Customer Reviews

Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids: How a Gang of Geeks Beat the Odds and Stormed Las Vegas

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jon Finkel was an overweight, middle school nerd who was bullied, laughed at, and ostracized until he found his calling in a fantasy game called Magic. Magic combines the otherworldliness of Dungeons and Dragons with complex elements of card play and has become a cult game with tournaments of its own. In Jonny Magic and the Card Shark Kids, David Kushner follows the transformation of Finkel from teenage geek in the throes of Magic mania into a thin, sophisticated and extremely wealthy professional gambler who joins the highly successful blackjack counting team known as The Lawyers. The true-life story traces Finkel's evolution from bully magnet to World Champion Magic master, to card counter and shuffle tracker, to sports bettor, and onto the World Series of Poker. Throughout his adventures, Finkel is accompanied by the so-called "Card Shark Kids," a strange mix of misfits and brainiacs who find a sense of belonging through the addictive escape of Magic and carry that into the gambling world.

Kushner does an impressive job of providing condensed explanations of such wide-ranging gaming concepts as the underlying premise of Magic, the mathematical foundation of card counting, and sports betting theory, while keeping the reader engaged in Finkel's ongoing tribulations and triumphs. Interwoven within the biography is also an intriguing account of Dr. Richard Garfield, the inventor of Magic, who would be a worthy subject for his own story.

Ironically, the story's pinnacle comes via the success not of Finkel but of David Williams, another Card Shark Kid and Magic enthusiast, who claimed the 3.5 million dollar second prize of the 2004 World Series of Poker. Although Finkel is having success at poker tournaments, he doesn't yet have the crowning achievement to capture a literary climax to his own journey, so Kushner sneakily manipulated Williams' victory as if it was connected to Finkel.

What is particularly revealing about Jonny Magic from a game player's point of view, is that it provides an unexpected answer to the question, "Where are all the young guns of poker gaining the championship qualities to end up as final table tournaments players?" Apparently, a surprising number have been Magic players from a young age -- honing the essential qualities of discipline and emotional control long before tackling the intricacies of poker. And if Magic is far harder to master than poker, as Finkel suggests, Magic players would have a distinct edge.

Yet, while Finkel's tale has the makings of a fascinating read, Kushner's book isn't as emotionally gripping as one might expect from a biography about a man's metamorphosis. Even when Kushner describes a young Finkel as afraid to go to school because of such humiliating experiences as being urinated upon, the reader might wish he had a deeper and less cliched reason to root for the game-playing underdog, who we really don't get to know at any more than a surface level.

Certainly, if the inside life of a professional gambler intrigues you, Jonny Magic will satisfy some of your voyeuristic curiosity -- but be forewarned that at least half of the book is focused on Finkel's life playing Magic, and not on how he later accumulated his ample wealth as a professional gambler. If you're a Magic player, this might light your fire, but if you're not, you might be tempted to skip ahead to the casino action. Whatever else the book accomplishes, it does confirm one thing most professional gamblers already know: that brains are always a frontrunner over beauty when it comes to making money and overcoming the odds.

Jon Finkel is a great guy with a great story. Unfortunately, that story is not told very well in this book. There are just so many things that are blatantly wrong, as this book is dying for an editor (I really don't believe Jon told his father that 4 in binary is 1100, as depicted in the excerpt from the book available on Amazon, as this would be a rather unimpressive response). The author also tries to force the story of David Williams into the life of Jon Finkel, which is clearly wrong as there is little to no relation between them other than spending some time together in the late 90s. I suppose this was to try to make the story sound more appealing, as Williams won 3.5 million at the WSOP in 2004, but it has nothing to do with the story. Jon's life is interesting enough without that, but not enough detail is included as the story goes off in various places with irrelevant information.

I have to say that I was very disappointed with this book. As a card player, gambler, and English major I found this book to be bland and poorly written. The author David Kushner fails to "show" you how this young man became a success, instead he "tells" you about the growth of the lead character. The anecdotes about how a young Jonny is abused by both "Nerd" and "Cool Kid" lack emotion, at no point during these retellings do you feel any sort of pain that he was dealing with at the time or become enveloped in his struggle. If you cannot develop an emotional attachment with a character than, "Who cares?"

