Customer Reviews

Poker Face: A Girlhood Among Gamblers

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The book trails through Katy's memories chronologically, although selectively. She has wisely chosen to emphasize her relationship with her family and their poker lives, probably a prerequisite in order to get the book published. The reader is taken into the Lederer family home on an east coast campus, beginning with a focus on the mother's alcoholism. Then, Katy recounts her experiences in high school and college, before moving on to Las Vegas, where Howard has made himself wealthy by betting on sports and cards. Finally, Katy returns to the East Coast, and we are left with a feeling of a work in progress- Katy's life story has no climax or summation; she and her family are still in the throes of the issues raised by their unusual choice of occupation.

In general, I liked the book, because it showed the inner workings of a family that is at once familiar and strange. Their various prodigious talents and expressions of genius reminded me of two other genius families I mentioned just a short while ago: the Royal Tennenbaums and the family in The Hotel New Hampshire, right down to the physically frail and emotionally unstable youngest daughter becoming published by writing her memoirs.

The father of the family, Richard Lederer, is also known to me as the author of a series of books related to puns and various commonly made mistakes in the English language. Katy is obviously a serious literary talent, who has grown up around words being used as playthings. Howard, in addition to being a poker genius, is also a chess master. And their mother, who has an amazing rote memorization that helps her as an aspiring actress, has a special talent for puzzles.

Howard in particular is pulled into the seamier side of poker, getting sucked into a gritty lifestyle involving drugs and cat pee in New York City. But the family seems to have made good financially, even though Howard seemed to be in the midst of a police crackdown on his sports betting business as the book wraps up.

What struck me also about the book is how very embarrassing it must be to the members of the family. Howard, continually referred to as overweight, is found facedown in the midst of a drug-induced slumber. The mother is weeping all morning to herself, unaware that her daughter is watching her, and even more unaware that her daughter will eventually write about the episode for the book-buying public. I felt a little uncomfortable to be reading these things, knowing that the subjects are out there, probably not feeling all that great about the exposure.

By contrast, Katy is self-indulgent with her own portrayal, and potentially important but embarrassing episodes in her life, such as a break-up with a live-in boyfriend, are glossed over. Overall, we get a portrayal of a girl who is emotionally fragile, prone to depression and indulging that depression, who writes poetry and moons about in the background of happier goings-on because they are not appealing to her well-developed sense of being.

If you can ignore that, however, she does make interesting comments about how wealth has affected her family, and about the implications that Las Vegas's existence has on the human psyche. Money isn't happiness, she says, which is certainly a well-worn cliché, but which is never too tired a theme to be shown through interesting example, which is what Katy has done.

I guess, when I think about it, there is some self-criticism on Katy's part. She records her compulsive grade-grubbing, characterizing it as petty, and also talks about becoming a hypochondriac, but there's also a sense that these problems aren't her fault, and that they're special problems for a special person.

In the end, Katy's self-reflections and thoughts are far less compelling than the legitimately sordid and interesting tales of her other family members, and it is the portrayals of other members of the family that will stick with me into the future.

Katy is a good writer, although she is a little wordy for my tastes (she manages to use the word esplanade twice, for example). She has told the only interesting story from her personal experiences, and she probably could have told the truly interesting bits in about half the space. But I would like to read something written by her on another topic. She writes at one point that she has extensive notes and writing efforts surrounding her own stint as an aspiring poker player. This could be compelling reading, and I'd like to see more from her about topics other than herself.

Added: I saw Howard Lederer playing poker online at Ultimatebet.com, and I asked him whether Katy's book had made him unhappy in any way, what with all the revelations. He said no, not at all, and that he supported her 100%.

"Poker Face," Katy Lederer's well-written but prosaic memoir cannot decide if it is an analysis of her dysfunctional family or a discourse on America's newfound fascination with Texas Hold-'Em. When Lederer focuses on family relationships, her memoir is worthy of a raise; when she rhapsodizes about poker, she is trying to win the pot with a hand that should have been folded after the flop. Either way, we've been suckered to complete a book that should have been little more than an extended magazine piece.

Lederer unearths a fascinating, fractious family, one which consists of an alcoholic mother who yearns to act, a three-hundred pound vegan brother who excels as a gambler, a combative older sister who vaults into the big leagues of Las Vegas wagering and a literate father who toils anonymously as a teacher in an Eastern prep school before becoming a best-selling author. The youngest child in this menagerie, Katy recognizes games as the sole glue cementing her family. She never quite discovers what motivates her peripatetic wanderings, either physically or emotionally. In her life, she is an indifferent student then a grade-obsessed one; she gains employment in professions which capitalize on her obsessive qualities and dabbles herself in the harsh realities of professional poker. Nowhere is there an attachment to any one person, any one idea.

It is this detachment, however, which could have made her a talented Hold-'Em player. Her brother, sister and mother, all of whom eventually call Las Vegas home do not connect; instead they intersect, and none too gracefully. On the cusp of illegal activities, they make big bank, spend it frivolously and lead sterile lives. Aside from the adrenaline rush that poker produces, this is no kind of life for a poet, which, we find, Lederer eventually becomes.

If gambling is a zero-sum game, if for every winner there are numerous losers and if winning requires a dispassionate empathy (as the author so obliquely observes), then "Poker Face" is a perfect metaphor for the pastime Katy Lederer sets out to describe. She invites us to the table, notices our every weakness, makes us believe she has something far better than what we hold in our own hand and then takes us for all we're worth.

