POKER QUOTES BOOK
THE QUOTABLE POKER PLAYER
The Fun-Packed Book of Poker Quotes
1500 Humorous Poker Quotations
BUY A COPY of THE QUOTABLE POKER PLAYER
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The Quotable Poker Player celebrates the fun-side of poker covering the funniest poker sayings and quotations from professional players, poker stars, poker legends, poker greats, poker celebrities, authors, humorists and journalists, as well as a choice selection from film and TV characters.
A special chapter Poker Media covers humorous reviews and comments about Poker Books, Poker Movies & Poker TV Shows.
The Quotable Poker Player covers every angle of the poker world ...
From The Cincinnati Kid to the Poker Brat
From bad beats to Goodfellas
From Holly Madison to Phil Ivey
From home games to House of Games
From Go Fish to the Devilfish
From Poker 101 to Ocean’s 11
From green felt greenhorns to Barry Greenstein
From Poker Face [not Lady Gaga] to Poker Chips
From Texas Hold ‘em to California Split
From The Odd Couple to Phil Laak & Jennifer Tilly
From Full Tilt to Free Rolls
Read 'Em and Weep (with Laughter!)
THE QUOTABLE POKER PLAYER
A Comic Collection of 1500 Humorous Poker Quotations from Five Card Stud to No Limit Texas Hold 'em, from the World Series of Poker (WSOP) to the European Poker Tour (EPT), from Phil Hellmuth to Daniel Negreanu, from Phil Ivey to Gus Hansen, from Victoria Coren to the Hendon Mob, from Online Poker to Home Games, from Aces & Eights to Rounders.The Quotable Poker Player also has special chapters on Poker Movies, Poker Books and Poker on TV, as well as a comprehensive A to Z of poker subjects from Advice to Zen Poker.
SAMPLE CONTENTS and CHAPTER HEADINGS
POKER IS ... QUOTES
"Poker is the new pornography. The Internet is awash with it … it’s banned in China and it’s full of excitable Scandinavians."
Rick Dacey on InsidePokerMag.co.uk (2006)
POKER AS WARFARE QUOTES
"Poker is like war; there is no tomorrow. You have to pick the hill you want to defend and die trying, or be king of the hill."
Johnny Hale on GamingToday.com (2009)
POKER 101 QUOTES
"Every bluff is now revealed as the product of untold computations, every bullying all-in raise seen for the science that it is, the arithmetic of incomplete knowledge. Unless, of course, it’s just a bad guess."
Richard Hoffer in Sports Illustrated magazine (2003)
POKER CARDS and HANDS QUOTES
"The cards have no regard for sex; they’ll just as soon make a straight for a woman as a man - only it will sting worse if you have a scrotum."
Michael Konik (2001)
POKER GAMES QUOTES
"The game of the world championship is Texas Hold ‘em, a modern form of Seven-card Stud. It strongly appeals to the American temperament, being fast and quick, like a gun duel."
David Spanier in The Independent (1999)
WORLD SERIES OF POKER QUOTES [W.S.O.P.]
"The Americans tip the odds in their own favour, with World Series tournaments like Limit Razz and Ace To Five Draw; such un-British games that they might as well be competitions to see who can name the most Texan garden centres."
Victoria Coren in The Guardian (2001)
POKER BOOKS QUOTES
"Anthony Holden, author of the bestselling book about poker, Big Deal, goes out of his way to emphasise that poker is not gambling because it is a game of skill, and yet he won’t go down to the tables without wearing his lucky watch."
Mike Atherton, Gambling (2006)
POKER MOVIES QUOTES
"Hollywood often uses gambling, and less often card playing, to add a flavour to a movie. Unfortunately most of these movies have silly scenes (House of Games) or stink (Honeymoon in Vegas) or both (Maverick)."
Steve Badger on PlayWinningPoker.com
POKER ON TV QUOTES
"These days, people watch poker on TV until their eyes turn as red as the ace of hearts."
Jon Saraceno in USA Today (2004)
POKER SONG
"Poker Tips You Won’t Learn From Kenny Rogers - #3: 'No matter how much you’re tempted, DO NOT hum or sing any portion of The Gambler by Kenny Rogers.' "
"Poker Tip # 15. I'm not kidding about the Kenny Rogers thing."
Richard Roeper in The Chicago Sun-Times (2005)
CHAPTER EXTRACT
POKER 101 - Sample Quotations
On the idea of a pre-deal ante - "It is as if one should be obliged every few minutes to stop playing poker and waste some chips purchasing tickets in a turkey raffle."
