Beef Jerky and Death, The Noble Hustle: Poker

An entertaining read. It'll make you laugh and it'll make you cringe, but one thing it won't do is teach you anything about the game of poker -- that said, perhaps that's not the point of the book. If you're looking for a good satire and a good laugh, it's a good read.

For very light reading. If you ane not interested in poker don't even open the book but if you like the game and have ever watched it on TV it is highly likely that you will enjoy this. A difficult assignment well done.

I wanted to like this book. Topically It is right up my alley. However, I just couldn't get around Colson Witehead writing style. It felt like sensationalized news article style writing to me. The story itself was interesting, but I just couldn't get away from the fact that I didn't like the "voice" the book was written in. If you don't have an issue with over the top descriptions, you'll likely feel very comfortable with this book.

Crummy. Hey seriously now, this man is obviously well regarded writer, but my God is he full of himself. Plus, this book stinks. And should be marketed towards people with ZERO background in poker. He literally knows nothing, teaches nothing, and imparts nothing. Andy Bloch should have had any wsop of his cardplayer works turned into a book. This thing is high brow lousy-ness. What the snowflakes might call: "why hillary lost". This dude smells his own farts and loves it.

Colson Whitehead is a superb literary novelist. In THE NOBLE HUSTLE, he is fronted by Grantland Magazine to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. The book tells about his time developing his poker skills and some of the players he comes in contact with. I do not play poker and have little interest in the game. What drew me to this book is that it is named one of the best spring books of the year by the the store staff. I expected a description of the game with a literary bent and perhaps really good characterizations of some of the people the author came into contact with. In other words, I expected much more than just a description of playing poker. I wasn't getting that and gave up after reading two thirds of the book. Therefore, if you play poker, you will probably enjoy this book. If you watch the World Series of Poker, you would understand what the author is talking about. If you do not ,like myself, play cards then this book has little to offer you.

Written as a satire, and extremely so, this book is supposed to be about the game of poker, and the reporting of one of the biggest events in the game of Texas Hold'em, the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. From the moment I started reading this book I could tell it was going to be heavy on the satire, and much less on the actual reporting of the event and the intricacies of the game. Found myself laughing in many occasions at the comments and writing of the author, Mr. Colson Whitehead. After a while I realized that the book was going to be a lot more than a straightforward report on the World Series of Poker, and more on the insights and points of view of the author regarding life in general, which by the way, seemed a little pessimistic without excluding the possibility that it was done mostly for the laughs.
In no time I was pushing hard to keep the attention span in place, for so many metaphors and sarcastic views can, in some cases, take away from the overall appreciation of the work. I will not deny that the author possesses a definite sense of humor, mostly dealing with the ups and downs of life, mostly the down bits that for some reason always elicit healthy laughs, for everyone can relate to this state of things as the author begins his preparations for the big event. Many comments on the game itself are right on the money, specially one as he wisely describes the differences between a high end game, where there is no limits to be won or lost, all the way down to the set 1/2 dollar games, which also have a definite demographic participation, but where no real financial disasters are anticipated. Funnily perceptive, the moments he is actually in real time with the aspects of competition, playing, rules of the game, it is highly entertaining. I wanted more of the actual playing time, observations of this highly competitive world, where the sky if the limit. Sadly, the few moments of actual dealing with the competition, are few and far in between.
One of the things the author very wisely points out is, that at the end of the day, all the knowledge, bluffing, purse,etc, are all dependent on the on the turn of a friendly card. I found the book a little congested with the wisecracks found along the way, which simply started taking away the desire to enjoy the book, with the self pity and inability to experience joy to top it all. Some of the characters along the way to this tournament are interesting enough at times, his narrative seemed a little erratic as to time and space, present and future, but never the less the humor is the guiding force of this book, and at that Mr. Colson Whitehead does excel most of the times. the store gets a thank you for delivering The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky, and Death, right to my doorsteps into what turned out to be a little more about everything concerning the game, with a dose of parenthood responsibilities thrown in the mix, and plenty of beef jerky amid the whole journey to the event. 3.5 Stars.

The phrase "The Noble Hustle" must refer to what Colson Whitehead thinks about writing, not about poker. He strings a bunch of somewhat clever but meaningless sentences together, creates a completely meaningless subtitle ("Poker, Beef Jerky and Death") and cons the public into thinking he has written a book about poker, or a book about anything at all. He hasn't. The book is filler, from beginning to end. I've read many books about poker, some of them good, some bad, but none as disappointing as this. At least the other authors tried to write about poker, even if they did not do it well. Colson Whitehead barely discusses poker, or beef jerky or death for that matter, and he doesn't even do that particularly well - skipping back and forth in time for the sole purpose of filling the pages with meaningless anecdotes before he tells you how he busted out of the World Series of Poker. Read Alverez's The Biggest Game In Town or McManus's Positively Fifth Street, excellent writers who care about and truly understand the game. Skip this sorry excuse for a book. Play poker with your money instead, or light it on fire - the resulting pretty flames will be more entertaining than "The Noble Hustle".

The author suffers from a condition that he says prevents him from experiencing pleasure. Unfortunately, there are times this condition will affect the reader in this book as well. Colson has moments of absolute brilliance where the experience of preparing for the World Series of Poker in Vegas is brought to life with interesting characters he nicknames and lucky hands that take the pot. At other times, he seems almost bored with his writing and some of the experience seems it could have easily been edited out but it was needed for content to make the book thicker. Overall, if you have any interest in what would happen if you as an amateur decided to try your hand at a pro tournament, it's a fairly good introduction to the experience.

I’ve read Whitehead’s work before and have enjoyed other work more than this offering. I learned little about poker and laughed little at his antics. I was disappointed -- too much rambling about nothing -- I closed the book wishing I could reclaim the time I lost.