The book consists of a collection of eight interviews Munchkin had with some of the world's most successful gamblers. In the introduction the author describes his criteria for choosing the subjects, saying: "In choosing my subjects, I took into account the amount of money won, longevity, the respect of peers, and the stories they had to tell. Every person in this book has been a full-time professional gambler for at least 20 years." Of the eight people covered in this book three are poker players: Chip Reese, Doyle Brunson and Cathy Hulbert. The remaining five are Billy Walters (sports bettor), Tommy Hyland (blackjack player), Mike Svobodny (backgammon player), Stan Tomchin (backgammon player, sports bettor) and Alan Woods (horse bettor). Cathy Hulbert a former blackjack team player and now a successful mid limit poker player in California was included because the author felt that "it was important to include a woman".

Interestingly all these professional gamblers played or still play poker. Billy Walters won the 1986 Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker, "the second most prestigious tournament at the time" and Mike Svobodny is a high limit poker player. All the interviews are interesting to read because all these pro gamblers are fascinating personalities who have a lot to tell. Unfortunately Munchkin's questions are rather general and superficial ("Do you know what your biggest win was?", "How did you first get interested in gambling?", "What did your parents think?", "Getting back to your son being a professional gambler - what would you tell him to do?"). No topic is dealt with at great length, e. g. the use of computers in today's gambling.

You might ask why are there no tournament poker players included in this book. The answer is easy: it's difficult to find a tournament player who is successful for more than 20 years. Most of the so-called superstars come and go. Many people think tournaments are where the real money is. But that's not the case. Doyle says this very clearly in his chapter: "I don't play a lot of tournaments. I like the side games better, because that's where the money is". Some days ago there was a no-limit Omaha tournament at the Bellagio. T. J. Cloutier and Phil Hellmuth played at the final table for the title. Just behind that table was a $500 - $1000 pot-limit Omaha game going on with Chip Reese and Johnny Chan among them. A pot in this game was often bigger than what T. J. and Phil would get for first and second place together (by the way, T. J. won the tournament and got about $50.000, Phil about half that). Needless to say that all the crowd was watching T. J. and Phil. Don't be fooled by the large amounts some tournament players allegedly won as published in the Card Player magazine. First, each player has to deduct the entry fees and the traveling expenses. Second, there are a lot of deals being made at the final table so the winner often doesn't get all the money that is published (by the way, of course T. J. and Phil made a deal too). Third, because the swings are huge, these players often have a deep-pockets backer. This backer pays all or part of the entry fee or and, of course, if a backed player finishes in the money a large part of the winnings goes into the pockets of the backer.
I was once playing in the Bellagio when a former poker world champion entered the poker room. One of the players at the table said: "Wow, look at this guy, he won a million dollars for his WSOP title." Another guy at the table said: "He won hardly anything. Do you see that other guy over there?", pointing to a player in the $15-30 game, "He backed him". I knew that ‚guy at the other table’, the alleged backer so the next time we talked I asked if the story was true. He confirmed it to me. At that time the former world champion was completely out of money, he did not even have the $1000 entry fee for the satellite. So the backer and his partner put him into the satellite for the final event. You know the rest of the story, the 'superstar' won the satellite and the final event. You could see his picture in the Card Player magazine with $1,000,000 in front of him. Yes it was big payday, but not for him - for the backers. Another time. I was playing in a $15-30 game at the Bellagio. All of a sudden a former world champion took a seat to my right. When I finished playing I went to a good friend of mine, a professional poker player who usually knows everything going on in the poker room and asked him about the former world champion. "What's this guy doing in a $15-30 game. Is he just having a good time or what?" "No, he is completely broke. I had to help him a little bit to be back in action."

Back to Munchkin's book. As I already told you the book is interesting to read because the interviewed gamblers are colorful personalities (of course Doyle and Chip don't reveal any playing secrets) but I wish Munchkin would have been a little bit better prepared for the interviews.

(Tristan Steiger)

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