Review of The Little Book of Poker
- Title:
- The Little Book of Poker
- Author:
- David Spanier
- Publisher:
- Huntington Press
- Date:
- 2000
- ISBN:
- 0-929712-97-8
- Pages:
- 170
- Price:
- $8.95
August 13, 2000
In the year 2000, the gambling community lost one its pre-eminent
authors and characters in David Spanier.
Although I never had the pleasure of meeting
Mr. Spanier, everyone I've talked to has described him as one of
the most delightful people they've ever met. Perhaps
more importantly, though, he is survived by his writing, much of which
is of the highest caliber the gambling literary corpus knows, including
such classics as Welcome to the Pleasuredome and Inside
the Gambler's Mind, although at the time of this writing, both
are sadly out of print.
Spanier also has the distinction of having the first (perhaps only?)
regular poker column in a daily newspaper, in London's
Indpendent. The Little Book of Poker is
a collection of these columns discussing poker strategy and giving
a glimpse into the poker world which was edited for publication in
England in 1999. Huntington Press
picked up the US publication rights, Americanized the text somewhat,
and published this book just a few months before the author's passing.
As is customary in a book of essays, Spanier splits his columns into
eleven topical sections, with such headings as "Action Venues",
"Poker Folk", "Weird Things Happen", "World Series of Poker", etc..
Many columns are devoted to specific hands or events that come up
in various games, and often these occur in various clubs or home
games in which the author has personally participated. In all cases,
Spanier makes the characters really come alive for the reader with
the insight and knowledge that only someone who is both a skilled writer
and an inveterate poker player has.
On the down side, for American readers, most of the games written about
are pot limit, as is most commonly the case in Europe, and some are about
games that will be unfamiliar to American readers, like London Lowball.
However, anyone who has played a few games, and especially anyone who
has played in a few home games, will easily be able to pick up the
gist of the game in question.
Also, Spanier, while being a very skilled writer and knowledgeable about
poker, is not, in my opinion, in the same league as a player as many of
the great
poker players who write books. While his articles are always entertaining,
I think he gets some of his analyses of hands a bit wrong, for example,
when examining the classic hand at the end of the movie The
Cincinnati Kid in his essay titled, "Risky Business".
Consequently, the serious poker student isn't going to improve their
play much from reading this book, but that's not its purpose. It is
a very well written diversion about poker, an entertaining read about
the game we love, not a treatise on proper play, although there is
some good advice in the book as well. While not as good
as his master works mentioned earlier, The Little Book of Poker
is an enjoyable book worth the cost of admission, and serves as a
reminder to all of us of the spirit of a great human being who loved
the game and will be missed by our community.
Capsule:
The Little Book of Poker is an entertaining
final work by one of poker's most skilled writers. One shouldn't read
it expecting to pick up many pointers, but instead for the sheer
enjoyment of it. While it may not measure up to Spanier's classics
like Welcome to the Pleasuredome, it is certainly worth
the time and money that would be spent on it.
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