Poker Nation: A High-Stakes, Low-Life Adventure into the Heart of a Gambling Country [Hardcover]

Andy Bellin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 5, 2002

"If you look around the table and you can't tell who the sucker is, it's you."On any given Friday night, hundreds of thousands of Americans--men and women alike -- pile into kitchens, garages, and backrooms to play their weekly poker game. From basement games in the suburbs to illegal gambling clubs in New York City to the high-stakes World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Andy Bellin has anted up with some of the world's greatest players. In "Poker Nation," he takes us on a raucous journey into the shut-up-and-deal world of professional poker.Even if you don't know the difference between a flop and a river card -- or you do know exactly what it means to have "the nuts" -- Bellin is your ace in the hole as you navigate this uniquely American terrain. Look over his shoulder as he learns to count cards, read a legendary player's body language, hang in there when the chips are down, and, yes, take his beatings like a man. Watch what goes on behind the scenes in illegal poker clubs found in every major city in the country. Meet the colorful personalities and skewed psyches of the players, the dreamers, hustlers, eccentrics, and hucksters who are all part of this strange subculture. Part memoir, part expose, part how-to (or how-"not"-to), "Poker Nation" takes a frank and funny look at one of America's enduring obsessions. It's a sure bet.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Readers who enjoy poker will love Poker Nation, an energetic and obsessive account of America's favorite card game, told with intelligence and panache. Andy Bellin writes in the first person and from the gut, recounting stories about poker fanatics (himself among them) and dispensing advice on how to play the game: "You have to maximize profits through guile and savvy, eke out every last dollar that your competition is willing to lose to you--and, when you don't have the winning cards, flee as fast as possible." Aphorisms leap off the pages: "The worst hand in poker is the second-best one at the table" and "People say the mark of a con is in the details." Whether readers prefer the anecdotes about double-bluffing and illegal poker clubs or the tips on when to hold and when to fold (there's even a table showing the "Chances of Drawing Helpful Cards from a Deck of Forty-Seven Unknown Cards"), anybody interested in its subject matter will find Poker Nation engrossing. --John Miller

From Library Journal

In a partially autobiographical account of his unusual life, journalist Bellin, a lapsed astrophysics student who left science for his true calling of professional poker, introduces us to the world of legal and illegal poker games and the cast of strange characters who can be found therein. Along the way, he offers some very good advice on how to play "Texas-Hold 'Em," today's game of choice for big-money players. His breezy, easy-to-read style allows one to enjoy the thrill of the game vicariously (in clubs from New York to Las Vegas) as well as the company of some vivid if not entirely trustworthy companions. However, he does not glamorize this high-stakes game, and his accounts of the psychological toll it takes on addicts would hardly encourage one to want to try the life of a professional poker player. Recommended for public libraries. Harold D. Shane, CUNY, Baruch Coll.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Harper; 1st edition (March 5, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060199032
• ISBN-13: 978-0060199036
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 1.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (52 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,174,424 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pure joy to read!, April 2, 2002

By 

Michael Craig (Scottsdale, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Poker Nation: A High-Stakes, Low-Life Adventure into the Heart of a Gambling Country (Hardcover)

Andy is playing Texas Hold 'Em poker in an underground club in Manhattan. Stakes are high. He's dealt some good cards and draws the best possible hand under the circumstances, a straight. He hides the strength of his hand, letting players with inferior hands set the action (and stay in the hand). The pot grows. The last card improves his hand to a flush, but someone could use the communal cards to make a higher flush. An opponent pushes all his money into the pot. Did Andy blow it by letting the opponent draw cards without paying enough for the privilege? Is he going to save $3,000 by folding the hand? Who has the better cards? Will Andy call the bet?

The adventure begins.

Over the 256 pages - which vanish in a flash, if you ask me - Bellin tells us, if not all he knows, all we can get a top insider in the poker world to share. The rules, the odds, the calculations. Vegas poker. AC poker. NY poker. Characters like the minister who plays in his local game, the young investment banker who borrowed money from everyone in the club before disappearing, the waitress who slept with Andy and stole his Rolex, only to hock it for poker money and show up at his table the next night. He tells fascinating stories about Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, the late Stu "the Kid" Unger, Johnny "Oriental Express" Chan, and Benny Binion. He explains the relationship between poker and math, poker and luck, poker and religion, poker and relationships, and poker and work.

