Review of Poker Faces
- Title:
- Poker Faces: The Life and Work of Professional Card Players
- Author:
- David M. Hayano
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- Date:
- 1982
- ISBN:
- 0-520-05067-3
- Pages:
- 205
- Price:
- Out of Print
February 28, 2002
David Hayano is a cultural anthropologist by profession. He studies
people and the societies that they form. David Hayano is also a poker
player. During the 1970s he was a "regular" at the Gardena poker clubs
in Los Angeles County. As he spent more time playing poker in public
card rooms, he couldn't help but consider the people he met as a
society. After considerable interest in some preliminary reporting
he had done about this poker society, Hayano got to work on
a systematic exploration of that culture. The result is the book
Poker Faces: The Life and Work of Professional Card Players.
Poker Faces is unlike any other poker book I've ever
read. This is neither a guide on how to win at the tables, nor is
it a collection of stories or examination of the colorful characters
that inhabit the places where poker is played. This is a scholarly
work, exploring the types of people who regularly inhabit California
card rooms. While it does not require an advanced degree in the social
sciences to understand this book, it is not light reading either.
Poker Faces is aimed at a narrower audience than the
average "How to Win Huge at Poker" treatise.
While the book is focused on "professional" poker players, it is difficult
to objectively judge who fits this categorization and who doesn't. This is
a pitfall the author understands well, but the classification of
professional in this book is largely one of self-selection, and
perhaps "card room regular" would be a more appropriate appellation.
The author presents quite a bit of information about the sorts of people
who categorize themselves as poker professionals. Poker Faces
describes their work habits, attitudes, and lifestyles, although not in
quite as much detail as I might have expected. Also, I believe that the
author's personal propensity for very long poker sessions, and his attitudes
about the part luck plays in the poker professional's life influences
his outlook on this society. However, influencing research with one's
own biases is a risk that is common
in immersive anthropological research, and one that both the field and
the author understands.
Much has changed in the poker world since this book was published, and I
believe that the society that surrounds the card room has changed as
well, although many elements remain very familiar.
Despite the fact that the research done is now 20 years old, this is still
a landmark work in gambling literature, and nothing
else has come along like it, much less to supersede it. This is unfortunate,
as I believe this society is deserving of more and deeper study.
Sadly, this book is not only out of print, but is a candidate for the
most difficult gambling book title to find on the used market. If the
idea of a systematic understanding of the poker playing society written
by someone who is both an insider and a professional anthropologist is
interesting, then don't pass up any chance to read this work. It's one of
the most interesting gambling books that I've read.
Capsule:
This out of print classic is a systematic exploration of the society
surrounding the people who regularly inhabit the poker clubs of Los Angeles
County. The author is qualified to perform this exploration both due
to his professional credentials and as a member of this society. The
book is more scholarly than the typical gambling reader is probably
used to, and in some places it doesn't go as far as I'd like in exploring
the details of this culture, but it is a landmark work and one of the most
interesting gambling books I have ever read.
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