I have read a bunch of poker novels recently. Here are my quick ratings 1-10:

Broke by Brandon Adams. 7 (out of 10) Pretty good. A little short. It also just seems like a thinly-veiled auto-biography?

King of a Small World by Rick Bennet. 9 (out of 10). Strong. About a grinder in Philly. I wanted more.

Death on the Flop by Jackie Chance. 5 (out of 10). So so. Readable but a little dopey. Makes some errors about poker hands and calls a DVD a CD repeatedly.

The Prop by Pete Hautman. 8 (out of 10). Good book about a prop player at an Arizona casino and a murder mystery.

Deadman's Poker by James Swain. 7 (out of 10). Ok, but it seemed like the ending was missing or something.

Shut up and Deal by Jesse May. 7 (out of 10). Like Broke, just seems like a thinly veiled autobiography of a player in high stakes games in AC and elsewhere. Into small details and talks about changing his outfits a lot.

The Picasso Flop by Vince Van Patten and Robert Randisi. 8 (out of 10). I liked this one more than I thought I would. A few too many shameless plugs for Hollywood Poker and The World Poker Tour. Sometimes the writing sags, but the general story kept me involved.

Dead Money by Rudy Stegemoeller. 8 (out of 10). Readable and involving. Set at a tournament at a Foxwoods-like casino in New England.

The Rogues' Game by Milton Burton. 9 (our of 10). An artfully written novel set in Texas after WWII. Cool book.

If anyone has any suggestions for other poker novels to check out, I would love to hear them.

Thanks for these reviews, I hadn't realized there was so much poker fiction out there.

hey good stuff!! i was going to ask where VVP was... but there he is near the end. nice rating too!!

Hate to nit but "King of a Small World" is primarily based in Prince Georges county Maryland and is essentially based on true story.

yeah, you're right. Maryland. Read it a few months ago. Dont know why I thought it was Philly.

I havent read anything other than Shut up and deal ... I found it very good, would give it a 9.

It is not a book about changing clothes, its a book about degens

The Cincinnati Kid by Richard Jessup
Out of print but you might find it in your library.

My novel, Texas Poker Wisdom, should be on this list. It has better reviews than nearly all of them.

Johnny Hughes

Yes...but no-ones read it....

I second that. Definitely a 9. I find it easily the best non strategy poker book I've read. Haven't read any others on the list though.

Yeah, Shut Up and Deal is good and it is about degens. But the dude does talk about changing his outfits a lot.

Here is the poker fiction list from CardChat, whatever that is.
Fiction
Poker Nation by Andy Bellin
Shut Up and Deal by Jesse May
King of a Small World by Rick Bennet
The Prop by Pete Hautman
The Perfect Play, (a novel) by Louise Wener
Broke, a poker novel, by Brandon Adams
The Picasso Flop by Vince Van Patten
A New York Hold'em by William A. Klein
Texas Poker Wisdom by Johnny Hughes

Well maybe because it's just out recently (Texas Poker Wisdom). I liked it a lot.

all of the James Swain books are very readable. and if you like learning about scams and grifters and such they are great books. highly recomend

.

Poker Nation by Andy Bellin is non-fiction

Was that book about his poker/tourney experiences over a one year time frame where he travelled all around the world playing tourneys and whatnot?

yeah. totally not a novel.

Thanks, Toro. I liked Shut Up and Deal.

Johnny, I just finished your book. I liked it. Congrats. It seemed to be sort of in the same category as some of the others: thinly-veiled autobiography. I know the last 40 pages or so jumped off into a whole different sort of thing, but otherwise, it seemed like it fit in that category. I think your writing style is quite smooth and insightful. The book could have used some more copy-editing. There were some typos and so forth (like "quiet" spelled "quite" a few times, and so forth.) Anyway, you seem like an interesting guy.

This is actually part 1 of a 2 part series. Deadman's Bluff finishes the story.

I loved all of Swain's stuff up till this series. Almost all of the prop bet stories were ripped straight out of Amarillo Slim's autobiography.

Ah. Thanks Turbo. That's good to know (about the Swain books).

I read the prop a while ago, it was ok about a 6/10. I don't think anyone should be running out to buy it, or to the library or anything.

Although some of her ideas on pokering (the prop's) we're kind of amusing.

i bought Cards by Jonathan Maxwell at the same time i bought Broke. i really enjoyed both, but Cards much more so.

i just bought The Rebuy by Burto Deluchi, but have not started it. ymmv.

the amazon reviews of Cards look like fake reviews. Anyone else think this?