By the time you get to the end of the story, you find out what happens with that hand of poker. More important, you see inside a whole world that is created whenever people, cards, and money come together.

You would be hard pressed to name a book about any gambling endeavor that I have not read, or any poker book worth its weight in dollar chips. If you know poker books, then you loved Al Alvarez's The Biggest Game in Town and Anthony Holden's Big Deal. This book is, by every possible measure, as good or better.

If you don't know a thing about poker, this book will appeal to you. Reading can take you to experiences you never knew, put you right there. This book does that, then does one better by examining the experience from numerous angles. If you are looking for a gift for someone who has any interest in poker and knows how to read, they will enjoy it. If you love the game yourself, this book will teach you the lore and history, and the characters, some insight on improving your game.

(I have no economic interest in Mr. Bellin's book that contributes to this positive review. In fact, it has encouraged me to find the locations of local poker clubs, something that, unless I take his playing advice seriously, will COST me money. The book will give you the itch to play.)

Mike C

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not to be compared with "The Biggest Game in Town", August 25, 2002

By 

John M. Thompson (Albuquerque, New Mexico) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Poker Nation: A High-Stakes, Low-Life Adventure into the Heart of a Gambling Country (Hardcover)

Bellin's book, being reviewed on its merits, does not necessarily shine as an instruction on poker, for which there are already many serious titles written by champion players. (If you're curious, refer to 'Poker for Dummies,' by Lou Krieger and Richard Harroch for its syllabus on poker's Great Books.) Also, it does not serve as a major insight into the great champions of all time; for this, Alvarez has the edge, and in fact this book refers extensively to 'The Biggest Game in Town'.

So why read it?

For one, Bellin writes with great accessibility, intent on reaching the educated mind that knows next to nothing about poker. Some discussion of odds, strategy and game theory enters into this as a cursory matter, but again, he knows his audience well enough to stress human stories over mathematical propositions that would interest more serious players. While the average non-player couldn't care less about the odds of drawing to a double-ended straight after the flop, he would love to know what possesses bright and otherwise capable individuals to forsake the working world and depend on cards for a living.

For another, Bellin pays far more attention to the dark and self-destructive side of poker's lure. He relates the story of Dolly and Dicky Horvath, minor pros who find themselves so benumbed by their chosen profession that they turn to drugs and prostitution to return passion to their lives and generate money with which to gamble. He talks about Korean Rich, a corporate attorney who threw away marriage and a nigh-guaranteed life of affluence because he could not control his urge to gamble. More than Alvarez does, Bellin confronts the damage wrought on people who play a game with a month's salary at risk every night, and the myriad of losers required to make others successful in poker.

It's New Journalism, but so is almost every piece of non-fiction written with attention paid to one's entertainment since Tom Wolfe. With states and county governments looking for the Easy Way to expand their revenue bases and settling on legalized gambling, it's not very unlikely that everyone will find a lawful card room within a thirty-minute drive in the next decade. As Doyle Brunson put it, "Poker is a game of people," and Bellin has served to illustrate poker's minor characters with colors as vivid as others have its titans.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart, compelling, extraordinarily readable poker trip, March 6, 2002

By 

K. Kurson (South Orange, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Poker Nation: A High-Stakes, Low-Life Adventure into the Heart of a Gambling Country (Hardcover)

I am not an unbiased reviewer of this book. The author is my friend. But he is also the guy who taught me to play Texas Hold 'Em and other criminally fun poker games. So I can honestly report that this book captures all the energy of a poker table.
This is a special book. Part "how-to" manual, part history book, part road trip and part joke compendium, POKER NATION weaves the many tangled threads of a great game. Impressively, it's all these things without ever trying too hard. Bellin writes with such an easy, conversational style that the book feels like an old pal is telling stories. Meanwhile, he still manages to slip in painless little lessons and probability problems. By the end of the book, the reader is not only immensely entertained, but is a better poker player.
POKER NATION provides all of the action, thrill and brain rigor of a 10-hour visit to the Taj, without the secondhand smoke. Highly, enthusiastically recommended.