...of what obviously is a much deeper story then what we get. Lederer's memoirs show glimpses into a rich, quirky upbringing surrounded by a family of colorfully framed characters yet somehow stops short of fully fleshing out this tale and the folk involved. Part of the problem is attributed to the length - a quickly digestible tome of 200 pages in which within Lederer ambitiously attempts to capture:

1) a coming of age story,
2) a portrait of a dysfunctional family,
3) musings on the psychology of gamblers,
4) recollections on the process of developing oneself into a 'serious poker player,
5) a, 'making it on my own,' tale, and...
6) brief glimpses into the writing life.

Certainly an interesting memoir worthy of your time if any of the above 6 subjects capture your fancy but utlimately it will you leave wishing for more content and focus on her most interesting subjects (mostly her ruminations on poker).

This story starts out full of promise of something deep and insightful, something poignant but somewhere along the middle of the story it bogs down in mediocrity. If I want to read a how to poker book, I will. I wanted to read about the people involved in these stories. It concludes somewhat better, reaching a little further but generally a disappointment.

Katy, thank you so much for writing this book. I found it extremely interesting and enjoyable. I thought it was really interesting to see Howard and Annie's progression from playing card games with the family to being professional gamblers. This book also describes Katy's relationship with Howard, Annie, and her parents. The writing in this book is excellent!

To many people, gambling may be a hobby, or a simple entertainment, a fantasy of riches, or possibly an addiction. To Katy Lederer, it was family. In _Poker Face: A Girlhood among Gamblers_ (Crown) she has told of a very strange upbringing and the result. Her memoir goes from New England, Manhattan, and Berkeley to (of course) Las Vegas, and is a fascinating tale of attempts to beat the odds. It is sad and funny, but she has no axe to grind against herself or any of the family members whom she accepts with understanding and love. Besides being a family memoir, her book also has a good deal of reporting on how gambling is done, and in some cases, done as a career.

Games were central to her growing up. "Our parents didn't much care whether we got good grades in school. Winning at games was what mattered." No one helped anyone during the competition. When brother Howard disappeared, he was said to be homeless in New York, but actually, he had fallen in love: "He fell in love with the game of poker - not just with the cards, but with the money and the banter and the drugs." He rose from playing nickel stakes in filthy dives to becoming a professional. He ran a sports betting operation, and hired their mother as a bookkeeper for a very lucrative operation. He eventually took it all to Las Vegas, where he became a high stakes poker player. He taught their sister, and then Lederer herself. Howard's instructions were clear; what is really going on at the table has nothing to do with your cards, and everything to do with the cards of the opponents and what the opponents are thinking about them. Lederer got to be competent enough at poker only to be winning a little overall. "My sister and brother were by this time world-class players, and I lived in great fear of becoming an appendage - their little sister who could write but who was not so great at cards."

She finally folded, going back to the writing career she had begun at Berkeley. Writing is a lot like poker: cheerful and bright when all is going well, but universally glum if things are going badly. No matter the changes of mood, though, "... the absolute worst thing imaginable is to never again be in action, to never again write a word." She is certainly in the action in this exploration of love, competition, loss, and chance. She has quite generously dealt us a full house.

Having grown up with the author and knew her father - I don't feel her father was accurately portrayed. He's a very outgoing, personable guy and can get along with basically anybody. I know my father always thought very highly of him. Katy doesn't necessarily portray herself accurately either - but then again she was merely expressing her reaction to what was going on around her.

I was disappointed when the book went from being about her family dynamics to just talking about poker. She stopped suddenly talking about the dynamics of her family and focused on the 'business of poker'. Personally, I found the dynamics of her family far more interesting.

This book does not deal the reader a full hand. It tantalizes and teases the reader into thinking that there is something of substance, ultimately failing to deliver anything other than a somewhat disjointed memoir that has difficulty holding the reader's interest.

The author's family is an interesting one, so it comes as a surprise that she deals with them in so pedantic a fashion. Her father is a bestselling author and her two older siblings, Howard Lederer and Annie Duke, are high stakes poker players of renown.

The author's family had its roots in academia, while she was growing up. Her father was an English teacher in an expensive boarding school on the East Coast. Her mother was an intelligent woman who was troubled by alcoholism, which was to have an affect on the marriage and family. By the time the inevitable split occurred between the author's parents, each member of the family seemed to have gone his or her own way. There was a disconnect among its members. The only unifying factor seemed to be a love of words and games.

It is unclear from the book as to why such a family, grounded in intellectual pursuits, should digress from the path that it seemed set upon and turn out as they did. The book is difficult to follow at times, as the author herself seems unsure what path to take, not only in her own personal life, but in terms of writing this book. What should have been an interesting sojourn, as the author seems to have a good deal of material with which to work, turned out simply to be a total bore.

I suspect many readers will be drawn to this book to get an inside look at the life of professional gamblers. In the main, they will leave disappointed. This is not so much a book about gambling as it is a coming of age story of a young woman growing up in a quirky family.
There is some excellent writing in this book. Several of the scenes were quite striking. Others fell a bit short.
This book is a fast, enjoyable read, but leaves the reader wondering about what the author chose to exclude from the story. What she includes gives us a picture, but I can't help but wonder what lies behind.

This wasn't a thesis. I have an MFA in poetry, not creative nonfiction, something you would know if you had gotten past page 100. I think you are exactly right that the book is plain and careful; it concerns people who are still alive and moving about in the world, and I was aiming to convey as respectfully as possible the realities of their stories more than my own personal imaginative style. In this I think the book is anything but "false." I am sorry you were disappointed, but I would have appreciated this review more if you had read my book more thoroughly before posting it. Thanks, Katy