Poker Fiction

OK, gang, this is my virgin post so please be gentle . I've been lurking all summer. While I'm still overwhelmed by the wealth of information and insights I have yet to glean from this marvelous forum, I finally decided just to jump right in. In my introduction I said that I love everything about poker--the cards, the community and the culture. Another thing I love is reading poker fiction and I was wondering if that was true for anyone else too. The following is a list of all the books I currently have in my library. Is there any really marvelous read that I'm missing?

Broke by Brandon C. Adams
Poker Nation by Andy Bellini
King of a Small World by Rick Bennet
Lucky at Cards by Lawrence C. Block
The Rogues Game by Milton T. Burton
Rounders by Kevin Canty (based on the screenplay)
A Chip and a Chair by Stanley Cohen
The Rebuy by Burto Deluchi
Poker Slam by Neal Gersony
Ten to Call by Bob Hayes
The Mortal Nuts by Pete Hautman
Ring Game by Pete Hautman
Short Money by Pete Hautman
Drawing Dead by Pete Hautman
The Rogue by Rex Jones
Poker, Pukes and Prophets by Mr. Shen Min Ma
Shut Up and Deal by Jesse May
The Ace of Spades by Bruce McDougal
Havana by Paul Monet (based on the screenplay)
The Picasso Flop by Vince Van Patten
Dead Money by Rudy Stegemoeller
Funny Money by James Swain
Deadman’s Poker by James Swain
Loaded Dice by James Swain
Sucker Bet by James Swain
Mr. Lucky by James Swain
Grift Sense by James Swain
Deadman’s Bluff by James Swain
Under the Gun by John Vorhaus

Anthologies
Full House edited by Pete Hautman
Deadman’s Hand edited by Otto Penzler

Teen Fiction
All-In by Pete Hautman
No Limit by Pete Hautman

Female protagonists
Death on the Flop by Jackie Chance
Cashed In by Jackie Chance
Holdem Hostage by Jackie Chance
The Perfect Play by Louise Weiner
The Prop by Pete Hautman
For Glory by Elizabeth Lee
Flashes of Glory by Elizabeth Lee

Chick Lit
Girl’s Poker Night by Jill A. Davis

Harlequin’s Super Romance Holdem Series
The Baby Gamble by Tara Taylor Quinn
Betting on Santa by Debra Solenen
Going for Broke by Linda Style
Deal Me In by Cynthia Thomason
Texas Bluff by Linda Warren

That`s an impressive list. I didn`t know there were so many in the genre.

i have never seen or heard of some of these books

Oh heck, probably on the only person here that can give you a run for your money would be AG (alien genius). But his library on poker is more strategy iirc. But he may have some thoughts on fiction poker for you...


edit: You could add "Play Razz Poker to Win" by Mitchell Cogert to your fiction list. It's technically strategy, but fiction would fit it pretty well too.

Check out a book called Stone Junction by Jim Dodge(i think that's right). It has an excellent chapter where the main character is playing in a high stakes 7-2 lowball game.

I have around 50 books in my poker library and none that are on your list.Mine are mostly strategy oriented.
I agree you have an impressive list there.



Snow

Woah I've never heard of poker fiction before. I've always loved movies based on poker playing, so I imagine I might possibly like poker fiction . . . have to look into it sometime.

Impressive list -welcome to the forum!

Fiction from my library:

Poker Nation by Andy Bellin
Shut Up and Deal by Jesse May
King of a Small World by Rick Bennet
The Prop by Pete Hautman
All-in by Pete Hautman
No Limit by Pete Hautman
The Perfect Play, (a novel) by Louise Wener
Broke, a poker novel, by Brandon Adams
The Picasso Flop by Vince Van Patten
A New York Hold'em by William A. Klein
Texas Poker Wisdom by Johnny Hughes
Dead Man's Hand: Crime Fiction at the Poker Table by Otto Penzler (Editor)
Last Call by Tim Powers (fiction)
Dead Money, by Rudy Stegemoeller
Life on Tilt by John Blowers (autographed)
Why I H8 the 8 of Diamonds by Chris Flook and Justin Campbell
White Knight Black Night by Susie Isaacs

Wow! I'm in heaven. What a great place this is. I have wanted to talk poker fiction forever.

Egon, when I first started looking for poker novels I felt the same way about the number of books in the genre. Took a lot of searching, that's for sure.

desturn, I hadn't heard of hardly any of them either and that's one of the things that made my search so much fun.

Jack Daniels, I am still laughing about your suggestion to add the Razz strategy book to my collection!

Pokayr, I'll look for that book. Thanks. Sounds really interesting.

Snow, I have a bunch of strategy books too. Sometimes they make me blurry-eyed so I seek refuge in fiction. Great finish today, btw. I am so impressed. The way you came back from being down to the felt was truly amazing.

Clubsta, I love poker movies too and have a bunch of them as well. Maybe that will be yet another Lark List?!

Storm, thanks for the welcome! I guess you can tell how happy I am to be here.

