poker coverage, then you may want to consider.

Thank you both for your honest opinion
tbh, I think choosing for a lifestyle of being a professional poker player goes hand in hand with choosing a lifestyle of being a degenerate. We want freedom, we want to set our own hours, and do whatever the fu** we want whether thats drugs or party. We aren’t controlled by anybody.

I mean, everyone here should know the lifestyle of a professional live poker player: grind, grind, grind, study, 2p2, party. I wanted to go into the philosophical aspects of choosing to play a predatory game for a living. I wanted to show you guys what tribulations I personally went through in making the transition. We literally fu** up other people, the ones that are of weaker mind, and take their money for a living.
Take a hit of some dang a** weed and let that sink in.

I want to thank everyone that’s supported me so far! I really put all my soul into the book and I’m really happy with most of the reception!

I have to say it personally looks interesting. I understand exactly where you're coming from and I have to agree, we are in this for the lifestyle that accompanies being a live grinder. I have added this to my list and will let you know my thoughts once I complete it. GL!

KingKrab,

The story about seeing your old friend again at the casino - did those hands really go down? I don't want to get into it too much here because I don't want to spoil it for people who have not yet read the book. However, those hands seem almost unreal... total set up coolers like it was fate and destined to happen.

All the hands did go down during that match except for one (I’m sure you know which one, but I’ll PM you the hand anyways). That one hand was actually a similar hand me and another one of my college buddies had many years back, but I thought it was fitting to place it there. IRL, besides those few big hands, he ended up folding quite a bit and instead of facing me, he lost the majority of his money to other players and I got most of my money back from other players. All in all though, I really did derive a lot of pleasure from seeing him lose.
Sorry for the run on sentence, I’m a bit drunk.

Thank you KingKrab,

I applaud you for being very authentic and vulnerable through your writing in this book. Whether one plays poker or have diagnosed addictions or not, anyone can relate to many of the anecdotes and stories you shared.