"Shut Up and Deal" review

[roGER]

Hello everyone,

Here's a review of Jesse May's poker novel "Shut Up and Deal" that I posted on Amazon.com a couple of years ago.

Horrific Honesty

First, (most important) if you don't play poker you won't get much out of this book, if you do play... read on.

Good poker is a boring, often frustrating business, and this "novel" (like most first novels, it's fact thinly disguised as fiction) struggles with that reality.

Narrated by a jaded, yet moderately sucessful young pro named Mike (in the original manuscript he was probably called Jesse) its a frank honest look at the "glamourous" world of professional poker. Poker is a game of skill in the long term, but because of the high chance element, can be anything but skill day-to-day. As Mike says early on "the skill ain't hard, its mastering the luck that's difficult."

As the novel progresses we gradually realise that Mike isn't really going anywhere. At times he's quite wealthy, at other times he can hardly make the buy-in for a medium stakes game, but the main thing that distinguishes him from other skilled players is his persistence; the gritty resolution to ride out the streaks of bad luck and keep going.

Like any cardroom, the book has its "regulars" - players who appear over and over again. Among them is the vividly drawn Bart Stone, who may be the devil - a reckless evil conman with occasional flashes of charm. Opposed to him is John Smiley, a mellow amazingly talented player who's blown his winnings on cocaine and is making a comeback. The two play several times, eagerly watched by Mike, but the end result, like many a poker game, is less about winners and losers, and more about a few bucks up or down due to the cards on the day.

People complain (rightly) that "Shut Up and Deal" has no plot, and doesn't go anywhere. But its this honesty that makes the book so real. Pro poker players don't go anywhere - they work in the cardrooms, they put in long hours, and for obvious reasons they don't make many friends and their working hours don't encourage a social life. Casinos are magnets for misfits and this strange sub-group are no exception. The locations can change but the games, and even some of the players remain the same. If Jesse May can't plot this novel very well, he's got no such problems with description and atmosphere - you can see, feel, and even smell the grubby glitter of the casino cardrooms where the action takes place.

The final section of the book is the best description of being "on tilt" (i.e. playing badly from frustration, and not necessarily realising it) that I've ever read. Familiar to anyone whose played cards seriously for any length of time, the helpless reader is drawn into the irrational yet compelling innner voice of Mick, explaining everything away as his play deteriorates.

Flawed, yet very powerful and honest, "Shut Up and Deal" is the perfect antidote to yet another sugar-sweet article in "Card Player" magazine. Its also a must-read for anyone contemplating a professional career in poker.

- roGER