Customer Reviews

Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(4)
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2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I reviewed Jim's book for Card Player magazine, and it appears in the November 4, 2009, issue, as follows:
Poker & The American Experience

A Review of Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker by James McManus

Tim Peters

For some players, poker is just a game. But for many players, it's tempting to see the game as a microcosm of life itself, as having a significance that transcends the cardroom. James McManus, the author of the justly celebrated Positively Fifth Street (his 2003 account of his run to the final table of the 2000 WSOP Main Event), is one of those people, and his new book, Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker, explains why "sometimes...the game is much more than just a game."

Much of the book has been published in Card Player over the past few years under the heading "History of Poker." Now that it's in book form, Cowboys Full will surely be viewed as the most exhaustive and definite account of the history of poker yet published.

And it is a very much a history, chronicling the ancient roots of poker to its birth and flowering in New Orleans to the global phenomenon of today. But what makes Cowboys Full so interesting is how McManus articulates the role of poker in society (primarily American society). He writes about how the game spread across the country, how it evolved, and the lessons that people have drawn from it. As the subtitle "The Story of Poker" suggests, McManus rightly understands that poker is part of a larger narrative. "My goal," he writes, "is to show how the story of poker helps to explains who we are. The game has gone hand in hand with pivotal aspects of our national experience for a couple of centuries now."

McManus asserts July 4, 1803, can be seen as the "symbolic birth date" for the game: the date of the Louisiana Purchase, which helped open the American West. He writes that poker was the perfect game for this era in American history, a game "whose rules favored a frontiersman's initiative and cunning, an entrepreneur's creative sense of risk, and a democratic openness to every class of player." Poker really is the quintessential American game.

Poker's infancy was marked by scandal, particularly during the heyday of the Mississippi River steamboats ( "the Internet card rooms of 1814"). "By the 1830s, at least six hundred sharps were working the riverboats, with one estimate putting their number as high as fifteen hundred," he writes. Poker was known as "the cheating game" with good reason, and McManus devotes a whole chapter to the "styles and technologies of cheating" back in the day.

Despite the rampant cheating, at least in big-money games, poker spread far and wide in the young country. The steamboats introduced poker to players in the North and the West; the Civil War introduced the game to players in battlefields across the South. McManus has thoroughly scoured the existing literature of poker to recount all kinds of stories, familiar and less so, of the game, including stalwarts like the shooting of Wild Bill Hickok in Deadwood, South Dakota, holding Aces and Eights. But because McManus is a cultural historian, he searches for the meaning behind the event: "It was Wild Bill Hickok who forged the strong links in the popular imagination between gunfighting, poker, and manliness--all this despite being known as a losing player who was shot from behind by a cowardly punk at the table."

That's a good example of his strategy in the book: recount the facts, at least to the extent they are known, then search for the meaning and significance behind the facts.

With the origins and spread of poker behind him, McManus turns to a less linear style for the rest of the book, with chapters on important people in the history of the game (such as Herbert O. Yardley, American cryptologist and the author of The Education of a Poker Player) and events where poker played a role (such as the terrific account of poker and its relation to the Cold War).

And there are chapters on key aspects of poker history. The birth of Texas Hold'em, for example, the rise of the WSOP, and the detonation of the contemporary poker boom, which McManus dates to March 30, 2003, when the Travel Channel broadcast the Five Diamond World Poker Classic from the Bellagio. The book is particularly good on the ensuing boom (poker as a global phenomenon) and the current legal mess of the UIGEA.

McManus is an excellent stylist and storyteller, so the book is unfailingly entertaining. Structurally, he struggles a bit with chapters that belong in the book but don't have a neat slot to fit into (like the chapter on Gardena, California, and its important place in poker history). But some of these difficult-to-pigeonhole bits are excellent, like the chapter "Fooled by Randomness."

Most of the books reviewed in Card Player are designed to help you improve your play. But some are intended to help you appreciate the game you're playing--its history, its traditions, and its cultural impact. We are living in what must surely be the golden age of poker, with games spread around the globe in unprecedented numbers, with a year-long tournament circuit with staggering prize pools, and, for a few people, the chance to turn poker playing into a career. Read Cowboys Full to understand how this golden age came about--and to grasp that poker does have a meaning beyond the felt.

