6: The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time, Michael Craig

This was on super-extra-mega sale at Amazon. Now I know why.

The jacket informs me that Mr. Craig has written for such excellent publications as Cigar Aficionado. Jesus. Couldn't they have warned me? I guess they tried, but I didn't read the cover blurb. Had I been clever, and expanded the "See all Editorial Reviews" link on Amazon, I would have learned that Michael Craig is the author of The 50 Best (and Worst) Business Deals of All Time and The 5 Minute Investor. (Warning: cheap joke ahead.) My investing in this book was one of the worst business deals of all time.

The writing is men's magazine quality, with an annoying sensationalist style and limited vocabulary. The author repeats and repeats and repeats, states opinions as fact, and treats rather commonplace happenings as rare and exciting.

The material is interesting, but forty pages would have been enough. If you feel like you want a fluffy poker read and have read the good ones already, it's worth checking out from the library, but only after reading All In and Alvarez's The Biggest Game in Town.