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Maryann Guberman has been a writer and editor with many gaming publications, including Sports Form, Card Player, Poker World, Player's Panorama and Systems and Methods. She also has written and edited numerous books on gambling.

Jun 30, 2007

Poker by the Words

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. -- Benjamin Franklin

In endeavors that require many pieces of parchment that denote higher education degrees, printed material often feels stodgy, without flavor, flat.

For instance: Presumably the structural engineering student reading "Forensic Geotechnical and Foundation Engineering" by Robert W. Day will understand the work. (By the way, his work is not stodgy, is not without flavor is definitely not flat.) Now this author is a forensic engineer so it's fairly likely he covers his subject with complete and total accuracy. Does he do it in perfect English? Will his grammar draw praise from his high school teacher or cause a cringe not unlike the one that comes with fingernails scraping across a chalk board? Did he have a decent editor who made sure subject and verb agreed? Was he careful not to misplace the word only? Do his readers care that he turned a perfectly descriptive noun (silt) into a verb (silted up) when describing an old court case involving dikes and dirt?

I bet his readers don't really care.

This expert, like many professionals, knows how the game works; the basics are second nature to him; the intricacies are well grounded; the intangibles are open for investigation, experimentation, and finally conclusion drawn on all the data available.

That's how it is with poker and how it is with poker authors, both those who publish with major houses and those who choose to self publish.

Sure, it would be terrific if poker pros could realize that words like flop and blind are not proper nouns and don't need an upper case letter. It would be great if everyone would agree to write the word hold'em in one format - not with an uppercase H or E and preferably without a space between hold and 'em since today's word processors don't (or were not programmed properly to) understand and use smart quotes. And, in deference to at least one player whose expertise is miles above mine, hold'em is not one word (holdem), a form that deflates the color and mystique of the game's origin.

Producing a poker book with near-perfect spelling and grammar is probably impossible. Usually the writer won't be a grammarian or the editor won't be a poker player or the publisher won't care (gasp). For the most part, though, the works intended to help readers become more proficient can pass mustard. Poker pros understand the subject matter; it's second nature to them. They almost always -- the exceptions being those less polished players who want to cash in on the poker phenomenon and have nothing new to offer -- have their mind wrapped around the intricacies of the game; and they know how to investigate the intangibles for drawing conclusions - an asset that makes them professional players.

After all, in an attempt to be perfectly understandable, to be totally free of interpretation, we want to be able to understand a book without having to re-read sentence after sentence.

We don't want our books to sound like legal documents that take another expert to interpret.

Naturally, I prefer to read poker books penned by people who have a good command of the readable word. I will plow through the tomes that sound as if they were written by students just learning the rudiments of writing and who harbor a need to over explain - because they are there. I will even learn from them; but if I can get the same information from someone with style, that's my preference.

Here are a few of the leading poker writers who know how to twist a tale or define a draw with aplomb, authors I will make time to read because they can write as passionately as they play.

Anthony Holden. When "Big Deal" first hit the shelves, I read it immediately. As Holden described his successes and failures, I found myself nodding and smiling and agreeing. His tale about earning his way into the 1989 championship event at the World Series of Poker was so on target that I finished it in just one sitting. (And I know who borrowed and never returned my autographed copy, girl!) His newest poker book is a follow up to this one; it's titled "Bigger Deal", and I hope to read it this weekend.

Michael Craig. Looking for a writer who can get inside the minds of players and can lay their thoughts bare on paper? Craig is the man. When he told the story of the now-legendary high-stakes game between a gazillionaire banker and the world's top poker pros in "The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King," the book became one of the most intriguing on my list, and it put Craig in my top ten favorite poker writers. I've just started reading "Full Tilt Poker Strategy: Tournament Edition" and I must say, he's put together a book based on styles and strategies of some of the most successful tournament players in the business - and I'm surprised to see material that even the published authors he includes reveal stuff that's not in their own works!

Michael Konik. This guy is phenomenally talented. He is a poker player, a sports bettor, a jazz singer, a TV commentator and he has a way with words that makes his books hard to put down. He captured the true side of gambling in "The Man With the $100,000 Breasts" for sure and even though it's not about poker, his The Smart Money tells a superb tale about a group of sports bettors who took millions from the casino sportsbooks. While it's not going to teach anyone how these guys got the job done, the book tells (nearly) everything else. (Most names have been changed, likely for legal reasons.)

Phil Gordon. When Phil first stooped down to get through my office doorway, my first thought was, "Gee, I am really short!" but my first words were "Wow, you are really tall!" What a dolt! He knows he's tall! But he took the statement without flinching, attesting to the fact that he must be very congenial (he is). I keep a copy of Phil's books next to my sofa because they are among the few I will read more than once. His "Little Blue Book of Poker" is one of my favorites because in it he writes about his thought processes during the play of hands and he never leaves us hanging. He literally shows how he uses knowledge, previous investigation and current data to draw conclusions. And he explains why, even though he engineered all the right decisions, his bridge fell apart.

Des Wilson. If you never read "Swimming with the Devilfish", you might have seen Wilson's work in some of today's poker magazines. The transplanted New Zealander writes a good story about players and he's about to release what promises to be a super book about a journey through the life of poker. (That's my synopsis based on what he's had to say about the contents.) Wilson is an easy read, an enjoyable read. Like the others in this group, he puts his entire persona into pulling you into his words and making you feel as if you are a participant rather than an observer. Good stuff.

This list of my favorite poker writers is not complete. It's just the one that features authors who have newly released works I will read immediately. Those who did not appear either showed up in previous columns, will show up in future columns or will go to the bottom of the list because they are boring, totally inaccurate, repetitive, or ... well, I'll figure out the next publishable reason soon.

These individuals listed here all have that special talent that can translate into other genres. I'm fairly certain they could all write super fiction as well as non fiction that focuses on subjects other than their specialty (and in fact, some do). They are the kind of writers who make hacks like me a tad jealous and the kind that bring enjoyment to my reading time.

They don't just explain how the poker bridge gets built; they make you want to build one and collect the dividends yourself.