Books

I've always felt that Jay Greenspan, author of Hunting Fish: A Cross-country Search for America's Worst Poker Players, was a writer's writer and a gambler's gambler. But even Jay impressed me when I learned that his wedding vows included a high stakes game of Roshambo (rock-paper-scissors).

Apparently the bride and groom used a winner-take-all Roshambo "one throw" to determine who would have to say their vows first. Although clearly more experienced than his lovely bride to be, Jay consulted with tiltboy and 2006 WSOP bracelet holder Rafe Furst.

To find out who prevailed, you'll have to check here.

See April's review of Hunting Fish

Hey, lookie here ... just electronically stumbled across this presumably great new book -- Women's Poker Night: Stories and Strategies from the Feminine Side of the Felt.

Learned about it from Texas poker pro Michele Lewis, one of the contributors. But what I didn't know was that two of her co-authors were Jen and Amy. Sweet! Congrats on the release! Other writers in the book include Cyndi Violette, Barbara Enright, and Rose Richie -- that's quite a poker-chick-lit posse.

April, your book review seems to make it an appropriate time to dig up this leftover, unpublished podcast from the WSOP. It was recorded in the Rio poker room as our own Tuscaloosa Johnny had advanced to Day 2 of the main event and was eyeing his potential competition -- as Day 1 came to a close -- with none other than Jay Greenspan.

Click below to hear Johnny and Jay talk about how atrocious play could be at the WSOP.

"For the early levels in particular, the people don't understand deep-stack poker," Jay says regarding the prevalance of two-card poker. "They don't really understand how to play the additional streets."

MP3 File

P.S. I'm actually in Jay's book, and happened to have one of my worst sessions ever when he was in town. Should the subtitle worry me?

Despite our rapid acceptance of online poker and the ease with which it puts us in nearly every game/limit combination imaginable, most poker players still imagine themselves living the life of Doyle or TJ, hitting the highway in search of a game, chasing after the win that'll make it all worthwhile. It's a poker players dream - pack a suitcase, hit the ATM, and leave all responsibilites behind as you travel coast to coast to see if you've really got what it takes to play among the best.

For Jay Greenspan, the dream not only became a reality; it got sweeter when he sold the idea of a book chronicling his cross-country poker trek to a publisher. The result is a fantastic narrative about the successful search for truly terrible poker players, and the drive great players have to put themselves to the test.

Greenspan starts his trip as a man on a mission - travel from his home in Brooklyn to the $10/$20 no-limit Hold'Em game at the Commerce Casino in California. Along the way, he'd hit as many casinos and backroom cash games he could find in order to build the bankroll he'd need to take a seat at the Commerce game. Greenspan played at Foxwoods, in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, and sought out home games in South Carolina, Georgia, and Texas, changing the names of his hosts to preserve their privacy, and meeting a cast of characters undoubtably similar to the ones you find sitting across from you when venturing to the non-virtual felt.