Kushner fails once again to develop any tension or drama in the book in Jonny's later life. Any and all adversity/ conflicts faced by our hero are dealt with and resolved with no real consequences, they are told in the same bland mundane style.

Take the example of the "Clash of the Geek Titans", Jonny's role as Magic the Gathering's greatest player is threatened by a young rival. Kushner's account of this duel is as exciting as a Baseball pre-season box score to a Basketball fan. The same level of tension is developed when a casino will not pay him his Blackjack winnings. He hires a lawyer. That's it!! No chase, no fight, no threat, no nothing.

That best sums up this book, No drama, no emotion, don't waste your time or money.

I read Kushner's Masters Of Doom and couldn't put it down. Same with his newest book. I found myself drawn in and unable to slow down...read it in only three sittings. Reminds me of Tom Wolfe's style in terms of telling a non-fiction story though in an interesting way with imagery, dialogue, etc. Could easily be a movie.

It was just terrific book. I really have to congratulate the author, David Kushner on his writing skills. The subject matter was unknown to me, but his style of writing [...] me right in, and the more I learned about Magic, the more intrigued I became. Can't say enough good about it, and am telling all of my friends!

Pros: The book was enjoyable, and what's more it's true. It was great to read about the cliche' "zero to hero" in the book, and how people are using their brains to earn millions of dollars. Having read "Bringing down the house", I was surprised that there were other teams counting cards in Vegas, and it was great to see how Jon Finkle, the main character wound up.

Cons: The writing could be better. Some parts of the book were a bit sloppy in my opinion.

Summary: A good book about a man who achieved his dreams in an unconventional way.

Overall: A solid 8/10.

They both made a decent amount of money playing Magic, then went on to make even more money gambling. Finkel is From New Jersey, Williams from Texas. I was not aware of any connection between the two of them in terms of being on the same team or similar. Eric Froelich, to my knowledge, was a friend of Finkel's and was a very young winner of a WSOP bracelet, and I believe got a slight mention in the book.

The author is clearly trying to force a connectin between two things that have enough in common that people automatically assume more than the author says. The story isn't that compelling, and Finkel's attitude towards Magic these days is decidedly poor. There is no reason to glorify him at all.

I don't play cards. I can't imagine playing all day, let alone all night.

A good day for me is getting muddy on a mountain bike. I like shooting through rock gardens just shy of the disaster threshold, and climbing until I feel sick. So it came as a surprise that Kushner's prose carried me away into this world of Magic players. Their awkwardness and their lack of social skills triggered painful flinches. Night after night I looked forward to Kushner's tale, his guided tour of the back rooms of game stores, to the awakenings of young boys finding their niche, and their transformation from misunderstood geeks to heroes. Their journey to manhood.

The story has energy and organization. Kushner starts out in the passing lane, weaving his tale through obstacles with toe-taps on the break and precise jerks of the steering wheel. You ride shotgun through the maze of an unfamiliar world with it's vivid scenes, and three-dimensional characters.

Johnny Magic is in the casino doing the mental gymnastics of a small fleet of mortals, managing the complexities card-counting in one part of his mind and the dance of appeasing the pit boss in another. He teases invitation to "the back room for a little chat". Send in the thugs stuff. Physical danger.

And there is our former geek, stone faced and cool, playing his part, an actor in a play of his own making. The stakes are real-real money, real danger. As I read, the tension builds. Leave the table I think, I have got to stop reading, big day tomorrow. Johnny stays at the table, his play scrutinized by the pit boss, a thug in an expensive suit. Johnny keeps playing cards. The chips pile up. I loose sleep.

What a great book! If you liked books like "Bringing Down the House" or "Word Freak", you'll enjoy this one too. I liked it even more on account of the gradual transformation of Finkel's persona from dork to pretty cool guy. I really felt that he was somebody worth rooting for (as opposed to Moneymaker, for example, another unlikely hero, who just seemed like a jerk in his autobiography)

Highly recommended read, quick, fun, entertaining.

Really easy and interesting read. I picked it up thinking it was strictly a poker/casino story. The book went into the Magic game, which I knew almost nothing about. It was really interesting reading about how this fantasy card game created a huge group of kids ready to take on the casinos at their own game. Made me wish I had stuck with my D&D and followed that crowd. An all around interesting story - I highly recommend it.