Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining and Educational
Review: Andy Bellin seems to accomplish two things in his book, Poker Nation. While it is presented as entertaining poker memoir, it's also a lesson on how to be a better player. As I was reading and laughing at his stories and characters, I noticed he would slip in situations that asked the reader to consider strategy. It's the same strategy you might find in a Sklansky book, but Bellin gives you a better feel for actually being at the table and trying to make the decision. For example. . . He talks about Rich who had a good job and a good wife, but lost everything, because he couldn't fold a hand. He had to play everything to the river. Who hasn't been tempted to play anything to end a losing streak? That's the genius of his book. It was an interesting story and a cautionary tale about foolish play. Between anecdotes he slips in the advice that it's tough to get back to even after you've lost half your money. Life is really just one big poker game. Forget whether this one session is successful. It's better to leave a game that isn't working and make your money in a future game that suits your style of play. He also advises that having a cap on winnings is foolish for the same reasons. Why can't you win a ton in one session? Bellin talks about check raising and pot odds and position and all the things that the instructional books talk about, but he offers these things in the format of situations he has encountered. Also he shares many great stories of famous and not famous players and how different people come to play poker for fun or for a living. The book is not only quick and fun to read, but it offers some great advice between the lines.
Rating:
Summary: Good book.
Review: The most obvious book to compare this volume with is McManus's POSITIVELY FIFTH STREET. That book has the advantage over POKER NATION of a more comprehensive and writerly survey of Texas Hold 'Em history, an index, and an actually useful lexicon of poker terminology. Yet POKER NATION is a better book. It reads "true-er." Andy Bellin does not fall all over himself trying to pull in classical allusions and ridiculous allegories, and he does not over-reach himself, as McManus consistently does. The segue-ways are smoother, and the focus, like that of a good poker player, is there. In short, it succeeds on its own terms. Nice work, Bellin; now get that PokerNation Web-site up already!
Rating: 
Summary: Well written, Big book material in a little package.
Review: 12 of the best dollars I ever spent on poker. Being my first book on poker, thats not saying too much. But given the fact I read it cover to cover the day I bought it, and twice more in the next 5 days, It was a excellent pruchase. Bellin shares his own experiences along with others'. He delves into the history of poker. The story about his greatest hand is well done. His background in math enables him to easily explain the odds on a layman's level. Don't skip over this one.
Rating:
Summary: I Loved This Book
Review: Only two or three chapters cover the actual fundamentals of poker which, if you're reading this book, you likely know. The other chapters go into other parts of the game like history, tells, reading players, playing in clubs and casinos, etc... I don't know why but I am a better poker player having read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating look into the world of underground poker
Review: Andy Bellin's book takes you on a trip from the underground poker clubs of New York City, to the poker rooms of Atlantic City, Vegas, L.A. and back again. He describes his experiences playing in these places, as well as the experiences of his comrades and some poker legends. There is no need to be a poker expert or even a poker player to appreciate this book. If you have ever been curious about the activities of a world beyond your safe neighborhood in the suburbs, regardless of the subject, then this is a fascinating look into a world most of wouldn't last 10 minutes. Andy does a good job of familiarizing an inexperienced poker player with the basics of the game, while at the same time giving those with experience a new perspective, and perhaps, new insight into their own game. Andy does a great job of mixing history, legendary stories, and his own personal stories along with poker basics, mathematical theory, the importance of a good memory and other poker related subjects. He touches on each one of these subjects in a intelligent way, making it both interesting for a casual poker player and enlightening for the experienced player. He does not delve into each subject with the intent on making the reader and expert, but just enough to make the reader understand and appreciate the aspects of poker and those who play it well (and for a living). This style of writing is wonderful, because it keeps the book a narrative rather than a "how to play poker" manual yet keeps the uninitiated engaged. If you are looking for a tutorial on poker that will make you an expert in any of these areas, this is not the book for you. However, if you are non-poker player or a casual player looking for a book that gives you a glimpse into the world of underground, professional and semi-professional poker, than I can think of no better book than "Poker Nation".
Rating: 
Summary: Very interesting read on poker
Review: I knew very little about the game of poker before picking this book up. After I finshed this book, I knew more than I had ever imagined. The real reason I picked up this book is for the "underground" life of poker that I knew nothing about. Bellin gives you insight on the various interesting characters involved in the world of professional and "underground" poker and how it effects the player's lives. This book was a great, fast read and if you are interested in what's taking place "underground" in your town, the people it takes in and the effect gambling has on their lives, read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: For Poker Lovers Only
Review: I picked up this book expecting to read some insider information on the world of poker. Instead this book is an uneven collection of what appear to be articles from Mr. Bellin's portfolio. As a freelance writer for magazines the author has employed the same style of writing for this book. There are some good poker stories interspersed with some revelations about the author's life, mixed in with some explanations on mathematical probabilities. Poker Nation is lacking of any cohesive narrative, and this makes reading it a chore.
