The Godfather of Poker by Doyle Brunson with Michael Cochran
What can I say about Doyle Brunson that hasn't already been said? He's the winner of ten World Series of Poker bracelets, including two Main Events, plus more other poker tournaments that I can name. He's the author of what is arguably the most important poker book ever written. More than anything else, he has held court at the top of the poker world for five decades and counting. It should be clear to even the most casual poker fan that Doyle Brunson's story is one that's worth telling. He recounts the remarkable tale of his life in the aptly named, The Godfather of Poker.
Brunson got his start in a tiny community in the heart of Texas. His initial claim to fame was as an athlete, renowned as both a great distance runner and as an outstanding basketball player. With his education completed and athletic career ended due to a crushed leg, he discovered he had a real passion, as well as an aptitude, for the game of poker. He has made his living through this game ever since, first by "fading the white line" in Texas and later in Las Vegas.
I don't think I'm going too far out on a limb to say that Doyle Brunson is the single most influential person in the history of the game of poker. The story of his life goes hand-in-glove with the rise in popularity of the game. This level of fame actually leads to my biggest concern in coming to this book; so much of Brunson's story has already been told. Books such as The Biggest Game in Town and All-In, as well as numerous magazine articles, have chronicled large chunks of this man's remarkable life. Is there anything left to tell?
The Godfather of Poker assuaged all of my concerns. It's true that I've read many of the stories recounted in The Godfather of Poker before. However, there is a lot of material here that's new, or at least it's new to me. Moreover, many of the familiar stories come across as different in the context of the book. As individual articles it's easy to be enchanted by the occasional "colorful", even violent, story from Brunson's past. Collectively, these stories come together to paint a much darker picture of the author's early life. I believe The Godfather of Poker provides a much truer picture of what led to Doyle Brunson to become the person he is than the aggregation of everything else I've read about him.
With everything that Brunson has been through in his life, another concern I had was whether he would be willing to be truly thorough in recounting his life's story. There is precious little documenting the Texas poker circuit of the 1950s and 1960s, and we depend on those few who were eyewitness to this critical period in the development of the game for everything we know about this time frame. Again, Brunson has exceeded my expectations.
First, the author bares his soul on many topics that he has seemed reluctant to discuss before, including his relationship with his father, his grief at the death of his daughter Doyla, and the fact that his alma mater basically turned its back on his athletic accomplishments due to his profession. Further, the downside to a person's longevity is that one lives long enough to experience the loss of so many friends. We get to hear Brunson's reflections on Chip Reese, Puggy Pearson, Johnny Moss, "Sarge" Ferris, and many other luminaries who played key roles his life.
The second way in which I was surprised was with Brunson's willingness to add names to most of his stories, especially those of his Texas road days. Of course, there's a fine line between detailed background and gratuitous gossip. I get the strong sense that there are probably some people that the author still isn't willing to indict, and, consequently, some stories he still isn't willing to relate. I'm sure there will be Brunson critics out there who won't be satisfied with the choices the author makes here, but it's my opinion that he has managed to deftly walk a fine line. I just appreciate the level of detail he has provided in this book.
I do have a few minor reservations, though. Toward the end of the book, it falls away from its chronological narrative and becomes more a series of philosophical musings. I would have preferred it if these expositions could have been woven more seamlessly into the fabric of the book. Also, there are some gaps in the storytelling that I would have preferred to have been filled in. For example, late in the book Brunson informs us that he became a skilled marksman during his stint in the National Guard. I found myself trying to recall if the fact that he was a Guardsman was even mentioned earlier in the book.
Upon lifting the front cover I was hoping I'd find a book that was a truly thorough account of the life of Doyle Brunson, one that would present information and a viewpoint I hadn't heard before. While The Godfather of Poker isn't absolutely everything I could possibly imagine, it achieved more of what I was looking for than I had expected. I'm sure there will still be some who are disappointed by what might wind up being the final word on the life of Doyle Brunson, but I am not one of them. Anyone interested in the history of this remarkable man, who I expect would be everyone with even a casual interest in the game of poker, should want to read this book. I definitely recommend it.
Poker: Bets, Bluffs, and Bad Beats by A. Alvarez
In poker circles, Alvarez is most known as the author of The Biggest Game in Town, a classic story of his observations of the early years of the World Series of Poker. His latest book on the game, Poker: Bets, Bluffs, and Bad Beats is a combination of history, pictorial, and ode to the game he loves.
The first thing I noticed about the book was the images contained in its pages. The book is printed on high-quality glossy paper, and no matter where one opens the book, there is at least one striking poker image. These images include photographs of poker-related museum pictures, famous poker players, and motion picture stills. All are gorgeous shots, and while a few were familiar to me, most are shots or representations of artifacts that I haven't seen before. One of the goals of this work seems to be as a coffee table book, and it succeeds in this endeavor admirably.
The text of the book begins with a history of poker, tracking the evolution of the game up to the World Series of Poker in the mid-1990s. The writing is crisp and lively, as we would expect from a wordsmith of Alvarez' quality. The book is fairly brief and a quick read, as the page count is low and much of the paper real estate is taken up by the images, but since the format is larger than average for a poker book, by no means does it feel insubstantial.
As a history, though, the book falls a little flat. Most of the background we get we've already heard before, some of it from Alvarez' previous poker book. Also, even though the hard cover was released in 2001, we get no account of anything that happened in the poker world after the mid-1990s. Moreover, the authenticity of some of the stories the author provides have come under fire in recent years. Consequently, by no means should the accounts provided in Poker: Bets, Bluffs, and Bad Beats be taken as authoritative. Really, this book is a history in the same way that Homer's Iliad is. These are the oral traditions of the poker culture retold to illustrate and remind us of the values of that community.
In that respect, the book works wonderfully. It is to poker history what the Frank Sinatra Ocean's 11 is to Las Vegas of the early 1960s. It's not a documentary; it's an attempt to indelibly capture an impression, a vibe, if you will, of an era. This is especially true since the book provides an in-depth look at the connection between the old road gamblers, the World Series of Poker, and Binion's Horseshoe. This is a connection that poker players new to the game are only going to be able to hear about second hand. Alvarez' book captures the essence of poker in the pre-Internet age for fans of the game. It's important that someone capture the way things felt in the old days, even if the impressions occasionally diverge from the cold, hard facts.
There's no real strategy here, and certainly nothing new to the well-read poker student. The book is aimed more at the fan of poker than the serious player. Of course, there are nuggets of poker truisms here and there, and a novice player might come to better understand some aspect of the game by reading this book. However, this is the story of a love affair with the game by an amateur, in both senses of the word, written for those with a similar mindset.
In summary, I liked the pictures, I liked the writing, and I appreciate the way the author captures the essential soul of poker in print. As a pure history book to academicians, and as a strategy book appealing to serious poker students, it misses the mark. Poker: Bets, Bluffs, and Bad Beats deserves a place on all the coffee tables of those who adore the game of poker.
