Hunting Fish: A Cross-Country Search for America's Worst Poker Players

by Jay Greenspan

Book Overview

If you want to prove you're a good poker player, you don't have to battle against the best. Nobody really cares if you ever bluffed Phil Ivey or got Daniel Negreanu to make a bad call. You're at the table for the money, not stories of conquest. A disciplined player, one who's playing for the right reasons, would rather sit with the worst, those he's sure to outplay. He's looking for donkeys and donors. He's hunting fish. InHunting Fishauthor Jay Greenspan...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312347839
• ISBN13: 9780312347833
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.84 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Mostly enjoyable

This is a fun little poker book. Despite a few minor errors, the author does a good job of documenting his cross-country poker-playing trip. Towards the end he gets a little full of himself, but clearly he's a pretty strong player. Many of the stories are interesting but some are less so. And I found a few bits to be very insightful and well written. There's not a lot here that's new or unusual, but it's a very pleasant book if you want to read about a pretty good, but not world-class, player's poker adventures around the USA. And one more thing: I love my local public library, where you can borrow books for free!

fun read for poker players

Hunting Fish is about the personal poker journey of Jay Greenspan. Along the way we get a glimpse of the life of everyday professional poker players. This is not an instructional book but you'll still learn something about how to play better poker. Greenspan comes across as honest and likable and his story is an interesting and enjoyable read. If you like books about the poker lifestyle such as Bigger Deal , Poker Nation, All In and The Real Deal then you'll enjoy this book.

entertaining, insightful read

This book is a great read, compelling from start - what's more compelling than reading about a poker player getting robbed, literally, of his bank roll a week before setting out on a cross-country poker trip? - to satisfying finish. The hand descriptions are precise and vivid, but it's Greenspan's excellent description of the color around the game - the various tablemates, the tedium of long sessions - and, most impressively, his thoughtful chronicling of his internal journey that the great gift of this book. A wonderful yarn, and a thought-provoking read for anyone who's ever considered going pro.

in league with "big deal" as one of the best poker narratives

this book tells it like it really is. I've read many many poker books and I found this to be among the most riveting and realistic narratives. I would rate it up alongside Big Deal by Tony Holden as one of the most entertaining and thoroughly enjoyable poker books ever written. The author comes at it from a fairly unique angle, as a budding semi-pro player who is trying to make a living at a game he loves. Poker is about different things to different people, and this book tells a realistic tale about making a living as a "blue collar" cash game specialist.

Riveting Poker Odyssey

I know almost nothing about poker beyond the basics. A friend who makes his living playing pro poker gave me this book with the comment, "This will help you understand me better." And it certainly did. I was immediately hooked by Greenspan's description of the unglamourous world he had entered when he decided to embark on a three-month trip across America playing Texas Hold'em in casinos and back room joints. The conceit of the book, that he is always on the lookout for a "fish" to outplay, holds up. The real strength of the book, however, is Greenspan's realization that the world he has entered is not quite what he had expected. He is also disarmingly frank about his own limitations as a player and how much that old rascal Luck enters into the game. Greenspan's decision about how to frame his future, the experiences that contributed to that decision, and his reflections on his tour across America is what made the book a fascinating read for me. Experienced poker players will probably also enjoy the descriptions of poker hands he plays along the way.