Rating:
Summary: I can't ridicule the World Series of Poker anymore
Review: I remember I would flip through the TV stations and get to ESPN2 and see the World Series of Poker. I use to laugh at the fact that there was a World Series of Poker, and laugh even more because it was televised. After this book, I have to admit I was wrong to do so. In this book, Andy Bellin describes every facet of poker. From how it is played, to where it is played, to whom plays it, and how it is won. He describes his own stories, those of professional poker players and of poker addicts. He details how to win, and how skill and guile are used to make serious money. To anyone who rarely or casually plays poker, this is an eye-opener. For example, he concentrates on Texas Hold Em', which he explains is the only game poker players take seriously. He goes through the history, nomenclature, the way the odds work, and how it takes years and years of practice and money loss in order to succeed. I for one didn't know how much math and observational skill it took to win. I always thought it was mostly luck. So, when I flip to ESPN2, I'll just have to stick to making fun of Soccer and Curling. Any book that can make me respect poker players is a darn good book indeed.
Rating:
Summary: Fine piece of participatory journalism
Review: If I had a nickel for every poker book I've read I'd have a couple of bucks more than I have now. That's a tidy number of poker books. Of those books--I've still got about thirty of them around the house--none is more interesting than this fine piece of work by Paris Review contributing editor Andy Bellin. It starts out rather mundanely with a not entirely promising poker story that he doesn't finish until the penultimate chapter. There are some familiar quotes and some even more familiar poker stories (including the Wild Bill Hickok yarn about aces and eights), a table listing the ranking of poker hands (oh, boy) and another giving the odds and frequency of being dealt various hands in either draw poker or five card stud. (How valuable is that when those games are seldom spread anymore?) But then it gets interesting because what we discover is that Bellin really does know what he's talking about. He's been there and done that. Not at the highest level (see, e.g., Doyle Brunson's According To Doyle or Bobby Baldwin's Winning Poker Secrets for life there) but at the semi-pro level and as a journalist. He covers the poker experience from New York to Los Angeles through personal experience and from interviews with some of the personalities of the game including Benny Binion, Erik Seidel, Huck Seed and assorted rounders. Some of his information is from research, the Harry S Truman story, for example. He doesn't glorify the game or the players and he doesn't make himself a hero or a disinterested non-combatant either. In fact, the real value of this book is in the portrait of Andy Bellin, bright, very well-off, one-time Vassar (!) boy, who embarrassed his family and himself by spending a good part of his youth worshiping Pocahontas. In this part-memoir, part-participatory journalistic endeavor, Andy makes amends and demonstrates to all who care that actually he wasted nothing and has nothing to be embarrassed about. First of all, this is a poker book about real poker and real poker people, not the great geniuses of the game and not the low lifes hanging about--although there are a few of those--but about the fanatics, the degenerates, the semi- and sometime- pros who play like addicts or devotees of a bizarre and unforgiving religion. ("Pocahontas" is the player's goddess of poker.) Second, Bellin reveals himself blemishes and all, admitting that he sometimes cheated and got caught, that he spent some time in jail, that he wasn't as good as he thought he was, and that, like most of us, he fooled himself a whole lot. All this makes for a most interesting and disarming read. The chapter on cheating in which we see that the cheater need only cheat once or twice a night to ensure being a consistent winner, is excellent. The chapter entitled "Small-Time Pros" in which Bellin focuses on a man and women "combine" who worked the clubs in Los Angeles a few years ago (actually they played at the Hollywood Park Club, I can tell by some of the information Bellin gives; in fact I think I played against them!), we learn of the trashy glitter of sex, drugs and pocket rockets, or how to be wasted, and waste your life while you're at it. I also liked his seemingly gratuitous "idiot jail story" in Appendix A. By the time we get to the second-to-last chapter and get to see the other guy's hole cards we realize Bellin's point and why he slow-rolled the show down (but don't EVER do it again, Andy!). What he wants to demonstrate is that the quintessential thrill of poker lies in that second or two or three between the time you've made the final bet and the time you get to see the other guy's cards. Andy Bellin understands the psychology of playing poker and the lifestyle. He knows what going on tilt is all about, and proves it by showing himself on tilt on page 132 as his jacks-full get cracked by quads. And he understands what money means to the player. It means being in action, first and foremost because being out of action is the player's death. And he recognizes that even winning poker players usually end up broke. And he knows why.
Rating:
Summary: Too many subjects, not enough solid writing
Review: The ramblings of a writer and expert-level poker player (he played, and was knocked out of, the World Series of Poker one year). It's clear that Bellin is primarily a magazine article writer, for his book is plagued by Short Attention Span Syndrome. Bits of autobiography are scattered here and there, between chapters on probability, poker "tells," a primer on bluffing, a few thoughts on cheating, the perils of gambling addiction, portraits of professional poker players, even a chapter on casino mogul Benny Benion, for some reason (why him in particular?). The book is peppered with distracting poker lingo, which doesn't exactly help one sail through the passages on the probabilities of drawing various poker hands (yawn). The chapter on tells is interesting enough, but how is a study of the individual idiosyncracies and tics of Bellin's friends and associates going to help the reader? A more general assessment of the more common tells or probable tics (eyes darting away, hands covering the face, etc.) would be much more useful. The book is rambling, there are odd segues, and Bellin both repeats and contradicts himself (for example, on whether poker has a "romantic" mystique, on the benefits of his personally stacking a deck). And as if Bellin's aware that he doesn't have the material for a book length project here, he relies heavily on very lengthy quotes from his subjects: poker pros, female players, his own friends. The bottom line is this is an interesting subject, but there's too much ground covered over too short a time; Bellin's prose is clear and simple, but he's a mediocre writer when it comes to the big picture, and there's a lot of filler here.
|