Cowboys Full is the best book about poker I've ever read, and I've read just about all of them. The history of cards, of poker (draw, stud, high-low, hold'em, Omaha, H.O.R.S.E., even badugi!), Doc Holliday, Wild Bill Hickok, all the presidents and generals who played, the WSOP from its days at Binion's Horseshoe to 8,000 players at the Rio and on ESPN, the Andy Beal game, the science and technology of the game as it's now being played live and on the Internet. READ THIS BOOK!

If you love poker and want deeper understanding of the game historically, psychologically, etc. get this book.

McManus is highly skilled at serving up tons of information in an enjoyable and easy to read manner. I can't tell you how much I learned from reading it. Most of all, it made me realize how pertinent and valuable poker-related thinking skills are to decisions away from the felt on both micro and macro levels.

This is a significant contribution to the poker literature. It is a wonderful, vibrant account of poker's history -- starting with its antecedent games and continuing up until the present televised and Internet version of our great American game. McManus' first book on poker, Positively Fifth Street, convinced me that he was a great writer and storyteller. This book convinces me that he is a fine researcher as well.
That this is a great history of a great game is true, but it doesn't do justice to the 500 page book. It is more a telling of great poker tales, intertwined with historical events that shed a new light on the importance of poker in our nation's history. In that sense it is also a psychological analysis of important moments of American history (like the Civil War, the development of the West, and the rise of Barack Obama) as seen through the lens of a poker player.
Those who might be intimidated by this books formitable length should know that unlike Positively Fifth Street, Cowboys Full does not have to be read as a single narrative (Though I read it cover to cover in three mammoth sittings -- so compelling are the stories). It is entertaining and informative in bits and pieces; each chapter standing alone. It could well sit on your nightstand for a year -- providing a nice small nugget of poker history and lore each night to entertain you -- and to fill your dreams.

Mark Twain's experience on the Mississippi River exposed the writer to the riverboats and the poker games that flourished on board. He observed, "There are few things that are so unpardonably neglected in our country as poker." Were he alive today, Twain could not make that observation. Poker has become a national obsession with ESPN and other television networks devoting countless hours to presenting the game to players and viewers, and revenue for online poker has reached several billion dollars annually. Coupled with the fact that players also may play online for free, it is impossible to estimate the number of players around the world.

For those poker aficionados who thirst for insight into the history of the game, COWBOYS FULL by James McManus is, simply put, an encyclopedia of the card game played in almost every conceivable venue where one can place a table, chairs, deck of cards and stacks of poker chips, tracing the game from its creation in Europe and Asia. As immigrants travelled to our shores, they brought the various manifestations of the card game with them, and as America expanded westward, there was an accompanying infatuation with poker that spread from the colonies to the frontier.

Along the way, McManus points out many interesting and informative facts representing the interplay between poker and our nation's history. For example, he notes that while Barack Obama brought many unique new accomplishments to his presidency, he shared one trait with almost all former occupants of the White House: a love of poker. From the founding fathers to Andrew Jackson, from FDR to Truman, there is a long and exalted history of poker-playing presidents. Indeed, Richard Nixon is thought to have used poker winnings acquired during his military service in World War II to finance his first congressional campaign in California. There is no doubt that part of the history of this great nation was made during the course of the occasional poker night at the White House.

McManus knows the game of poker well. In 2000, he travelled to Las Vegas to cover the murder of casino owner Ted Binion for Harper's Magazine. McManus used his advance on this article as a stake to enter the World Series of Poker and finished fifth, winning nearly one-quarter of a million dollars. He also described the experience in POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET, an entertaining account of the poker he played and the people he played with.

COWBOYS FULL is a wonderful book on several levels. First is the history of the game brought to America by immigrants from many lands. Next is the rich history of poker: as the country grew, poker became a staple of the expanding nation and, in many ways, exemplified the frontier spirit that was America. McManus describes many famous historical poker incidents, including perhaps the best-known poker legend: the death of Wild Bill Hickok in a saloon in Deadwood in the Dakota Territory.

