Review of Texas Hold'em: Tournaments, Cash Games and Embarrassing Social Gas

Title:

Texas Hold'em: Tournaments, Cash Games and Embarrassing Social Gas

Author:

Tony Korfman

Publisher:

Hold'em Investments, LLC

Date:

2007

ISBN:

0-9791971-0-4

Pages:

389

Price:

$19.95

Reviewed by Nick Christenson, npc@lvrevealed.com

January 30, 2008

For those who lament that poker books don't contain enough jokes about flatulence these days, I've got some good news. Tony Korfman's magnum opus has filled this glaring hole in the poker literature with his new book, Texas Holdem: Tournaments, Cash Games and Embarrassing Social Gas.

This book is filled with Korfman's musings on poker, life, family, aging, and more poker. The format is free form. It's a collection of essays that generally range from a half page in length to four or five pages. These are chunks that are easily digestible in small doses. With 385 pages, though, the book contains a lot of these stories, so the book will probably last most readers quite a while. From a motion picture standpoint, I'd give the book an "R" rating for "adult language", although that shouldn't be confused with "mature language." As a bonus, the cover says the book is endorsed by ninjas! How can you get any better than that? The ninjas wouldn't return my call so I couldn't personally verify their endorsement.

In my opinion, the book is at its best when it parodies more strategic poker books. For example, Korfman includes a few quizzes where the reader is invited to pick the correct response to a given poker situation. As the subtitle might suggest, the author's ideal solutions often involve audible body functions, but on occasion they contain some significant insight into what all of us are really thinking at the poker table. Truthfully, most of the humor isn't quite my style, but I still found much of it to be quite funny. Funny enough for me to recommend the book to myself? Close, but not quite, but I'm certain many poker player out there would find it funny. I suspect that few of this audience knows the book exists.

I don't imagine that very many people have heard of Texas Hold'em: Tournaments, Cash Games and Embarrassing Social Gas as it is a self-published project. While Tony Korfman isn't in the same league as Dave Barry or other big-name humorists, I think there is probably an audience for his book, if only they could find it. If a goofy book filled with word play and jokes about poker and body functions sounds like it might be amusing, seek the book out and read one of his stories. If you like what you read, by all means buy it. After all, what are the odds that so many ninjas would be wrong?

Capsule:

Tony Korfman's Texas Hold'em: Tournaments, Cash Games and Embarrassing Social Gas contains his humorous insights into life and the world of poker. The verbal word play and body function jokes aren't really my thing, but I found myself laughing at several points in the book. I think there are a large number of poker players out there who would really enjoy this it, and I'm hoping those who would enjoy Korfman's work will take the time to track down a copy. Is this classic meant for everyone? No. Are there people out there who would enjoy it? I think so.

Note: I received a free review copy of this book from the author. I have no other interest, financial or otherwise, in the success of this book.