[I.Rowboat]

I have a copy of this book, purchased sometime in the early 1990's (for a whopping $9.95, according to the tag on the back cover). I'm looking at it now, and on a shelf full of poker books, it's the only academic study of cardoom culture I've ever come across. Hayano approaches his subject as an anthropologist, which he is, and as such he is able to give a very accuarate assessment of the poker sub-culture as it existed in the mid-70's to 1980 or so. This is the period he writes about, as the book was published in 1982. In brief, the poker players he documents are superstitious, degenerate, competitive, needy, and very egotistical. Some win, more lose, and the strong prey on the weak. I don't think it tells you anything you couldn't figure out for yourself, but it is meticulously documented, and many (many!) different sources are cited in the each chapter's end notes.

Is it worth $75 or $100? I don't know, but I can say that while poker has changed in the last 25 years, the people who frequent cardrooms haven't changed nearly as much, and this book has the proof. Poker, and cardrooms in particular, attract certain types of people, and Hayano does a great job of catalogging their traits and habits in his book.