More important than the history of poker is the impact of the game on American life. Its various strategies have profoundly influenced not only game theory but strategies of nuclear deterrence as well. Perhaps the Cuban Missile Crisis came to a successful conclusion because John F. Kennedy was a better poker player than Nikita Khrushchev.

Of course, no discussion of poker can be complete without talking about the modern-day phenomenon that is the World Series of Poker. From its inception in the 1950s as a two-man showdown between Johnny Moss and Nick "the Greek" Dandalos, the World Series has become an event that draws more than 8,000 contestants and coverage broadcast to a worldwide audience. McManus provides a substantial history of the various events as well as the myriad of unique personalities who have become known for the skill exhibited during the World Series.

COWBOYS FULL is an excellent book for anyone who plays or enjoys watching poker. If you are looking for a gift for a poker-playing friend, this is a sure bet. And that is no bluff.

--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman

I really enjoyed the book and (as of this writing) all reviews are five stars. There is no doubt that McManus can write, (Positively Fifth Street was 5 stars for me) however if you look at the bibliography and are a true fan of poker literature and non-fiction, you will notice that you have read 90% of the books that he references. The book was like seeing a old friend, tell the same old stories, and you find yourself laughing at the same jokes and looking back the next morning hoping to do it again before five years go by.

In the hands of a less capable author then the McManus I doubt I would have finished it yet alone paid for it, but I did thoroughly enjoy it and at least I could smoke a cigar while I read it which would get me shot in any casino if I tried.

Acclaimed novelist, poet, academic, and poker player James McManus is back with what is undoubtedly the most definitive account of poker and card playing yet committed to paper.

Cowboys Full - The Story of Poker is indeed the story of poker. It will be cherished by aficionados' and laymen alike and its exhaustive research and clear historical analysis will thrill scholars of the game for years to come.

The author of the much-loved Positively Fifth Street, a groundbreaking book about his own journey to fifth place at the World Series of Poker main event in 2000, has painstaking pulled together all the disparate threads of the game, from the development of playing cards through the codification of modern poker to the present day Internet boom in an eminently readable study on how poker has helped shape the world.

Indeed, early in the book McManus states his "...goal is to show how the story of poker helps to explain who we are."

Not unpredictably this accomplished writer, who has penned articles for the likes of The New York Times, The Economist, and The New Yorker, does so with an knowing eye to the colour, characters, and, of course, cowboys of the game.

Seamlessly blending fastidious historical research with analytical observation and a sophisticated sense of humour McManus manages to effortlessly contextualise poker through history with reference to religion, militarism, diplomacy, law, business, education, mathematics, economics, and technology.

If that somehow makes it sound like it might not be a page-turner, think again.

The cast of characters alone reads like a history of the last millennium writ small over the felt and includes Eisenhower, Nixon, Truman, Roosevelt, Johnson, Grant, Hoover, Clinton, Obama, Homer, Dante, Chaucer, Goethe, Moliere, Shakespeare, Mary Queen of Scots, Henry VIII, Joan of Arc, Cassanova, Einstein, Crockett, Holliday, Hickock, Churchill, Goebbels, Hitler, Binion, Ahmadinejad, Garbo, Garrett, and Gobachev.

And all of that before we get to the players who are the media darlings of today.

Taking as its starting point the notion first posited by the New York Times in 1875 that, "The national game is not base-ball but poker" the book begins its journey through the story of poker back with the invention of playing cards.

Anthropoligist Stuart Culin traced their development back to Korean divinatory arrows which were eventually miniaturised in the six century to strips of oiled silk - the first playing cards.

The invention of paper and portable money, and the growth of the silk route hastened their internationalisation and popularity.

A second boom occurred after dark ages in Europe in the 1300s as people began to live longer, knew more, and had leisure time to play.

In Rouen, France by the late 1400s suits had generally been settled upon in a way we recognise today: Hearts representing the church, diamonds the merchant class, spades the state, and clubs signifying farmers.

