Shut Up and Deal

Cheating, shooting angles, hustling -- whatever you want to call it, its what poker is really all about, and in the tradition of Mario Puzo's Fools Die, that's what is at the heart of the drama of this riveting first novel told by a nontraditional 1990s kid with an incurable obsession, an outrageous wardrobe, and a knack for staying in action.

He smokes a lot of pot, hides behind mirrored sunglasses, and practices yoga. But appearances are deceiving -- he may look like a live one, but he has not gone broke. He has made his way from teenage games in the basements of New Jersey suburbs, to professional games across America and Europe. Perhaps this is because he understands something most people just don't get: "Poker is a combination of luck and skill. People think mastering the skill is hard, but they're wrong. The trick to poker is mastering the luck. That's philosophy. Understanding luck is philosophy, and there are some people who aren't ever gonna fade it. That's what sets poker apart. And that is what keeps everyone coming back for

Author: Jesse May
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 04/13/1998
Pages: 226
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.64lbs
Size: 8.50h x 4.96w x 0.59d
ISBN: 9780385489409

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 03/15/1998 pg. 359
Publishers Weekly 04/06/1998 pg. 58
Library Journal 05/01/1998 pg. 139
New York Times 06/21/1998 pg. 19

About the Author
Jesse May has written for Poker Digest and High Stakes Magazine, and is the author of the novel Shut Up and Deal. He is the voice and play-by-play commentator on the British television series Late Night Poker. Originally from New Jersey, he now lives in Copenhagen, Denmark, but can usually be found wherever the best game is.