Jen "Harman". Gah, it drives me insane when i see Gus Hansen's name spelt "Hanson". Was even spelt this way on professionalpoker.com!

Read em and Weep is a real fun book. It's a compilation of poker short stories. For instance how Wild Bill Hickock got shot and his hand aces and eights got named the dead man's hand. There's probably about 8 to 10 short poker stories in it and they are all quite good.

I agree. Very entertaining and well-written. A keeper.

Actually I was way off on how many short stories in that book. There are 38 of them.

And you know I just looked all over hell for it in my office and couldn't find it, then realized it was a library loaner from my dad when I read it. I need a copy of it, it's good for re-reading on throne many times over. BTW, I've got this new kind of john with lots of extras. Very cool. Makes a man look especially forward to those occassions to read, study, and just think.

Has anyone mentioned Amarillo SLims Bio? Do you recommend it? Seems like some fascinating stories there.

My son-in law has my copy among a few other poker books that he never gets around to. I'm asking for this one back as I'm going on vacation next week and think it will be a good re-read.

Post pics of your john lol.

My scanner's broke.

OP--

For my money, Alvarez's The Biggest Game In Town is the best nonfiction anyone's ever written about poker. Positively Fifth Street is a distant, but very good, second. Barry Greenstein's Ace on the River, while intended as advice, is also very entertaining and contains a lot of truth about the poker world.

All my best,

--Nate

EDIT: "Nonfiction" in the sense of "nonfiction and nonstrategy," of course.

well I am to busy to scroll through all of this but I did look through the first few and was suprised not to find my fav poker book

One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey ',The Kid', Ungar, The World's Greatest Poker
by Nolan Dalla , Peter Alson

just a book about stu unger cause why not.
he was an amazing story

"Gambling Secrets of Nick the Greek" by Ted Thackry was a good read. More about gambling in general than strictly poker but still good.

Didn't read thread, but I enjoyed reading Moneymaker's and Annie Duke's poker story books.

I just finished reading Peter Alson's newer (2006) book, _Take Me to the River: A Wayward and Perilous Journey to the World Series of Poker_ and found it quite enjoyable--even if covering familiar ground of _Big Deal_ and _Positively Fifth Street_.

My buddy, who loaned me the book, said I could skip the "relationship stuff"--but I thought that was what gave the book texture. And Alson writes well.

FWIW, I really enjoyed _Texas Poker Wisdom_, Johnny Hughes' lightly fictionalized tale of growing old playing poker in Lubbock, TX. (perhaps because I share some of that background). If you enjoy his stories on 2+2, you'll like that: if not, maybe not.

Among the many poker mysteries, I recommend those by Pete Hautman.

Russell in Toronto

I'm going to have to get around to reading _Texas Poker Wisdom_ because I do like the way he writes here. But that is one seriously awful title for a novel.

My book just came out. It was meant to be a fun read and go inside the head of the tournament player. It's called Poker Slam. I've had good feedback so far. But I'd be interested in more. It's not my place to tell you how good the book is. Contact me if you'd like to review this novel. It's available on Amazon, bn.com and kindle. Below is the back cover text:

Willie Jamison used to be called the greatest poker player who ever
lived. People flocked to see him play. The winner of the legendary
Poker Slam, he was the toast of the town, appearing on radio and
television. But one day, it became all too much for Willie, and he
abandoned the showy world of Las Vegas, leaving nothing but a
shadowy past.
Years later, Willie’s nephew, Utah McCormick, desperately needs to
find his uncle. Utah has received a threatening phone call from a
stranger demanding Willie Jamison’s money. Utah doesn’t have a
clue where his deadbeat uncle has gone, but he knows he has to find
him if he wants to get out of this situation alive. Detailed world-class
poker tournament play brings you into the mind of the poker
professional, revealing key clues to the mystery.
Following his uncle’s crooked trail, Utah becomes immersed in the
steamy world of Las Vegas. The naked underbelly of the gambling
capital of the world sucks Utah in. But Utah knows his time is running
out, especially when the men looking for the money pay him a visit.
Utah eventually learns the truth about his legendary poker-playing
uncle—and discovers just how deadly the truth can be.

About "The Poker World According to Cinch," MaxRaises wrote:
Max, go ahead and call me up and I'll read you my favorite parts. If you don't live in the States we should probably use skype because it will take a while. This book is a friggin riot! I've only read two poker-based books in my life that I plowed through. The other one was Shut Up and Deal by Jesse May.

(There was a period of a few years, way before the poker explosion, when I had a screening process for new girlfriends.

"You do what?"

"You heard right. I play poker for a living."

"Okay, you didn't make me run away yet. I'm still interested. Tell me more."

Then I would give them a copy of Rounders, and a copy of Shut Up and Deal, and I'd say watch that movie, read that book, and you'll be all caught up on my tortured life.)

Anyway, back to Cinch, he's a writer's writer, and fun, and brilliant.

Tommy

Well, you've overplayed your hand on this one, Tommy. They'll never go for the "brilliant" on here about ol' Cinch. The rest maybe an outside shot.

I do have a must see idea for you in regards to your book and some potential future material. I'm torn about putting it on here or sending to you private. Private first I guess, see what you think and whether you would want it public before you do it. You MUST do it. No one else is so perfectly positioned.

Since this thread is back up, I would now add Aaron Brown's Poker Face of Wall Street to this mix.

It has a great mixture of high stake private games, lessons of frontier economies and Ivy League schoolboy machinations. It is a completely original spin on poker told in a very engaging biographical style.

If you liked those check out Katy Lederer's "Poker Face".


A complete non-poker book that has twists and logic problems that could pertain to poker that is GREAT is called "WATCHMEN", it is a graphic novel....and shockingly good.

I never read a graphic novel before this summer, Watchmen may be the most entertaining book of ANY kind I have ever read. Great, great read.

not quite finished it but its a very good read

I just got around to Jay Greenspan's _Hunting Fish_. Very readable, it's kind of a low rent version of _Big Deal_ (go on the road to build up a bankroll for a big game at the end of the story). Greenspan is a good writer, if perhaps not as good a writer as Holden. What is interesting is that he brings up the philosophical / ethical questions about playing poker and that ARE worth thinking about. (It is a predatory activity? Should one feel guilty about admitting one is actively hunting fish? And, more generally, does the activity contribute nothing to the world?)

What gets in the way toward the end is Greenspan's ego: in the last pages of the book he's very concerned with reassuring the reader (or, I think, convincing himself) that he is now playing at the level of a world-class pro. But he ends, anticlimactically, by saying he isn't playing much poker any more.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the book is the descriptions of various venues: Foxwoods, Biloxi, Tunica, underground in Texas, etc. Play of the hands, not so much.

FYP.

After Alvarez, Fast Company is an amazing book.

[QUOTE=ErikTheDread;5243743] _The Rogues' Game_ by Milton Burton is an excellent work of fiction with a poker sub-plot.]

I took your recommendation and I did enjoy it. The thriller plot seems a bit creaky (there are too many times when the I-narrator doesn't share his knowledge and his conversations with the reader in order to maintain suspense), and the poker element is ok but not as crucial as it promises to be early on: the great strength of the novel is how it captures the unromantic side of the west Texas oil boom of post-WWII. (No wonder Johnny Hughes gives this book raves on Amazon! But he's not the only one.)

Read Bigger Deal after you've finished reading Big Deal, the poker world has changed so much during this time that it makes for a better read than if you read it standalone