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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.

March 8, 2008

Drowning in Poker

If you're looking for a good, entertaining, informative, quick read, I've got a book for you.

First, though, you'll have to get beyond the title of this little piece of work. Then you'll have to accept the fact that it's written by a woman. (Can you believe that in this time of freedom we have men who won't read anything written by a female -- and a lot of those guys play poker!) Next you'll have to get one step beyond the subject matter, which we'll get to in a few paragraphs.

To help you leap over some of the hurdles, I'll tell you first that the book is about poker.

Poker, yes, it's about poker, not immediately about poker, but soon enough. And it's also about the side game that only those who become totally immersed in it (and their loved ones) ever see or experience. Even so, those who can relate to it might not want to admit that the subject matter hits a sore spot.

The book is titled "Hats and Eyeglasses." (I warned you.) But the subtitle -- "A Family Love Affair with Gambling" -- gets a tad closer to definition.

Martha Frankel (the author) grew up around gambling, first by sitting on the knees of uncles, pretend uncles and a father who went by the name of The Pencil as they played living-room poker, then by accompanying these same men to the racetrack. Her biggest accomplishment in her early years was picking a 62-to-1 longshot, which earned her the dubious respect of her father's crowd.

In her adult life, she began writing, establishing herself as someone who could get the story, especially in interviews with celebrities.

While Martha was becoming a writer, her cousin Keith, the darling boy of the clan, continued the five-finger-discount tradition of the uncles, plunged into gambling and drugs and spent time in jail. In addition to turning Martha on to the drug scene, he also, eventually, taught her how to play poker.

The idea of learning the game evolved after the completion of a screenplay about the circus. A movie never emerged but the mere sale of the manuscript was reason enough to pursue another idea -- a bank robbery thriller where one of the victims (a woman) was a card shark. To make this character realistic, Martha decided to learn more about poker.

Between the time one of her uncles had explained what he meant by hats and eyeglasses until she begins turning away lucrative writing assignments, from the time she discovers the early version of online poker until she takes her first poker cruise, Martha Frankel squeezes in minute details about life in the Bronx and Yonkers, about Jewish mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles, about how she eventually became totally hooked on poker and about how she finally broke the spell it had on her.

This is worth the read, folks. This is worth the read not just because of what's been condensed here but also because of the intricate details that form a picture of what poker can do if we let the demon gain control. It's blunt, funny, honest and informative.

It's not maudlin, not preachy, not even suggestive. It's just a story, a true one, and like any good story, it will make you think and perhaps wonder.

And finally, wait until you see how Martha learns to play poker. You'll know she's telling the truth as she relates how she discovered how to extract information from her opponents without every letting them know she's just hooked a tell that will let her reel in what they think are their pots.

I'll admit I wasn't interested in reading this book when I first heard about it. But the type was easy on the eyes, it was just a bit over 200 pages in length, and instead of reading another tutorial, I wanted to read something by someone who might have belonged to Garrison Keillor's mythical Professional Organization of English Majors. I picked a good one.

By the way, I gave you a hint in this article's title as to what hats and eyeglasses mean. It's ... nah, I'll let you find out for yourself.