In 1564 Milanese physician and mathematician Griolamo Cardano ' Dr. Jerome Cardplayer as McManus playfully translates ' invented a way to combine probabilities, laying the groundwork not only for modern algebra, probability theory, and financial analysis but for the basic poker odds we all know and take for granted today.

The card game Primiera was simplified by the French into Poque (pronounced Pok-uh) and is now regarded as the most direct antecedent of the modern game.

By the early 1800s the French had taken control of New Orleans, Louisiana and in this cultural melting pot of English, Spanish, French, and new American the modern game of poker was born and spread like wildfire on the steamboat routes out of the Creole capital.

McManus astutely describes the Mississippi steamboats as the Internet poker rooms of their day.

From there things pick up a head of steam (literally) like a prototype information superhighway ' the wild west years where lawlessness and chicanery threatened to destroy the game through the wars of the late 19th and early 20th century which saw poker language and concepts permeate mainstream language.

Dancing like Spider in Goodfellas through the road gambling years to the dusty neon oasis of Las Vegas, Benny Binion's visionary development of the World Series of Poker, and the "perfect storm" of the year poker went "boom" in 2003 the book fetches up at the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, the online poker cheating scandals, and ultimately the mainstream globalisation of the game.

Cowboys Full ' The Story of Poker delights and informs in equal measure and it will surely be a long time before we see such a comprehensive book on card playing and players.

I enjoyed this book, but felt like the end did not really go with the rest of the story. The first four fifths of the book does a good job of explaining how poker came into being and how it spread across the country and eventually the world. After discussing the WSOP, the rest of the book examines where poker is going, some legal issues it faces, and how academics are using and studying poker. This section of the book felt more like an appendix. If you have a interest in the history of poker, I would recommend this book. If you are looking for a good poker story pick up McManus' Positively Fifth Street instead.

I received this book as a Christmas gift. Having been unaware of its existence, I was quite excited when I saw the cover and the author's name. As a fairly good though not superb Hold 'Em player, nearly anything on the topic is of at least some interest. Undoubtedly the gift-giver was not aware of my particular appreciation for Mr. McManus's prose styling.

Generally when picking up a poker tome one might expect detailed theory regarding play, which cards to play from which positions and all that. This book is not of that variety.

McManus's last work, Positively Fifth Street, is another poker book shorter on strategy and longer on narrative. Combining real life murder-mystery with personal experience in the World Series of Poker, that book too gives the reader a sense of being part of a larger unfolding panoply. There are better primers that provide tips for honing acumen, these two books however provide the reader with a kind of landscape painting using poker as a prism through which to survey the scene. Like anything in life worth studying, poker's philosophical aspects are greater as it were than the sum of its parts. Cowboys Full is perhaps more novelistic than instructional. And that, I think, is a very good thing.

Besides contributing to various magazines of literary merit, McManus has and still does (I think) teach writing at the Art Institute of Chicago. This book and the aforementioned give credence to a reputation as master of his craft. Immaculately researched and written, Cowboys Full elevates the game of Poker to its rightful place as a great American entrepreneurial and intellectual endeavor. Of course, many people around the globe play poker, for high stakes and low, and the game has become as much the world's as America's.

If you would like to know more about the history of the game, with rich vignettes describing riverboat gamblers, presidents, soldiers, the pokerati, and the invariable fish, then this book will not disappoint. It is, certainly, set to go down as a definitive classic of the genre. What sets it apart from the rest is the combination of meticulous research and brilliant execution -- the qualities that may make both a formidable poker player and an excellent writer.


Positively Fifth Street: Murderers, Cheetahs, and Binion's World Series of Poker

Sometimes, nothing can be duller than reading about a particular hand in poker, especially if you'd rather be playing a hand than reading about it. However, the writer here not only re-tells with great style some of the classic poker hands (e.g. the "dead man's hand"), but also gives a well-researched history of our national card game. I especially recommend this as a gift for a poker-lover. Also, his analysis of several current political figures based on type of poker they might play seems dead-on to me.