Book Review: All In: The (Almost) Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker

November 7th, 2005

All In: The (Almost) Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker <BR> by Jonathan Grotenstein 2005<BR>ISBN: 0-312-34835-5 304pp, $24.95″><b>All In: The (Almost) Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker <BR> by Jonathan Grotenstein 2005<BR>ISBN: 0-312-34835-5 304pp, $24.95</b> <p>Tournament poker is huge these days, and no event has more cache, more prestige, or more history than the World Series of Poker. Since 1970, the entire world poker calendar has revolved around the WSOP. Each year it has been bigger and more spectacular than the year before. Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback chronicle the history of this event in their book, “All In: The (Almost) Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker”.</p> </p> <p>In recent years, the details of the World Series of Poker have been meticulously recorded for posterity. As we move back in time, records become increasingly scarce, memories fail, and too many of the people involved have dropped out of sight or, unfortunately, passed on. Consequently, it’s difficult to be certain about the events that happened at the early WSOP events. It is because of this that the word “Almost” appears in the book title. Nonetheless, even if these events did not actually occur exactly as they are transcribed in this book, they deserve to be recounted as best they can be remembered, and Grotenstein and Reback do a creditable job of getting it as right as possible. They carefully walk a fine line between printing the apocryphal and omitting colorful events. Because they are honest about the veracity of their source material, I think this turns out well.</p> </p> <p>The book is primarily written to entertain the reader, but I expect most poker purists will be satisfied with this result as well. The book is by no means a strategy guide, but there are enough hand examples so that a discerning reader may manage to learn a few things from this text. I don’t see a lot of evidence that the authors themselves are especially skilled players, but looking at the key hands over the course of the tournament’s history, I’d have to say that the overall skill level of the participants has been improving over time. Even though a much larger percentage of today’s players are amateurs compared to years past, it seems to me that many more of the key hands in the early years were true blunders compared to what we commonly see today. Another reader may draw a different conclusion, but enough poker hands are discussed in this book to provide ample data for these sorts of debates.</p> </p> <p>Grotenstein and Reback have done a very good job researching and relating the history of this great poker tournament in an accurate and entertaining manner. Consequently, I recommend this book to just about every poker fan. If you’re Doyle Brunson, someone who has lived these events himself, maybe this book won’t be quite as gripping, but I expect almost every poker aficionado will greatly enjoy this book. I did.</p> <p class= Filed under: Poker News

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