Poker Novel

[DesertCat]

Didn't Dynasty provide the outline of a really good story? Almost unbelievable in some ways...

[wall_st]

[ QUOTE ]

The problem is that poker is a fundamentally empty activity, and the only obvious thing that people strive towards is money.



[/ QUOTE ]

Every book on poker I have read tends to focus on the Excitement surrounding the actions at a poker table. This concept in general seems rather played out.

Instead I think you should focus on the depravity of poker. A lot of poker is sitting next to that fat smelly guy whom you learn to hate over a period of several hours just so you can justify taking his roll. There is no heroism at the end of the day when you walk away from the poker table. At best most people get a sense accmomplishment from beating a long time rival (i.e. teddy KGB, the matador etc), but this element is long since played out.

You mention nothing really happening as a problem. Some of my favorite books are books where nothing happens. THink of how much was done in Catch 22 despite the fact that nothign ever happens. A lot of vonnegut's books read like this as well, yet still manage to fascinate me.

[AceHigh]

How about this from a Slate article on Tilt:

http://slate.msn.com/id/2112210

I asked Paul Phillips, a top pro player (and a former computer programmer), what sort of real-life drama goes on in poker now and what might make for a great, true-to-life poker series. He mentioned all the money and drugs that flow around and the sudden influx of fame, but to me the most fascinating notion he raised was this: "In what other line of work do people spend every day trying to take their friends' money? Except for the real lowlifes who have no friends, it's inevitable that you make friends with people you play with a lot. There are so many ways it can impact a relationship."

I'd love to see a subtle, gripping portrayal of the dysfunctional relationships that form within a crew of pro poker players. I bet HBO could have pulled this off (the constant distrust that haunts the crew of The Sopranos might serve as an excellent model).

[37offsuit]

You start writing a book about poker with no concept of the story what so ever? What are the characters doing? Why are they doing it? The story concept drives the characters which eventually create the story. Doing it backwards is just stream of consciousness kind of drivel. If your novel goes anywhere without an underlying concept before hand, having it be a success is mere luck. Kind of like chimps hammering on a typewriter.

[wins_pot]

OK. Here is a messy excerpt....
Is a scene like this at all entertaining?

I said earlier that even the worst player in a tournament still has some chance of winning. This isn't exactly true. Worst, like or , is a term without bound. Some players in fact have no chance. Fortunately, an hour and a half into the tournament, I found myself entangled in a hand with such a player. The guy appeared to be on a Leaving Las Vegas-type binge, but unlike the protagonist of that film, he saw fit to attract the most attention possible, and decided that the way to do this was to drink heavily while playing in a high buy-inn World Series of Poker event.
After I beat him out of a small, early pot, him and I started a friendly exchange, during which he frequently said, “I'm going to get you, kid”.
For some reason, feeling good and doing well in tournaments don't have the expected relation for me, and today was no exception. I'd been playing too much poker lately, and as a result the tissues around my skul were forming an unrelenting vise.
Ninety minutes in, my stack was already four times the average, and I looked down to find that great friend of the poker player, poker aces. Leaving Las Vegas put in a stiff raise and re-raised. Vegas played a lot of hands and some players would have just called, but I thought my re-raise would be interpreted as an isolation raise by player's behind me, and might entice TT, JJ, QQ, KK, AK, or even AQ to move all-in. As it happened, everyone folded to Vegas, who called.
There was now 1200 in the pot, and he appeared to have 3600 left. The flop came 2-2-Ace (no two of same suit). This flop was so good, and so unlikely to have hit my opponent, that I decided to check behind Vegas, even though my check virtually screamed “slowplay” after my pre-flop re-raise. The river brought a king, the best possible card for me. Vegas bet out 800 and I flat-called. The river brought a magnificent king. Vegas bet out 1200, and I pretended to think for a second and then said, “all-in”. Vegas immediately said “call”.
He pushed his chips in, and then a till then mute Swedish kid said, “he still has 3000 in his drink.” This is one of those statements like, “ “, that take s a while to register.
“He put them in right after the aces against kings.” This triggered the table;s memory. Vegas had doubled up on the fourth hand of the tournament when he went all-in pre-flop with aces against kings, and then, just after his unfortunate opponent left the table, he fed $500 orange chips to his drink and said, “Jack is the real winner here.”
He then left the drink along, and proceeded to order two drinks (one mixed drink, one tequila shot) every fifteen minutes. This wasn't a matter of making a strong start ; it was more a matter o fmaking a strong finish from the night before.
When he first fed the drink, the table was to obusy laughting to remind him to remove the chips, and no one noticed when he moved the glass from the felt to the dink table beside him.
Vegas called my all-in bet with such glee that I considered the prospect of quad kings,
As soon as Vegas said “call”, I showed my aces full and caught a glimmer of disgust in his face. This brought some relief, as for a moment I had entertained the prospect of quad kings.
Vegas argued vehemently that the chips in the drink were still his. To say the least, that was going to be a difficult argument, but to my dismay, the table consensus appeared to be that the chips, having been removed from the table, were dead, and the dealer seemed to favor that interpretation.
To my, admittedly egocentric, way of thinking, the chips were mine. I called the floor. In matters such as this, the floor's judgement is final, even though it is by no means clear that different floor people would have made the same ruling.
The floorperson was , as the dealer explained what happened. I thought for sure that he was going to go with the “dead chip” interpretation. I had no idea what the coreect ruling was. The attention that the controversy attracted would have been unnerving if not for the fact that everyone was laughing.
In the end, the floorperson sided with me, and placed tehglass, with chips on bottom, at the center of the table. The dealer pushed the pot, glass included, to me. I stacked the chips, and, then, as the press took pictures, I dug six $500 chips from the bottom of a glass of Jack'N'Coke.

-wins_pot

[drewjustdrew]

What did he have...KQ????.

I think you should shorten his name to LLV instead of "Vegas". I also think you should drop the word "protagonist" and find something simpler. You aren't writing to scholars, just poker players.

It was entertaining (only post on this thread I have read), but as soon as the player is all in, I doubt anyone would decide that the drink chips don't play. I would say that the table's motives were to keep that power out of your stack. The dealer's decision I can't understand unless he was a relative newbie and was just swayed by the rest of the table.

[Hauser_III]

[ QUOTE ]
OK. Here is a messy excerpt....


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but you need some serious help with creative writing. That excerpt is some of the worst prose I've read in quite a while. And I'm not talking about obvious grammatical errors, such as "him and I started a friendly exchange...." I'd suggest that you either enroll in a creative writing class at a local university, or learn by osmosis through immersing yourself in literature written by some of the great authors. If you're writing this for yourself as a fun project, that's one thing. If you're writing it with a hope of having it published, however, which is what I suspect you are doing, I think you're going to be sorely disappointed with the reception you receive when you try to market it.

[maryfield48]

Listen to Hauser. Hauser is your friend.

[goldseraph]

I concur, this is pure dreck. A big "NO" to poker and WSOP themed novels, particularly those written at a fifth grade level.

[drewjustdrew]

Who are you concurring with? Try linking your posts at at least an eighth grade level.