Quote:
Originally Posted by PokerPhilosopher
I'm only around two-thirds or so through the book, but it's still very worth its price in entertainment value alone. ... when he does tell you how to play certain situations, many times it's bad advice.
But it's very entertaining to hear the flawed thought processes from someone who thinks he's a very solid player. It's kinda like hearing how a fish thinks, and it could be useful in that respect to get inside the head of a fish. He also gives a lot of commentary about some of the people he meets along his journey, and gives some entertaining stories along the way. ...
I just read Nals' 2014 poker novel
The Dark Side of the Felt, one of his many self-published books. (In its conclusion, his semi-autobiographical protagonist describes turning to writing after he goes broke.) I would agree that the writer thinks he understands the game much better than he actually does and that reading this will also give one a sense of how players who haven't studied the game but who've reached their own conclusions by guessing and pontificating thinks. (He thinks opening raise size is correlated to holdings, for example; and that tournament players always push JJ pre-flop; etc., etc.).
As well, the hero stakes his entire bankroll (and thus poker career) on a winner-take-all tourney, a bankroll management error no thinking player would ever commit.
The first part of the book, about how many jams the hero gets into playing underground, is much more interesting and credible than the hoaky thriller plot that emerges halfway through. I doubt Nals personally experienced the events in the underground games that describes -- and if he did he was a fool for continuing to play in these games -- but he probably heard these stories in some form and has collected them here.
About the colluding mentioned above, this novel's hero lacks integrity (looks at another player’s cards, for example).
Last edited by RussellinToronto; 09-13-2017 at 05:27 PM.