Rating: 
Summary: Aces!
Review: A great book about a great game. If you love poker, smart writing and a veteran's 'war stories' about the gambling life ... this book is the ONLY book. Bellin deals a fine hand! If you know nothing about poker, then consider this book an education. You'll learn more about the game in 50 pages of this book than playing poker for an entire career.
Rating:
Summary: A pure joy to read!
Review: Andy is playing Texas Hold 'Em poker in an underground club in Manhattan. Stakes are high. He's dealt some good cards and draws the best possible hand under the circumstances, a straight. He hides the strength of his hand, letting players with inferior hands set the action (and stay in the hand). The pot grows. The last card improves his hand to a flush, but someone could use the communal cards to make a higher flush. An opponent pushes all his money into the pot. Did Andy blow it by letting the opponent draw cards without paying enough for the privilege? Is he going to save $3,000 by folding the hand? Who has the better cards? Will Andy call the bet? The adventure begins. Over the 256 pages - which vanish in a flash, if you ask me - Bellin tells us, if not all he knows, all we can get a top insider in the poker world to share. The rules, the odds, the calculations. Vegas poker. AC poker. NY poker. Characters like the minister who plays in his local game, the young investment banker who borrowed money from everyone in the club before disappearing, the waitress who slept with Andy and stole his Rolex, only to hock it for poker money and show up at his table the next night. He tells fascinating stories about Doyle "Texas Dolly" Brunson, the late Stu "the Kid" Unger, Johnny "Oriental Express" Chan, and Benny Binion. He explains the relationship between poker and math, poker and luck, poker and religion, poker and relationships, and poker and work. By the time you get to the end of the story, you find out what happens with that hand of poker. More important, you see inside a whole world that is created whenever people, cards, and money come together. You would be hard pressed to name a book about any gambling endeavor that I have not read, or any poker book worth its weight in dollar chips. If you know poker books, then you loved Al Alvarez's The Biggest Game in Town and Anthony Holden's Big Deal. This book is, by every possible measure, as good or better. If you don't know a thing about poker, this book will appeal to you. Reading can take you to experiences you never knew, put you right there. This book does that, then does one better by examining the experience from numerous angles. If you are looking for a gift for someone who has any interest in poker and knows how to read, they will enjoy it. If you love the game yourself, this book will teach you the lore and history, and the characters, some insight on improving your game. (I have no economic interest in Mr. Bellin's book that contributes to this positive review. In fact, it has encouraged me to find the locations of local poker clubs, something that, unless I take his playing advice seriously, will COST me money. The book will give you the itch to play.) Mike C
Rating:
Summary: Easy Journey Through The Poker Subculture
Review: I found Andy Bellin's new book to be a smooth (my highest compliment), literate, easy read on the journey through the different levels of the poker subculture. Entertaining and highly readable-- perfect for the night-time bedstand for those of us who are hooked on "America's game". Andy touches most of the required bases, from entertaining stories to odds and probability to the World Series of poker-- and wraps the whole thing in his own "personal journey" that has it's own twists and turns. A job nicely done.
Larry W. Phillips,
author of "Zen and the Art of Poker"
Rating: 
Summary: Not Much Meat
Review: Here's another example why books about gambling are mostly a deadly bore. This weak book either insults the intelligence of people who know something about poker or fails to present a single new idea to hold our interest. For my money there's been three books that capture what playing poker is really all about: "Biggest Game in Town," "Big Deal," and "Telling Lies and Getting Paid." Also, they're written beautifully. And I can't harldy say that about this one, which seems very amateurish at times. I'd "fold" this bore and "raise" with Alvarez, Holden, and Konik.
Rating:
Summary: A great book, not just a great poker book
Review: I loved the hell out of this book. There's hundreds of books about poker out there (and I've read a lot of them) but this is not a how to book. This is more of a travelogue through a parellel world filled with unique characters and a memoir of an interesting person with interesting tales to tell. Yes, you'll learn something about the game of poker, some things not to do, others to watch for. But what makes this a great book is that you would enjoy it even if you had never played a game of poker before in your life. Andy Bellin is a great writer, and a great writer can write well on any subject. This is a book that stands on its own terms for its humor and economy of style. I think most readers will have a hard time putting it down.
Rating:
Summary: Poker Isn't Only for Guys
Review: Listen, I don't play poker, but my boyfriend does. I bought this book to try to gain some insight as to why he stays out all night playing with his friends. And you know what? I got it. I got it so much that I think poker is sexy. And now I'm playing late night's with my friends. I thought the book was conversational, approachable, easy to understand, and funny. I was totally captivated by the characters, and writing. And I swear I learned enough to be a better player than my boyfriend.
Rating:
Summary: Smart, compelling, extraordinarily readable poker trip
Review: I am not an unbiased reviewer of this book. The author is my friend. But he is also the guy who taught me to play Texas Hold 'Em and other criminally fun poker games. So I can honestly report that this book captures all the energy of a poker table.
This is a special book. Part "how-to" manual, part history book, part road trip and part joke compendium, POKER NATION weaves the many tangled threads of a great game. Impressively, it's all these things without ever trying too hard. Bellin writes with such an easy, conversational style that the book feels like an old pal is telling stories. Meanwhile, he still manages to slip in painless little lessons and probability problems. By the end of the book, the reader is not only immensely entertained, but is a better poker player.
POKER NATION provides all of the action, thrill and brain rigor of a 10-hour visit to the Taj, without the secondhand smoke. Highly, enthusiastically recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Bet It All On Poker Nation
Review: I snagged a copy of this book for my father, who loves poker. I myself have never been a huge card playing fanatic, but my Dad is. However, I started flipping through the book before I gave it to him, and found myself reading the entire thing. It's fascinating stuff, in my opinion more enjoyable than a poker game itself. I hope Dad agrees (although I don't think there's anything more enjoyable than an actual poker game to him, I'm sure he'll love the book all the same). I highly recommend it. ...
Rating:
Summary: Life in the eyes of semi-professional poker player
Review: I've read quite a few books about poker and this one is one of the best. You will not find many very valuable insights into the theory of poker (although there are a few that could be useful depending on the reader experience and familiarity with the game). But it really shows in unadorned way a life in semi-professional poker or of somebody in second echelon of professional players. The style of writing with self deprecating irony makes for an easy fun reading on quite serious subject. Every chapter touches a very different aspect of playing serious poker: tells, cheating, poker and realtionships, poker as a game of statictical probabilities, etc. It's difficult to tie such different subjects together but somehow it all provides for logically complete picture. Even the book is not written to be a complete introduction to the game of poker, it gives a very useful overview, including a poker lexicon, so that somebody will not be completely lost while playing for the first time in casino.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, even if you don't like poker...
Review: This is not an instructional manual on how to play poker. There are already way too many of those in publication, with every pro player writing one these days. This book is a look at the poker lifestyle, the players, the history, with a little theory thrown into the mix. Bellin tells some good stories and seems like a good guy, not someone who thinks he's the best poker player in the world. This book is entertaining and informative. Read it. Poker has become huge, and now, everyone who sees it on TV thinks they can play at the professional level. I watch a lot of basketball on TV but I know there's no way I could step onto the court and compete. So give up the dream folks, because you're not world-class poker players.
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