Jason Flamm

Hunting Fish: A Cross-Country Search for America's Worst Poker Players
By: Jay Greenspan

Hunting fish is a poker journey that starts from the East coast of the US and ends at the 10/20 NL game in the Commerce Casino in California. Jay Greenspan, the author, is a semi professional poker player that considers himself to be an excellent poker player who just needs some fine tuning and a bigger bankroll to become a full time professional poker player. Along the way, the author talks of his encounters with other players at various casinos and underground card rooms.

The author does a great job of telling stories and is very easy to read. The title, in my opinion, was a little deceiving. Reading the title and summary on the back makes you think that he is in search of bad players to exploit and perhaps plans on ripping their game apart in his book. When in fact, he travels to different sites that he has already planned out and sits in on games no matter what the fish factor may be. His goal is to make $20,000 before he reaches the end of his trip and bring his total bankroll up to $40,000. Well, he makes his goal but a big chunk of it is actually won at a tournament and not the cash games he plays throughout. I won't ruin anymore incase anyone else plans on picking it up.

This book will not improve your poker game (I didn't think it would going into it, I simply read it for entertainment). After reading it I was a bit disappointed. I finished it in about 4 nights, and if you wanted to you could probably finish it in one big reading session. It gets a bit stale and redundant half way through, and the ending was a let down as well. It seems as if the book started out as a good idea, and a good chance to take advantage of the poker boom, but the author lost his passion for producing a good product and simply finished it because he had to. That being said there are still some interesting stories so if you enjoy that sort of poker writing you should check it out. Personally, If I could go back in time I would probably check it out of my local library instead of buying it.

If I were to grade the book:

Well Written: A
Entertaining: C+
Plot/storyline: B-
Worth the money: D
Overall: C

You Can Purchase This Book Here: Hunting Fish: A Cross-Country Search for America's Worst Poker Players