Poker Nation - by Andy Bellin (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"Poker Nation is a travelogue to the quirky world of competitive poker, an exploration of poker obsession and addiction (not necessarily the same thing) and a primer on mathematics, poker lingo and technique. Entertaining and accessible." --USA Today

Journalist and poker fanatic Andy Bellin takes readers on a raucous journey into the shut-up-and-deal world of professional poker. From basement games to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, you'll 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 take his beatings like a man. Even if you don't know the difference between a flop and a river card, Bellin keeps you in the game with his portraits of the colorful players, dreamers, hustlers, and eccentrics who populate this strange subculture. Along with learning what goes on behind the scenes in illegal poker clubs, you'll get great advice on how to play Texas Hold'em, today's game of choice for big-money players.

From the Back Cover

Journalist and poker fanatic Andy Bellin takes readers on a raucous journey into the shut-up-and-deal world of professional poker. From basement games to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, you'll 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 take his beatings like a man. Even if you don't know the difference between a flop and a river card, Bellin keeps you in the game with his portraits of the colorful players, dreamers, hustlers, and eccentrics who populate this strange subculture. Along with learning what goes on behind the scenes in illegal poker clubs, you'll get great advice on how to play Texas Hold'em, today's game of choice for big-money players.

Review Quotes

"An insider's wonderfully entertaining and instructive guide to high-level poker and its Runyonesque characters--a cautionary tale in that it makes you wish you played the game more skillfully and at the same time, sigh with relief that you don't. Quite simply, a royal flush of a book!" -- George Plimpton

"Poker players and writers are by their nature very competitive people: so understand that as someone who fancies himself adept at both it causes me a measure of pain to tell you that Andy Bellin has written a good--oh hell make that great--book. Mixing history, strategy, mathematics, and autobiography, Bellin entertains, educates, and illuminates. For fans of poker and good writing this is the stone-cold nuts." -- Peter Alson, author of Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie

"Most books on poker aren't worth a busted flush, but Andy Bellin is one guy who knows his way around the table. Whether he's counting cards, reading an opponent's 'tell, ' or regaling you with tales of larger-than-life cardslingers, he's always at the top of his game." -- Phil Helmuth, 1989 World Series of Poker Champion, all-time leading money winner at the WSOP, and author of Let's Play Poker

"Poker Nation is an invitation to the lower depths, with a high-spirited, genial screw-off for our Virgil." -- The New Yorker

"If you are in AC in a game of Texas Hold'em with someone who knows only half as much as Bellin, don't play it all the way to the river. You're drawing dead. He wins. Cash in your chips and go home with a good book about poker--like this one." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Even after the grim realities are revealed, the book still buzzes with enough high-stakes betting and cigar-stained grit to fill any man with visions of big money, beautiful women, and the bright lights of Vegas." -- Men's Journal

"Poker Nation is a travelogue to the quirky world of competitive poker, an exploration of poker obsession and addiction (not necessarily the same thing) and a primer on mathematics, poker lingo and technique. Entertaining and accessible." -- USA Today

"Amusing and instructive." -- Washington Post

"Andy Bellin has written a good--oh hell make that great--book. Bellin entertains, educates, and illuminates." -- Peter Alson, author of Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie

"Smart, insightful. It's one of the few entertaining poker books around." -- John L. Smith, Las Vegas Boulevard

"Bellin's prose shimmers." B+ -- Entertainment Weekly

"Breezy, informative...[Bellin] knows his way around the poker table and he tells a good story." -- Philadelphia Inquirer

"Colorful and insightful." -- Kansas City Star