John Blackbridge (1879)
BETTING
"Sometimes you’ll miss a bet, sure, but it’s OK to miss a bet. Poker is an art form, of course, but sometimes you have to sacrifice art in favour of making a profit."
Mike Caro
BLUFF
"Bluffing - without which poker would possess the fascination of ironing. A good player may bluff only once, perhaps twice, in an eight-hour session, but without this weapon of potential deception one may as well toss in the cards and wager on thumb wrestling."
Joseph Epstein in The New Yorker (2002)
CHIPS
"The sound that a good chip makes as it hits the felt, or the clickety-clack as it’s stacked and restacked with others of its kind, can be as beautiful as a symphony."
Phil Gordon, Poker: The Real Deal (2006)
THE DRAW
"The draw, in particular, seems quintessentially American, the kind of innovation you might expect in a country where anyone dealt a bad hand can, in theory, discard and start over."
William Grimes in The New York Times (2006)
THE FLOP
"The flop in Texas Hold ‘em is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get."
John Scarne
TO FOLD or NOT to FOLD?
Phoebe [Lisa Kudrow]: "Okay, Joey, your bet."
Joey [Matt LeBlanc]: "I fold like a cheap hooker who got hit in the stomach by a fat guy with sores on his face."
on Friends: The One with All the Poker (1995)
HEADS UP
"Trust me, heads-up poker play may be the purest form of psychological warfare this game has to offer. It’s no wonder why the old westerns and Rounders and every other poker movie always comes down to a one-on-one battle between the good guy and the villain."
David Williams in All In magazine (2008)
OUTS
Stuey Ungar [Michael Imperioli]: "Some people said I was crazy to take a dominated hand like Ace-four against Ace-eight. But, wherever you are, you gotta consider all your outs. See, sometimes they save you. But, sometimes you really ain’t got no outs at all."
in High Roller (2003)
THE POT
"Poker isn’t about the number of pots you take down, or how fantastic you look winning them (though I do admit to thinking I look really good sometimes)."
Andy Bellin, Poker Nation (2002)
RAISING & RE-RAISING
"Do not raise in No-Limit Hold ‘em - especially tournaments - if there is a reasonable chance that a re-raise will make you throw up."
David Sklansky, Tournament Poker for Advanced Players (2002)
TELLS
"I stink at picking up tells. I wouldn’t even notice if a guy took a crap at the table."
Colin Quinn, 'Picking up Tells' in Bluff magazine (2005)
BOOK REVIEWS
Review by Poker.org.uk
"Many of the 'diamond-studded' quotes had me laughing aloud"
London-born author Colin M. Jarman has had 30+ books published in the United States and the United Kingdom, having written books covering such diverse subject areas as James Bond, Doctor Who, Judge Dredd, biographies, dance, science, sports, humour and quotations. The Quotable Poker Player, published in 2010, is one of his newest books in Jarman's "quotations" series of books. The two years taken to compile the quotations for the book are evident in the painstakingly investigated material crammed between its 200 pages, which combine originality and humour in their content.
The Quotable Poker Player is a comic collection of 1500+ humorous poker quotations, covering all forms of the game, from 5-Card Stud to Texas Hold`Em. Furthermore, the volume reflects all aspects and views of the game of poker, celebrating the "fun" side of poker on both the US and UK sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The contents of the book are divided into 12 chapters, with notable divisions of the The Quotable Poker Player including chapters devoted to "Poker Books," "Poker As Warfare," "Poker Is.," "Poker Movies," "Poker on TV" and "Poker Song", since any poker quotation book must lack authority if ignoring Kenny Rogers` "The Gambler." These chapters, which include funny, poker-based sayings and quotations from professional players, poker celebrities, authors, humorists and journalists, along with a selection from film and TV characters are accompanied by an extensive A-Z poker glossary.
Despite being an avid poker player, I am not a massive reader on the subject. Primarily, I write for Internet websites and engage in some part-time Mathematics tuition, so the time available for recreational reading is limited. As a result, I was somewhat relieved to find the The Quotable Poker Player to be more of a reference book than a "page turner," laden with anticipation. Nonetheless, once I started flicking through Jarman's latest offering, I found it difficult to put down.
