Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker by James McManus (PDF)

Description

From James McManus, author of the bestselling Positively Fifth Street, comes the definitive story of the game that, more than any other, reflects who we are and how we operate.Cowboys Full is the story of poker, from its roots in China, the Middle East, and Europe to its ascent as a global—but especially an American—phenomenon. It describes how early Americans took a French parlor game and, with a few extra cards and an entrepreneurial spirit, turned it into a national craze by the time of the Civil War. From the kitchen-table games of ordinary citizens to its influence on generals and diplomats, poker has gone hand in hand with our national experience. Presidents from Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama have deployed poker and its strategies to explain policy, to relax with friends, to negotiate treaties and crises, and as a political networking tool. The ways we all do battle and business are echoed by poker tactics: cheating and thwarting cheaters, leveraging uncertainty, bluffing and sussing out bluffers, managing risk and reward.Cowboys Full shows how what was once accurately called the cheater’s game has become amostly honest contest of cunning, mathematical precision, and luck. It explains how poker, formerly dominated by cardsharps, is now the most popular card game in Europe, East Asia, Australia, South America, and cyberspace, as well as on television. It combines colorful history with firsthand experience from today’s professional tour. And it examines poker’s remarkable hold on American culture, from paintings by Frederic Remington to countless poker novels, movies, and plays. Braiding the thrill of individual hands with new ways of seeing poker’s relevance to our military, diplomatic, business, and personal affairs, Cowboys Full is sure to become the classic account of America’s favorite pastime.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This is a history of poker that doesn’t cover some topics very fully and covers others more fully than I would have liked.However, it is only fair to point out that the topics I wanted covered more fully were ones for which the information just isn’t available.The switch from ‘old poker,’ where the players bet on the cards they were dealt in one betting round and then showed them down to see who won, to Draw must have been very early. However, there isn’t any written record of the change.The very important switch from “If I bet more than you have, you have to fold” to table stakes, the switch that made no-limit playable, must have been early, maybe earlier than the switch to Draw. Again, it is likely that there is no information available. However, my speculation is that a pack of cheats lost a huge pot because a planter had so much cash on him that they could not, among them, cover his bet and had the unpalatable choice of losing the money on the table or trying to get away with robbing him in a public place.In any case, this switch must have taken place early enough to make the story of the film “A Big Hand for the Little Lady” totally impossible in the setting in which it was depicted.The invention of limit betting, which _many_ attribute to the casinos and claim became the standard so that the suckers would go broke more slowly, was already done long before 1875 and McManus documents this by quoting a book on Draw strategy written in that year but he doesn’t discuss this sort of thing enough.Meanwhile, he has the same habit of so many baseball authors, among others, of just _having_ to write things like “as the Babe came to bat in the bottom of the Seventh, who could know that the stock market would crash in a few short months?” And there is more of this and more analysis of various political figures than I like. Still, it is part of poker history that Nixon won a bunch of money durring WWII while in the Navy and that G.W. Bush was in favor of a law that makes it very difficult to play online these days. But there was more than enough of this stuff and the book ran to six large.The authors political views are not mine. As a right-libertarian I think he was a bit too generous in his praise of our current President and didn’t kick his predecessor around enough.Much of the rest of the book is fine if you haven’t read about it elsewhere. There is more than enough about the WSoP and tournament poker in general. Tournaments are a sideshow. The Beale match had another very good book written about it not long ago and it gets too much space in this book. However, if you haven’t been reading about tournament poker, the Beale match and other matters that he covers, the author is informative and entertaining enough that his coverage is fine.

⭐I do not play poker. I do not play any card games. I do not play any games. So why a “history” of poker. Well, I love being educated on what I call “totally useless knowledge.” For me history is a key influencer of the future and I love reading history as long as the read holds your attention. I listen to a LOT of audio books in my car and that is the format I am using for this one. The reader is very good….the story is very good.What I most like about it is that it is filled with story after story. It is not some boring historical piece on how poker got started and the numbers (data) on where it s now. This book is really great to listen to (or read). Each morning I walk into my business and tanatalize some of my employees with cool stories from this book. The Wild Bill Hickock, Doc Holiday and Poker Alice are absolutely incredible tidbits. Heck, those three stories make the whole book worth the read. I am currently on the part with FDR which is compelling as I just recently watched the Bill Murray version of FDR. From this book I got some deeper information and now can picture this guy in the White House with multiple girlfriends while his wife is spending amorous nights with her female lover and I have to wonder…..What IF Bill Clinton lived this kind of life? The world of those days kept the bedroom in the bedroom. Today, every single thing any celebrity does is front page news.In a nutshell, this book is a MUST for history buffs. A must for card players. (My business partner, Bob is an avid poker player and a very un-interested book reader, but when I told him some of the stories along with the real information on poker, he said…I want to listen to that when you are done!)Get it, read it, regal your friends at parties…or not….depends on how you tell the story!

⭐Aside from the Gardena chapter, I thought this book was extremely well written. James McManus has also writing “Positively Fifth Street” and ladies this is a book we should all have in our tote bag besides your gun. Lots to learn. Writing a book about poker can not be an easy task, I certainly am not up to the task and I hope everyone will excuse my previous ill review of this book. I am re-reading it right now and have already found insights that have pique my interest. I am 57 and have been playing poker since I was 14. I sneaked into a Gardena casino, lied about my age, and played poker so I would have money to get a room for the night. I moved to Vegas and started playing with the “Big Dogs” and they took me under their wing and taught me all they knew. I am an old time poker player, a satisfied old time poker player, but if you want to be up-to-date on what is happening in the poker world than “Cowboys Full” is mandatory reading. When my father raped me at age 14 and said “you’re dead tomorrow,” I left that night, hitchhiked to Gardena, met Charlie Ventura, and was on my way to a new life, with no regrets. James McManus has followed poker for The New York Times (my favorite) the L.A. Times, Harpers, […] and The New Yorker. I have only been published in Vanity Fair and Readers Digest, so who am I to judge this author. Read the book, you will learn a lot. Read about Stu Ungar’s life and learn from it. Stu was a great friend and it’s hard not to cry just thinking about him. Mea Culpa to James McManus. Keep up the good work. Lolly Hellman ilovebleu@hotmail.com

⭐this is a good historical prospective of poker, while there are some subtle tips it is not a “how to” book. As a poker player for 40 years, I found the early history and development of the game to be fascinating. The book appears to be thoroughly researched and historically correct.The author goes in to extensive detail as to the tricks of the trade, both marking and manipulations of the cards to cheat the unsuspecting. The “River Boat Gamblers” and card sharps and gunfighters lead a much more dangerous and exciting life than the current (honest and statistically attuned) tournament players.

⭐Purchased for a gift

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