Just finished reading Cards by Maxwell.

[acekingoffsuit]

i just finished reading Cards by Maxwell.

Guys, i suggest you pick it up immediately. For one thing, I want to talk about it with others.

This is one unique, awsome read. It is not like anything else out there at all. It's an unsanitized look at a hardcore poker burnout. And the descriptions of everything, from the surroundings to the guy's thoughts are stimulatingly authentic.

When the word gets out, obviously there is gonna be a debate about it.

Who is this guy Maxwell? Anybody heard of him? He wrote a chess book also.

Anybody else read this yet? Your opinions?

[chessforlife]

Where did you get it? On amazon it hasn't come out yet.

[acekingoffsuit]

here you go.

http://www.silentlyricproductions.com/books.htm

[ligastar]

[ QUOTE ]
Anybody else read this yet? Your opinions?

[/ QUOTE ]

I just read the "passages" they have on the website. This is some g00t -hit. Thanks for pointing it out to me.

Greg H.

[tek]

You can also buy from guys on ebay thatget advanced copies of books and or ones that get dinged up in the first production run.

[chessforlife]

[ QUOTE ]
here you go.

http://www.silentlyricproductions.com/books.htm

[/ QUOTE ]

ordered it yesterday. thanks!

[chessforlife]

I'm on page 195. I LOVE THIS BOOK! Yes, this is truly unique. It's so harshly real. I'm suprised a company had the guts to come out with this. I'd think there would be some lible issues surrounding it. But I guess it's supposed to be fiction, or the writer's opinions that stand outside the bounds of the law.

All my other poker books are of the same dry optomistic charachter, but this is negative. Although at the same time I feel that the guy is having more fun than he lets on. But it's things like this that make it so great. I'm not sure how much of the author is in the charachter.

And it's 3/4 poker hands. I don't agree with all the charachter's plays. That's part of what I was talking about, wondering wether the writer believes all he's writing. maybe it's all correct poker. All and all, there's a lot here to discuss.

But here's one big disappointment: THE BOOK HAS A TON OF TYPOS. There must be at least 25 typos already, and I'm on page 195. I don't know what the hell the proofreader got paid for.

But besides that this is a great, very fun book so far. Very funny, and very realistic and stimulating.

One thing I want to ask is... how much does that average grinding pokerplayer make? because in the book the guy says $40,000 tops. It seems to me that there are people making much more. But the guy also mentions the Hustler Casino as "new.", so it's a bit out dated.

I want to know what the reviewers will say about this book, because it's paints a grim picture of poker, and the magazines of course have to keep poker up beat.

[acekingoffsuit]

Dude, did I tell you it was good? [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Maxwell isn't going to be sued. Who's going to sue him? I see what you're referring to, but a person can't be sued for his opinion. He does say stuff like, (paraphrazing) "Commerce casino is 90% Asian. I can get stoned and pretend I'm in Korea." I mean, I've been to Commerce Casino, and there are many Asians there. But the point is it's fiction, like you said.

I dont know what the deal is about the typos. I might send their website an email to ask them about it. Why do so many poker books have typos???

I do wonder how much of the charachter is the author. I'd be suprised if it was less than 70%. I agree with most of the plays, but some of them, like (spoiler***) when he bluffs in France with the K-J. I'm not sure if that's correct, because there was already a big pot, and his rich opponent could afford a call. But even that hand was great because of how he admittedly gets carried away with it when he should have been playing more defensive.

I'm glad i finally have someone to talk to about the book.

I think a favorite attribute of the book is when he addmittedly does so many stupid things, like when in Atlantic City he excitedly sits down, 6-bets the preflop with rags, and calls to the river and the guy has aces, and he says "What the hell did I just do?" lol.

And how funny was the plane ride to Paris, with his fear of flying, and then the critique of poker movies. Honestly one of my criticisms is that the writing is too sparse. But it is 284 pages. I wonder how long were the other drafts.

It is true that both Maxwell and the publisher had bravery to print this. Many people are going to be insulted by much of its content. But I think an important point is that it's no more than 1 person's opinion. I'm not sure it can live up to it's lofty bac cover quote of "the definitive poker novel." because it's a minority view of poker. I don't know though. Maybe it is, in a way, the perfect comment on poker, that its incredibly frustrating, but fun enough to continue.

Dude, i'm curious, why did you name yourself chessforlife?

[chessforlife]

"Dude, i'm curious, why did you name yourself chessforlife?"

Because a while ago i was starting a chess program in the nearby school.

"I do wonder how much of the charachter is the author. I'd be suprised if it was less than 70%."

I imagine it would be at least 80% because it's just too authentic sounding. If the writer is entirely making Mic Jameson up, then he would have to be a genius, but like I said, I think it's almost all Jonathan Maxwell. I think it's no coincidence that the names Mic Jameson and Jonathan Maxwell are opposites.

"I think a favorite attribute of the book is when he addmittedly does so many stupid things, like when in Atlantic City he excitedly sits down, 6-bets the preflop with rags, and calls to the river and the guy has aces, and he says "What the hell did I just do?" lol."

I agree. I'd say the strongest part of the book is how honest it is. Mic is not trying to impress you. he's just living his life in front of you.

I think the brief Atlantic City part was my favorite. There is a lot of quality, juicy writing there: the drunk optometrist, the East Coast player critique, the commentary about the petty arguements to the floorman, the walk outside to the Tropicana, and the dialogue with Alfonse. It was about here that i decided this would be a favorite book of mine.

"And how funny was the plane ride to Paris, with his fear of flying, and then the critique of poker movies. Honestly one of my criticisms is that the writing is too sparse. But it is 284 pages. I wonder how long were the other drafts."

The plane rides were very funny. I like the sparse writing. it kept a nice high pace to the story.

"It is true that both Maxwell and the publisher had bravery to print this. Many people are going to be insulted by much of its content. But I think an important point is that it's no more than 1 person's opinion. I'm not sure it can live up to it's lofty bac cover quote of "the definitive poker novel." because it's a minority view of poker. I don't know though. Maybe it is, in a way, the perfect comment on poker, that its incredibly frustrating, but fun enough to continue."

It is true that this will be a controversial book. I've been seeing a lot of comments that people are impressed with the bravery of this book.

Most of all I was left with a feeling that from all the copycat pokerbooks now on the market, here is one that was written because the guy truly had something to say, and to me this was like a breath of fresh air.

[tek]

I just started reading it. Seems as though it will be as good as Poker Nation by Andy Bellin.