Kepler's 2020 Project in the News:
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This is a thoroughly enjoyable tour through the world of poker – its history and development; its famous and infamous practitioners; its current world-wide explosion (both live and online); and much, much more. We are shown, in some detail, many of the historical figures associated with poker. Wild Bill Hickok and Doc Holliday are given more play than one usually finds in books on poker, but I was smiling the most, I think, while learning about Poker Alice, about whom I didn’t know much at all. Some of the more enlightening stories concern poker’s place in the political and military arenas. Of course, numerous figures from those two worlds are widely known to have played the game, but McManus (a fine writer whose earlier book, Positively Fourth Street, chronicles the 2000 World Series of Poker, where he himself finished fifth) provides a good number of historical incidents where gamesmanship played a crucial role. Many of the actors in these events clearly testify to a willingness, and often the necessity, to gamble in those different worlds with untold lives at risk. Now that’s a high stakes game. Reviewed by Mike C |
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