Fading Hearts on the River: A Life in High-Stakes Poker
This is an odd, wonderful little reminiscence written by professor-poet Haxton (They Lift Their Wings to Cry, 2008), concerning his poker-playing son, who doesn’t return to Brown for his final year (and his degree) but instead chooses to win money via poker. Which he does. Which he then loses but later regains. Haxton somewhat wistfully discusses the family histories on both sides that led to gambling in the bones. He analyzes how contemporary players are brilliant strategists, hampered or blessed by chance. He remembers his sweet son’s brilliance as a toddler, and he writes, at times, about his own troubled nature, one his psychiatrist wife considers dysthymic but he prefers to call melancholic. The young-father and young-son memories and intensely detailed scenes from contemporary poker tournaments are intercut with poignant musings on luck, medical problems, the art of the tell, how and where free will fits in, magic, and chess. The book ends with a glossary and a “List of Hands by Value,” but this tale is not just for gamblers. It is for anyone who likes to think about “how to make luck happen.” --Eloise Kinney