Poker Nation - The book

I just finished this book written by Andy Bellin and found it interesting. It is worth reading but it is not a great book, in my opinion.


His description of the poker-cheating couple (by collusion) in california was a bit wild, if it is to be believe. Anyone else read this book? And if so, is this a common scenario for some california card rooms. Never played there but was thinking of making a trip this spring. Just wondering if I need to be extra cautious.


I have seen small-time collusion in some casinos among low-limit regulars that is almost impossible to prove but I have usually assumed that the more well-run casinos are almost free of this activity. Or is this an illusion. Any opinions?


-Zeno

The book was good if your a poker junkie ( and we all are!). Other than that, nothing special.

I thought it was good too

I've never played in California, so I wouldn't know about the collusion factor.


I'm about three quarters of the way through Poker Nation right now. It started off so promisingly and has since begun to drag. I keep trying to compare it to "Big Deal". It's just different from Holden's book. I see more actual poker content in Nation, but the quality of writing was better in Big Deal. It's a decent read, but if it were truly great, I'd be done already.


I think I like Big Deal better because I read it before I really got into poker. I was curious and that book shoved me over the cliff. I don't think Poker Nation would have had that effect on me. That said, I didn't particularly enjoy Holden's tangents away from poker. Some sections seemed to be devoted to shamelessly kissing the asses of his buddies back in England. Anyhow, back to Poker Nation. Not a glowing review, but it's a decent book anyway. I'd give it a B or B- so far.

Andy Bellin, author of Poker Nation was on NPR

's late afternoon interview show (Fresh Air with Terry Gross) on Thursday of last week. Interesting but not very deep interview, at least not for 2+2'ers. You can listen on-line at http://freshair.npr.org/ and look into the "archived shows" for last Thusday's show.