Customer Reviews

Poker as Life: 101 Lessons from the World's Greatest Game (Esquire Books (Hearst))

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

 

 

All of the other poker books I've read up to this point have focused on a combination of gameplay and history. Poker as Life is the first to address the rest of the world in table terms.
I am the type of person who finds it strange if someone doesn't gamble, and even stranger if they don't play cards. For me games of chance hold a special place in my heart and have taught me much about myself and others. The author of this book must feel the same, because in the 101 rules that make up the book he outlines the inalienable truths you learn when the chips are down.
Most people who are new to poker probably only have the stuff on TV as a reference, and that's a shame. Poker as Life gives you a glimpse of the beauty of the game and just what it can teach you.

If you are looking for a book to improve your poker game...this is not it. If you are looking to understand life as a whole...this may be it.

This is a wonderful read--brisk, blunt, sarcastic, witty, even a little nasty. But, at all times, extremely well written and engaging. It not only offers the reader valuable tools to psych out other poker players, but also provides a playbook for out-foxing all those troublesome competitors, foes and rivals that we encounter in life. Highly recommended!

You don't have to love poker to enjoy this book. I'm a mediocre player myself and will never confuse a card game with real life, but this book is so damned readable -- smart and provocative and memorably snarky -- that I savored it the way I'd savor the conversation of a wise, battled-tested old pro in virtually any walk of life. The hundred chapter epigraphs alone are worth the price of admission and constitute, taken together, a nice little primer on the game.

This gem of a book satisfies all the criteria for a perfect read; it's short (231 pages, not including the index), concise (101 two to three page lessons, instructive without being verbose, succinct, observant,and accurate.

Poker IS Life and Life IS Poker.

Thanks to the author, LR Schreiber for sharing his accumulated wisdom from his years at the poker table.

This is a terrific little book...filled with gems of game wisdom that carry over to "real life. Highly recommended!