As a book of quotations, The Quotable Poker Player essentially has no narrative or writing structure to review. However, it includes quotations from the vast majority of poker players and personalities, organised in a coherent fashion. The book has a seemingly deliberate idiosyncratic ambience and the eclectic assortment of quotations impressed me greatly.
There are offerings from professional players from the European Poker Tour, World Poker Tour and World Series of Poker, along with a selection from celebrity players. This makes for a great mix and a very entertaining read. Many of the "diamond-studded" quotes had me laughing aloud, although generally these are too numerous to mention in an article of this nature. However, one worthy of note is Jesse May's, apparently Internet-promoting quote of 2005, namely, "Show me a professional player who refuses to play on the Internet these days and I'll show you a dinosaur."
Overall, The Quotable Poker Player is a superb, enjoyable reference book, which is ideal for the "pick up, put down reader" such as me, making for entertaining and amusing browsing.
With a recent publication date, the content of The Quotable Poker Player is remarkably current and will provide a great read for casual players or more serious exponents of the game, seeking to pick up poker bonuses.
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Review by ANDREW KICAK on SmokePoker.com
"There are some really, really funny quotes in here"
You learn the game. You play the game. You play the game online. You watch it on television. You may even read instructional books or pro player biographies. But have you ever imagined being able to quote poker? Or rather dish out famous poker quotations and quips?
I admit I never really considered anyone would compile an encyclopaedia of poker quotations. That is, until I received Colin M. Jarman’s The Quotable Poker Player in the mail. Essentially, The Quotable Poker Player (TQPP) is a thorough compilation of over 1500 poker quotes or attributed remarks taken from pro players, celebrities, films, historical figures, etc.
Now I’m not a huge reader. Despite being an English and Theatre major in university, I have rarely found the time to pick up a book for a good read. And when I do, it’s usually related to my businesses or technical in nature. So I was understandably relieved to see that TQPP is more a reference book than a suspense-laden page-turner. But the funny thing is, once I started flipping through it… I couldn’t put it down! There are some good, funny, and smart quotations in the TQPP. And improbably, it IS a good read.
The Background
Author Colin Jarman has published over 30 books in the United States and in the UK through publisher Blue Eyed Books. He’s written just about every kind of book from biographies to humour to science. TQPP is one of his newest books in his quotable book series. Colin spent nearly two years compiling the quotations for this book. And it shows. With over 1500 references, there’s a lot of exhaustively researched material packed between the pages. Colin used a systematic process of evaluating the content for his book through the lens of “hilarity”, “cleverness”, and “originality” to select the quotations that made it into the book.
The Product
The book is a 156 page paperback with a 2010 publication date. The contents are divided into 12 chapters or general categories which are further subdivided within each chapter. Some notable chapters include Poker Faces (real & fictional), Poker Warfare, Poker Song (yes, this book couldn’t possibility have credibility without a mention of The Gambler by Kenny Rogers), and a concise chapter on Poker Movie quotations. There is no foreword or afterword
The Review
Okay, so it’s a quotations book. There’s not really much to review. There’s obviously no narrative or compelling writing structure. However, the quotations themselves had to be assembled, organized and edited into the book. There are quotations from almost every major poker personality and player. What I was particularly impressed with was the eclectic nature of the quotations. Besides, the usual poker pros you see and hear about at WSOP and WPT, there are quotes attributed to “Fulltilt.com” for example, as well as celebrity players like Jason Alexander, Brad Garrett, etc. It’s a great mix. Overall, this is a great flip-through-read book that makes for an interesting browse. The special treat was the movie quotes and lines that related to poker, as well as music lyrics, etc. And given the recent publication date, it’s pretty up-to-date with 2009 and 2010 references.
The cover illustration is a little cheesy looking and I’m not a personal fan of the font used. But I suppose you could argue that the book has an intentional campy, quirky sort of feel to it. I also found that the author was reaching a bit when it came to certain quotations. Like the Gus Hansen quote, “I like to see a lot of flops” seems to me more of a general statement that a humorous, interesting observation. I’m not sure I would’ve included it in the book. But then again, I’m not the author!
On the flip side, there are also tons of gems in here – too many to list. But I loved some of the online poker promoting quotes (ie. “Show me a professional player who refuses to play on the Internet these days and I’ll show you a dinosaur.” – Jesse May (2005)) . There are some really, really funny quotes in here as well. I highly recommend checking out the author’s site. If you want to preview some quotations prior to purchasing, the author’s site is peppered with interesting quotations.