As Jack Daniels predicted you came through in spades, AG! Great list. I went immediately to Amazon and ordered 4 of the books you mentioned that I don't have. The only one I didn't order was "Why I H8 the 8 of Diamonds" because there was only one left and the price seemed a bit steep.

So....of all the poker fiction you own, which are your favorites and why?

Just off the top of my head I can say that I really liked "Under the Gun" by John Vorhaus. Not only is the action good, but the poker wisdom and savvy in his novel understandably surpasses that of most, if not all, of the others. I really look forward to reading Susie Isaacs's novel for that very reason.

If anyone expresses any interest, I would be happy to write brief reviews (like 2 or 3 sentences) of the books/series in my collection. Some of them are great, and some of them decidely fall in the "don't waste your money" category.

In closing for now, I was inspired to make my virgin post by an older one by AG titled "My Poker Library". I was going to just respond to that but a little note appeared suggesting I start a new thread, so I did.

positively fifth street
james mcmanus
fiction/faction

about a writer who covers the world series of poker and the murder of one of the binions...mixes whodunnit with preparing for and playing in the tourny .

supposed to be a movie out this year?

LarkMarlow said:

Clubsta, I love poker movies too and have a bunch of them as well. Maybe that will be yet another Lark List?!

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Please list some good poker fiction movies!!! I've seen Rounders, that's about it.

Your request has been granted, Trigga! Check out "Poker Movies".

aliengenius said:

Fiction from my library:

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aliengenius said:

A New York Hold'em by William A. Klein
Texas Poker Wisdom by Johnny Hughes
Life on Tilt by John Blowers (autographed)
White Knight Black Night by Susie Isaacs

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So far I've read "White Knight Black Night" and I'm in the middle of "Texas Poker Wisdom".

While I absolutely love Susie Isaacs and was fascinated by her novel (which sort of felt to me like a fictionalized autobiography), I wanted to read more about the main character’s actual experiences at the table. Instead, all there is that through playing and writing about poker she was able to come into her own and claim her independence.

In contrast, “Texas Poker Wisdom” fills that void and much more. While reading this book I feel like I’m on the road and at the table with the likes of Brunson, Slim and Strauss just to name a few. Not only that, but Hughes offers an historical perspective I had neither considered nor read about before, such as

“In the late 1950s and the early 1960s, Maverick was a hit television series starring James Garner. He was a wise-cracking, comedic, and cowardly poker player who traveled all around the Old West. This TV series spawned a mini-boom in poker much like Rounders created a real boom in poker in the 1990s. Buddy and Matt realized it was like a weekly commercial for the poker games they ran. All the college crowd gave it a go at trying to be like Maverick, a devout anti-hero. Buddy and Matt often sang the theme song: Who is the tall dark stranger there? Maverick is his name. Riding the trail to who-knows-where. Luck is his companion. Gamblin' is his game.....”

This is the kind of book I never want to end.

Thanks, AG!

PS Hughes also does a fabulous job of detailing "the life" in modern times, particularly the Vegas scene.

LarkMarlow said:

Ten to Call by Bob Hayes

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I heard this was a good book but I cant find it. Did you like it? Where did you find it?

Yeah, Ten to Call is a "good book" in terms of being off-beat and a little on the raunchy, dark side. Though very non-trad from a literary point of view in terms of how the story unfolds and all, I really enjoyed the read in a crazy kind of way. I purchased my copy from amazon.com.

pfb8888 said:

positively fifth street
james mcmanus
fiction/faction

about a writer who covers the world series of poker and the murder of one of the binions...mixes whodunnit with preparing for and playing in the tourny .

supposed to be a movie out this year?

Click to expand...

Yup.. I've heard of & read this one ^^ (lol)... writer goes to Vegas to cover a story and plays in wsop MainEvent.. plays like a donk and does great!!
I've read a few others too, none worth repeating on here though.

yeah i know this thread is like 4 years old but since im collecting a reading poker fiction books at the moment this feels relevant for me ....first off, what a great list lark, really impressed with this and was hoping you could maybe give me an idea on what books are worth getting and what ones are not.......so far ive got 'shut up and deal-jesse may'...love it, great book imo and deffo a keeper...i got the 'big deal'-anthony holden last week and was about to read it until 'poker nation' dropped on my doorstep and got drawn to that one first....so im half way through that and again i think its great, very entertaining book and very interesting about the history of the game.......anyway im looking to get more of these books, especially since i now know that so many exist....i thought there was only about half a dozen poker fiction books lol.....so yeah quick reviews would be good...if you dont want to reply in the thread then maybe a pm will?....thanks

Wow! Now this is an awesome thread. I didn't even know there was such a thing as poker fiction. Went to google Jackie Chance and the plot for the first book looked interesting, in a cheesy way.

Thanks for the list! And for giving me new reading material!

How I would love to sit within the peaceful corridors of your library and to soak in all of that sunshine and wisdom...

“Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?"

LIFE IS A GAME OF POKER &
THE HAND YOU'RE DEALT

Thanks for the list. Will that be enough to read for a long time.