Hi Everyone:

Authors/Publishers sometimes send me a copy of their book to read and over the years I have a number of these piled uo on my desk. But I do get to them every now and then. One of the books KingKrab: The Degenerate Journey: From Homeless to Poker Pro by KingKrab I recently started to read and are almost half-way through.

Generally, when I pick up a book like this, I'll quit after a few pages quickly concluding that it's a waste of time. But this book is a little different, and so far, I've found many aspects of the narrative quite interesting.

For those who don't know, it's the story of a player who refers to himself as KingKrab, and who has a lot of drug/depression related problems in addition to being homeless some of the time. So the book is fairly negative, more so than I think it needs to be, and also in my opinion has too many four letter words. But on the other hand, there's a lot in here that's worth reading, including descriptions of his opponents, some of his hand strategies, and how he feels many of his opponents view him as a player, and what he needs to do to win in the low stakes no-limit games that he plays in.

So based on what I've read so far, this book would get an 8 on my 1 to 10 scale which means I do recommend it.

And for those interested, here's the Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/KingKrab-Dege...words=kingKrab

Best wishes,
Mason

Thanks for the review. Have you read his thread in PG&C? If so, could you compare/contrast?

Hi Garick:

No I haven't.

Best wishes,
Mason

I enjoyed this book a lot. Agree that it is very dark and for me really gave me a great perspective on what most pro poker players go through to grind out a living.

Thank you so much for your review Mason! (And sorry for the delayed response) I’ve actually been traveling Europe for the last couple months for a small book tour and ended up losing my phone about a month in. Haven’t been able to connect to twoplustwo, my email, or my twitter since. I felt such a rush when I read your commendation; it meant so much to hear a positive review from one of my all time heroes! I literally screenshot it and sent it to my ex-boss who said I would never amount to anything.

I hope to hear more from other 2p2ers and welcome any comments/questions either on the forum or private message

I suppose, we don't need a book called "From poker pro to homeless," and I have been close enough to know it personally, and this book might contain something like that also (I haven't read).

There has been and are close stories that vary from success to failure and back, and the other way around, but I am not sure what other purpose they serve than entertainment (surprisingly many like those strories), and I am not much for such reading. Maybe as a warning.

About the life of a grinder (as much as it is so), leaves me to wonder what it might contain that would make it educational or a good story. "What he needs to do to win..." might get people curious, but I don't read books based on worms, and less so as I know what the reality is. Maybe for people who have no idea of what a poker pro is, or so.

I would read a book about a live poker pro in Europe and beyond (not just tournaments) with an additional online aspect. But there must be people interested about online career.

Poker is a challenging environment to be a Pro. And it is lacking support and better attitude from people, including the laws, compared to esports where there could be some stories also, just that they likely are more sports-like compared to poker, and it is the reason why they get the respect and poker players get the disrespect. And then comes a book like this, about the poker spirit!

Thanks for your kind words. I can't believe it's been over a year now. Been MIA, wandering through europe. I just found out that I'm going to be a father, (whoops) and it led me to come back on 2p2 to where my journey began. I have no idea what I'm going to do now.

whoah... this may mean you got a lot of material for a sequel book?

Rating: 7.5/10

Favorite Aspect(s): KingKrab’s dark raw thoughts (I really enjoy a gritty story) and the shared hand histories.

I’d be interested in reading a sequel, if it were to be written. Personally, I found the book to be more entertaining than watching Rounders (don’t hate me).

I don't recall seeing this thread before, but based on Mason's reccomendation I am putting this book on my buy list.

I did read the description of your book on Amazon and I don't know how true it is you claiming to be the most hated man on 2plus2.

As to fatherhood, I hope the birth was uneventful for everyone involved.

Even though we were having sex, I still remember how stunned I was when my girlfriend came back from the doctor to tell me she was pregnant. And that was over thirty-five years ago.

Just bought it, sounds pretty cool to me. I'd never be tempted at this point to be a poker pro though.

I'm about 50 pages in, great stuff man!

Man, this is my type of forum. LOL

I was gifted this book by a friend which I also play poker with. Be ready for KingKrab taking you into a deep dive into his inside and outside the table mentality. Truly gritty stuff, but his honesty was one of the things made me like this book so much.

At the end this book is more than only poker, it's about life decisions and choices.

I personally liked it was it made me understand that I'm a casual poker player, and i'm ok with that.

Did you use contraception? I feel like trickery involving pregnancy happens more frequently than people imagine.
I went to a sociallite party on a lake in the Netherlands. Met a 30 something nobody woman who essentially had a baby with this upperclass (possibly a millionaire) man, even though she claims she was on the pill the whole time. Sounded fishy to me.

Yes, definitely so. Grinding european tables is a complete different animal. The people there are emotionally charged, but the smaller 1/3 type games in the Netherlands play like 3/5 games. Eastern European games are much easier, but win rates still slightly smaller bc of insanely high rake. I almost busted my roll on a super downswing and I contribute that to the 10% 10€ on the 1/2 games and the 5% 20€ cap on the 2/4 games. But the sexy massages made up for any down swings.