CardSharp

Author: Doyle Brunson

Publisher: Cardoza

This book is a collection of Doyle’s writings about life on the road playing poker, written over a quarter century ago. They have an autobiographical bent, but this is not a memoir. The stories are entertaining and well written (not in the bizarre style of Super System, I smell ghost writer…) and I got some entertainment value out of them solely as stories.

The vast majority of people reading this site and considering buying this book, however, are poker players and are probably looking for something to help their game. Well, you might find it and you might not. Doyle doesn’t give explicit poker advice here. If you’re uncertain when you should draw to a flush in limit holdem, you’ll still be uncertain after reading this book. It’s not strategy advice. What Doyle DOES provide is insight into the mentality of a winning player, in allegorical form. Stories about the likes of “Smooth” Herb (a player who refused to participate in any game he didn’t think was smoothly run) illustrate important points for any would-be professional gambler.

So if you’re a poker player and learn well by allegory, or just want some amusing yarns, this is a good book. Some of the material is far deeper than it appears on the surface.
Rating: 4/5 stars