Hunting Fish: A Cross-Country Search for America's Worst Poker Players » (~)

Jay Greenspan is a Brooklyn-based writer and semiprofessional poker player. His work has appeared in All-In magazine, Bluff magazine, PokerPages.com, PokerSavvy.com, and FullTiltPoker.com.

If you want to prove you're a good poker player, you don't have to battle against the best. Nobody really cares if you ever bluffed Phil Ivey or got Daniel Negreanu to make a bad call. You're at the table for the money, not stories of conquest. A disciplined player, one who's playing for the right reasons, would rather sit with the worst, those he's sure to outplay. He's looking for donkeys and donors. He's hunting fish.

In Hunting Fish author Jay Greenspan sets out on a cross-country drive—-from Connecticut to Los Angeles—-looking for players he can outclass. In casinos, underground clubs, and home games throughout the country, Jay shared tables with the most inept gamblers America has to offer. In South Carolina he wiped out some racial-epithet-spewing good ole boys; in Houston he fleeced the country club set; and in Vegas he happily pounded drunken tourists.

Hunting Fish is, however, not merely the story of a hustler's travels. In addition to fleecing suckers, Jay was convinced he could beat the very best and make it as a full-time pro. This trip gave him the opportunity to build his bankroll to the point where he could test his mettle in high-stakes games when he reached Los Angeles. Although to play in the high-limit rooms at Commerce Casino he needed a steady nerve—-and a fatter bankroll. In his three months on the road, he needed to pad his roll with an additional twenty thousand dollars. That's a lot of fish to hunt.

Publishers Weekly

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.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Acknowledgments     vii
Prologue     1
Foxwoods     3
Philadelphia     15
Atlantic City     28
Virginia     40
South Carolina     54
Georgia     66
Biloxi     78
New Orleans     90
Tunica     104
Tunica, Part II     116
Dallas     131
Austin and Houston     141
Las Vegas     153
Las Vegas, Part II     167
San Francisco     180
San Diego     189
Los Angeles     200
Los Angeles, Part II     211
Epilogue     224