Greenspan, the editor of Winning Internet Poker for Dummies, narrates a three-month odyssey in which he hopes to win enough money to take on the power players at California's Commerce Casino. This is partly a technical book, replete with Greenspan's exhaustive musings on how to play particular hands (which will be arcane and tedious to nonplayers) and partly a sophisticated insider's exploration of the dynamics of the poker world. Greenspan theorizes, for instance, that this world is a "giant inverted pyramid" where "the richest and most skilled reside at the bottom." It's to those pros, the Doyle Brunsons and Phil Iveys of the world, that the money ultimately falls. A surrogate for the millions of Americans who fantasize about becoming professional poker players, Greenspan ends up debunking the myth that it's an easy lifestyle, pointing to the long hours, the stress of high stakes poker, and the dysfunctional personalities that inhabit the poker world. Accordingly, despite concluding that he is good enough to play professionally, Greenspan decides the poker life isn't for him. Readers will applaud the good sense of this able and likable writer. (Aug.)
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