2010 Dewey Decimal Project: 795.41 B
Because I'm writing a story that takes place partly in an underground gambling establishment, I decided I should do some research. I googled for underground poker books, and came up with Poker Nation: A High-Stakes, Low-Life Adventure into the Heart of a Gambling Country by Andy Bellin.
The book is depressing. Bellin is himself a semi-pro poker player, and he takes us into the world of poker in a way that he seems to think is just the way it is, but is actually extremely unhealthy. There were some bits of the book I liked, but I have forgotten them because his chapter about women, in which he condones and minimizes the impact of sexual harassment while dismissing women's work and presenting an uncritical view of femininity, is at the end of the book, and that's now all I can remember about it:But tending to cardplayers at a club is not a tough job at all for the women who do it. In fact, as long as you don't mind an old man's hand on your ass every once in a whole, it's got to be one of the easiest gigs in the world. There are only about four things on the menu, there are no complicated drink orders to remember, you just have to smile, giggle, and wink every once in a while.
I won't be reading anything else Bellin has written, and I'm extremely glad I interlibrary loaned the book instead of purchasing it.
The book is depressing. Bellin is himself a semi-pro poker player, and he takes us into the world of poker in a way that he seems to think is just the way it is, but is actually extremely unhealthy. There were some bits of the book I liked, but I have forgotten them because his chapter about women, in which he condones and minimizes the impact of sexual harassment while dismissing women's work and presenting an uncritical view of femininity, is at the end of the book, and that's now all I can remember about it:But tending to cardplayers at a club is not a tough job at all for the women who do it. In fact, as long as you don't mind an old man's hand on your ass every once in a whole, it's got to be one of the easiest gigs in the world. There are only about four things on the menu, there are no complicated drink orders to remember, you just have to smile, giggle, and wink every once in a while.
I won't be reading anything else Bellin has written, and I'm extremely glad I interlibrary loaned the book instead of purchasing it.