Poker - Hardcover

Alvarez, A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0747553777 ISBN 13: 9780747553779

Publisher: Bloomsbury, 2001

Synopsis

Depicts a subculture rich with legend - from the no-limits Hold'em game to the late 20th-century World Championships in Las Vegas. Its terminology underpins modern life: Alvarez tells us "passing the buck" came from the baize table, as did "bluff", "above board", and "something up your sleeve".

About this title

About the Author:

A. Alvarez is the author of numerous books and anthologies of poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and criticism. He is also a frequent contributor to the New Yorker and the New York Review of Books and perhaps the only published poet ever to participate in the World Series of Poker. His book about the series, The Biggest Game in Town, has become a cult classic. He lives in London.

From Library Journal:

In the lush tradition of its leisure books by Barnaby Conrad (Absinthe, The Cigar, The Martini), Chronicle Books offers this coffee-table companion to poker by New Yorker writer, poet, and card shark Alvarez. The author, an Englishman with a taste for risk and things American, claims safely that he is "perhaps the only published poet ever to participate in the World Series of Poker." Alvarez has sat more than once at the table of poker's heavies that meets each May in Las Vegas, an experience he covered in The Biggest Game in Town (o.p.). This handsomely illustrated work is a mixture of social history and wry personal tribute to this psychological art, from poker's first published reference (to cheating) in 1844 through tales of the game's legends such as "Texas Dolly" Bronson, "Puggy" Pearson, "Amarillo Slim," and the most famous of all players, Wild Bill Hickok, whose death in a South Dakota poker game in 1876 gave us the expression "Dead Man's Hand" (two aces and two eights). This charming book won't help you lose any less money, but it will make your weekly game seem part of a grand American tradition. Recommended for poker enthusiasts and larger sports and games collections. Nathan Ward, "Library Journal"
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0747553777
• ISBN 13: 9780747553779
• Binding: Hardcover