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Book Reviews
by Nick Christenson
The Tao Of Poker
by Larry W. Phillips
Adams Media Corp., 2003
ISBN 1-58062-837-0, 246pp, $9.95
 When I first saw this book I have to admit to being more than a little intrigued. Before reading his previous book, “Zen and the Art of Poker”, I had some idea how Phillips might connect Zen Buddhism and poker. Regarding his second book, I had absolutely no idea how he would be able to link up Taoism and poker. As it turns out, there is no connection. That doesn’t make it a bad book, but those who might be looking for the connection stated in the title have been forewarned.
Instead, “The Tao of Poker” is really a less-strongly themed continuation of “Zen and the Art of Poker”. Over the course of the book the author presents 286 poker rules that are designed to improve a player's poker game primarily by improving their attitude and demeanor at and toward the game itself. These rules are divided into several sections on such familiar topics as Bluffing, Body Language, Practice, Tiredness, etc.. Overall, I think Phillips provides much more good advice than bad, although, frankly, most of this is covered in one form or another in his previous book.
In my review of “Zen and the Art of Poker”, I was quite critical of Phillips’ ruminations on the nature of luck and on how players should react to that phenomenon. While some of what Phillips says in “The Tao of Poker” still bothers me, I have to admit that the stance he takes in his latest book is less wrong. He even goes far as to try to explain one particularly objectionable passage from “Zen” in Chapter 23 of “Tao”. His explanation of this is weak, and no matter how he tries to explain it away, the passage is still wrong, but Phillips is far more careful about his wording in “Tao”, and I’ll give him credit for that.
The last chapter of the book covers playing online poker. I found this to be the most intriguing section of the book. Phillips gives a generally good introduction to the phenomenon of Internet poker, although I wish he would have gone further. At the end of this section the author lists “Common Myths and Rumors About Online Poker Play”, which includes statements about cheating, bad random number generation, bots and shills, etc.. The problem is that these are just stated. There is no commentary on these issues, so the reader doesn’t know how to categorize or respond to them. It’s my opinion that the author shouldn’t address the topic if he’s not prepared to achieve some measure of resolution to these sticky issues.
Overall, “The Tao of Poker” is really a continuation of Phillips’ previous book, only without the strong theme. There is a lot of good advice here for those who are having problems playing their “A” game all the time. There is also some not-so-good advice here, but the overall quality is higher than it was in “Zen and the Art of Poker”. Players who are looking for further affirmations in order to help improve their own attitudes toward poker should find much of benefit in “The Tao of Poker”, but I’m not sure they wouldn’t be just as well off rereading Phillips’ first book. Still, coming with a very reasonable price tag, it’s unlikely that many players who are intrigued at all by the subject matter of this book would feel truly disappointed by it. Overall, I’d say I’m ambivalent toward “The Tao of Poker”.
Positively Fifth Street
by James McManus
Farrar Straus & Giroux, 2003
ISBN 0-374-96530-7, 432pp, $26.00
In May of 2000, Jim McManus set out for Las Vegas to: Write a story about the rise of women participants in the World Series of Poker, write a story about the bizarre murder of Ted Binion, and enter a few satellite tournaments to see if he can win his way into “The Big One”, the final event of the WSOP. McManus came away with a story, but certainly not quite the one he expected.
“Positively Fifth Street” is an expansion of material McManus published in the December, 2000 issue of “Harper’s” magazine. While the “Harper’s" article related only a synopsis of McManus’ poker adventures, by expanding the story to book length, he is able to cover a lot more ground, including a great deal of information regarding the two stories he originally went to Las Vegas to cover. We also are presented with a great deal more information about the author’s poker escapades in Las Vegas, as well as an abundance of his thoughts and motivations, his background, his feelings, and how all this influences the Books (Cont. from page 16) arc he travels through the story.
The book begins with McManus weaving a plausible, although speculative, scenario describing the events that may have transpired the day Ted Binion died that reads like a piece of a Quentin Tarantino film. Starting with the second chapter, McManus starts his chronology by setting the stage for trip to Las Vegas. From then on, we flip back and forth between the several intertwined stories throughout the rest of the book. This isn’t a dry narrative listing poker hands, nor is does the author blandly recount the proceedings of the Binion murder trial. McManus is very much a part of every phase of the story. We see it all unfold through his eyes. He tells us about the thoughts that guide the play of his hands, the process he goes through while he interviews the Binion family, and even what passes between his ears while tracking down leads at a local “gentleman’s club”. Perhaps needless to say, this book doesn’t make a “PG” rating.
Here’s the bottom line: “Positively Fifth Street” is a great read. While occasionally it’s clear that McManus is pushing a little too hard, this is apparent primarily because so many of his passages are stunningly well written. It’s rare that we find a poker player who is able to express himself so eloquently.
Comparisons to poker classics such as Al Alvarez’ “The Biggest Game in Town” and Tony Holden’s “Big Deal” are only natural. Further, those comparisons are fair. It’s my opinion that “Positively Fifth Street” can be added to this rarefied company of books that capture the spirit and excitement of this great poker event in a way that transcends the event itself.
At the same time, the reader should not mistake this book as a poker “how-to”. More than once I found myself cringing at the way the author played some of his hands. It is, however, the story of a great adventure about which every poker aficionado dreams but precious few will get to experience. I have to admit, that in addition to being engaged in the narrative, I was more than a little jealous of the author. Jealous not only of his accomplishment at getting to play out his dreams on poker’s biggest stage, but also at his ability to recount this magnificent experience so vividly. I predict that anyone who loves to read about poker, and many who don’t, will greatly enjoy this book. I strongly recommend it.
This article was published in the Jun 16th 2003 edition of Poker Player.
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