Card Player’s 2018 WSOP coverage is sponsored by BetOnline Poker. Get a 100% bonus, up to $1,000, by joining now. The site offers great cash game action and a chance …
FanDuel Confirms Its Name Will Be On Meadowlands Sportsbook In NJ
Meadowlands will open the doors of a ‘FanDuel Sportsbook’ to NJ sports betting on July 14. Owner Jeff Gural is excited if unsure of what to expect.
The post FanDuel Confirms Its Name Will Be On Meadowlands Sportsbook In NJ appeared first on Play NJ.
Book Review: The Pursuit Of Poker Success By Lance Bradley
How do you define success?
That’s the first question poker journalist Lance Bradley asked during interviews with 50 professional poker players.
The result of those interviews: The Pursuit Of Poker Success, the latest offering from prolific poker book publisher D&B Poker.
In the introduction, Bradley states that the original goal was to find out why certain people were able to succeed in the cutthroat world of poker.
After reading the thoughts of 50 of the world’s best-known poker pros, it’s apparent that there is no right or wrong path to success, and like most poker-related inquiries, the best answer is: It depends.
What kind of book is this?
Poker books tend to come in three general varieties:
- Primers/Strategy books
- Biography
- History
The Pursuit of Poker Success doesn’t fit into any of those categories. It’s not an X’s and O’s strategy book, nor is it a biography or history book. It’s a series of interviews with a bit of all those things. And every conversation is born out of that single question: How do you define success?
The Pursuit of Poker Success isn’t laden with poker terminology or in-depth strategic discussion, but the nuggets of wisdom provided throughout will prove invaluable to pretty much anyone, poker player or non-poker player.
In that respect, The Pursuit of Poker Success is the rarest of rare, a poker book that will appeal to poker players, as well as people who don’t know if a flush beats a straight, since some of the advice/discussion is transferable to other walks of life.
A light touch from Lance Bradley
Bradley doesn’t try to rationalize or make sense of the answers the players give. There’s no recap of what he took away from each interview. Instead, he gently guides the conversation with pertinent follow-up questions, and lets the players do the talking.
No player is given preferential treatment.
The interviews are arranged alphabetically, and every player, from well-known players like Daniel Negreanu and Phil Hellmuth, to names that will only be known to poker enthusiasts like Niall Farrell and Ben Tollerene, has a full-page intro/bio and four pages of text.
Additionally, there’s no big takeaway that ties the 50 interviews together in some overarching way. The book simply ends with the final interview with three-time WPT Champion and 2015 POY Anthony Zinno.
What I took away from The Pursuit of Poker Success
For anyone who’s spent time in the poker world, what isn’t said is even more interesting than what is said.
I also found Bradley’s interview subjects interesting and telling.
Of the 50 people interviewed, only four are what I would call pre-poker-boom players (players who’d established themselves as successful players before the poker boom):
- Jennifer Harman
- Phil Hellmuth
- Daniel Negreanu
- Erik Seidel
As a whole, I felt the poker boom era players Bradley spoke with understood the opportunity they were presented with. Still, I was surprised at how few spoke about luck. Not luck at the tables, but the fortune of being the right type of person in the right place at the right time.
Basically, falling within the 18-24 age bracket from around 2003-2006, and having a certain aptitude for poker.
Couple that opportunity with Ike Haxton’s belief that successful poker players tend to have a mix of uncommon personality traits (specifically mentioning an ability to be detached from results) and you start to see what this very diverse cast of 50 humans from all different backgrounds have in common.
There are some outliers, but by and large there is a common theme that goes unsaid throughout the text: a certain self-centeredness.
For the most part, all the players in The Pursuit of Poker Success looked inward, and talked about what they had done to make it in the poker world. For the players in the book that self-centeredness manifests as a competitive drive to improve regardless of the early results.
It’s a mindset very few people possess, and the variance of poker makes it all the more difficult to see the end goal when you’re getting your teeth kicked in.
Virtually every player profiled seems to have known very early on that they had found something special in poker. As Jennifer Harman said, she felt at home at a poker table. I would guess all of the players feel similarly, in that they’re comfortable in what is a very uncomfortable situation: at a poker table risking significant amounts of money.
But that was my takeaway from the book. Yours will likely be different.
Like the varied paths the interviewees took to poker success, what you get from the book may be something else entirely. That’s what makes The Pursuit of Poker Success such an interesting read, and makes it deserving of a place on any poker bookshelf.
Lead image taken by Antonio Abrego
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Man Accused Of Using Ticket Scam To Fund High Roller Poker Buy-Ins Takes Plea Deal
A gambler charged with orchestrating a sports ticket resale scam has taken a plea deal. According to court documents obtained by Card Player Magazine, Seyed Reza Ali Fazeli pleaded guilty …
Anderson Ireland Wins 2018 WSOP $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha Bounty Event
Card Player’s 2018 WSOP coverage is sponsored by BetOnline Poker. Get a 100% bonus, up to $1,000, by joining now. The site offers great cash game action and a chance …
New York Online Poker Efforts Shelved Until 2019
With the New York 2018 legislative session ending late last month, online poker proponents will again have to wait until next year for a law change. Despite legislation advancing in …
Adelson Reportedly Eyeing North Korean Casino
Tensions between North Korea and the United States were reignited over this past weekend after the rogue nation criticized the Trump Administration’s denuclearization demands. However, one powerful Trump ally reportedly …
This Week in Poker Podcasts
The latest from the Pokerfuse Poker Podcast Directory.
Pokercast 499 – WSOP Main Event 2018: Hijinks & Drama!
What’s Behind The Recent Rise In WSOP Main Event Attendance?
Ask five people why attendance is up at the WSOP and you’ll likely get five different answers. But one answer, the economy, is almost certainly the biggest factor.
The post What’s Behind The Recent Rise In WSOP Main Event Attendance? appeared first on Online Poker Report.
888 Expands Spanish Roster with Ana Marquez Signing
Former PokerStars team pro is snapped up by 888 as operator seeks to shore up Spanish position with the advent of European shared liquidity.
888poker has announced the signing of Spanish-born Ana Marquez to help grow the operator’s segregated online poker room in Spain.
It marks the third Spanish ambassador to join 888’s roster of team pros in the last three months.