The Noble Hustle
Poker, Beef Jerky, and Death
-
-
3.8 • 48 Ratings
-
-
- $11.99
Publisher Description
From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys • “Whitehead proves a brilliant sociologist of the poker world.” —The Boston Globe
In 2011, Grantland magazine gave bestselling novelist Colson Whitehead $10,000 to play at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. It was the assignment of a lifetime, except for one hitch—he’d never played in a casino tournament before. With just six weeks to train, our humble narrator took the Greyhound to Atlantic City to learn the ways of high-stakes Texas Hold’em.
Poker culture, he discovered, is marked by joy, heartbreak, and grizzled veterans playing against teenage hotshots weaned on Internet gambling. Not to mention the not-to-be overlooked issue of coordinating Port Authority bus schedules with your kid’s drop-off and pickup at school. Finally arriving in Vegas for the multimillion-dollar tournament, Whitehead brilliantly details his progress, both literal and existential, through the event’s antes and turns, through its gritty moments of calculation, hope, and spectacle. Entertaining, ironic, and strangely profound, this epic search for meaning at the World Series of Poker is a sure bet.
Customer Reviews
Magazine Assignment stretched into a book.
Enjoyable enough to distract me from an interminable kid’s dance recital. 4 hours of dance in a posh performing arts center and only 10 min had a blood relative performing. I needed something fun to read for the remaining 3 hours and 50 min least my sense of shame that I feel watching other people be earnest overwhelm me. It worked! And maybe it will work for you too.