Poker Face: A Girlhood Among Gamblers

by Katy Lederer

“The intricacies of family and the complexities of the games they play mingle wonderfully here in a memoir quite unlike any other.”—George Plimpton, author of Truman Capote

Katy Lederer grew up on the bucolic campus of an exclusive East Coast boarding school where her father taught English, her mother retreated into crosswords and scotch, and her much older siblings played “grown-up” games like gin rummy and chess. But Katy faced much more than the typical trials of childhood. Within the confines of the Lederer household an unlikely transformation was brewing, one that would turn this darkly intellectual and game-happy group into a family of professional gamblers.

Poker Face is Katy Lederer’s perceptive account of her family’s lively history. From the long kitchen table where her mother played what seemed an endless game of solitaire, to the seedy New York bars where her brother first learned to play poker, to the glamorous Bellagio casino in Las Vegas, where her sister and brother wager hundreds of thousands of dollars a night at the tables, Lederer takes us on a tragicomic journey through a world where intelligence and deceit are used equally as currency. Not since Mary McCarthy’s Memories of a Catholic Girlhood has a writer cast such a witty and astringently analytic eye on the demands of growing up.

An unflinching exploration of trust and betrayal, competition, suspicion, and unconventional familial love, Poker Face is a testament to the human spirit’s inventiveness when faced with unusually difficult odds.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography, Biography Memoir, Autobiography, Womens

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Katherine (Katy) Lederer is an American author and poet, best known for the memoir Poker Face .

Lederer is the daughter of author Richard Lederer and the sister of well-known poker players Howard Lederer and Annie Duke.

Reviews

[Jason Koivu · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are the books that get written and read just after a wave has crested. In this case, that wave was the Texas Hold 'Em poker craze.

Everybody was doing it! It was 2004 and an absolute unknown player, Chris Moneymaker, had just won the most highly coveted World Series of Poker championship. This caused an incredible stir of interest in poker, almost a rebirth. It brought instant world-wide recognition to the game of Texas Hold 'Em, a variant on the five card stud standard known and played by every Tom, Dick and Harry since the day when guys were actually named Tom, Dick and Harry. It seemed like overnight everyone was playing it. Poker pros and so-called experts came out with how-to books. Movies were being made. ESPN was flogging the hell out of recorded tournaments and soon even the Travel Channel would be showing their own show on poker.

Inevitably everyone remotely related to poker would attempt to cash in on the craze. Enter Poker Face: A Girlhood Among Gamblers.

Its author, Katy Lederer, is the sister of poker great Howard "The Professor" Lederer, a sort of old man whizz-kid who takes a scientific approach to playing the game, as well as Annie Duke, widely considered the best female player of all time. As one would imagine, lil' sis Katy grew up surrounded by game. Perhaps inundated is the word I'm looking for.

Poker Face is the sort of book one reads because they are not only interested in poker, but also the people behind the game. The Lederers rub elbows on a personal level with all the big names, so a book like this should give the reader at least a little insight to what these people are like away from the table. Book's like this can shed light on the human side, or perhaps in-human side, of those who are fully wrapped up within this multi-million dollar industry. But don't get too excited. Poker Face does do a little of that, but much of it is about Katy's experiences growing up with poker as the main backdrop. This is about Katy...Katy! Katy! Katy!

[Russell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started this book years ago, thought it sucked and put it down. Then recently I saw it sitting there taunting me and decided to try again. God only knows why I would do that to myself.

Pretend that you're reading a Ben Mezrich book. It's all about smart young people, doing shady shit and getting rich. Only, instead of Mezrich gleefully guiding you through a sordid life of excess, Lederer is appalled by the things around her (even her own participation in the shadiness) and desperately wants you to be appalled too. There's no fun behind the writing. It's just bitterness and judgement. 'Wah, my brother and sister were mean to me when I was young (sort of) and now they make gobs of money playing games instead of having normal jobs. Wah wah wah.' Shut up, Katy Lederer. To make matters worse she sprinkles in flowery observations about her surroundings as though she can barely contain her desire to write unbearably sappy poetry. Just stop it already. (By the way, she DOES actually write sappy poetry and has had some of it published.)

If you're a curmudgeonly, judgemental old hag who bregrudges the people around you their successes and happinesses this book is for you. If you aren't an awful person who sucks at life, skip it.

[Anelie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting glimpse of the life of a young person whose upbringing was odd although on the surface it appeared conventional. Note - I knew for a few years several members of her immediate family although not well and am familiar with where she grew up. I am glad she found writing poetry to be passionate about. It is good to have something bigger than oneself to engage in. As usual with memoirs I don't want to criticize the story she tells as she is entitled to tell her story her way. I enjoyed reading this although I don't know that everyone would.

[Lindz-o · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the whole book, which is something. Some of the writing was beautiful and poetic (I was not surprised to learn that the author is also a poet), but many of the scenes and chapters felt disjointed and out of place. I often felt like the author lost her train of thought and forgot why she was including certain scenes. Overall, the story wasn't as riveting or interesting as I hoped it would be.

[Guy Choate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I bought this book years ago, when still followed professional poker enough to know who they were. I knew who Lederer's siblings were from TV. This book feels like it's trying to be about them, but it's masked as a memoir about the author. She's using her siblings as a tool to build intrigue, but there's no payoff because we're always on the outside of what's actually being presented.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine, though not what I was expecting. The author grew up on the campus of a fancy private school in the northeast US, where her father was a teacher. In spite of the possibilities that could bring to mind for the family, each one of them at one point or another became deeply entrenched in the world of gambling.

I grew up with parents who were gamblers - and by that, I mean that there was some kind of bet or game involved with nearly everything. I understood the nuances of handicapping at the horse track and what was an excellent poker hand long before I had my first day at school. There was no such think as just a card game at our house - nope, there had to be betting somehow involved. I even remember when the game "Trivial Pursuit" came out, and my elderly mother figured out how we could play it for money. I remember my mother telling me a few years before she died that one of her life's regrets was that she never got to be a dealer in Las Vegas.

So I guess I was expecting this book to be something similar, with stories of different events and characters that were part of the author's life. In a way, I guess this book is more valuable, in that it describes the way that a gambling addiction/obsession/whatever you want to call it can skew a life and the life of a family. And particularly as a cautionary tale, that is interesting. But it wasn't really presented in a way that made you care that much. Rather than explore what seemed to be the root of the entire family's gambling addiction, Lederer just talks about it all rather mechanically.

Granted, I didn't finish the book because it was due back to the library before I had gotten to the end. But rather than renew it, I just returned it because though I was nearly finished, I really didn't care about any of the characters enough to make the effort.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an engaging dysfunctional family memoir. Gambling is at the center of the family‘s relationships with one another, so it makes sense to be at the center of the book. I found the writing to be clear & fun to read. I probably breezed throughly it in a few days. Some of the casino stories are exciting—but, mostly, I was drawn to the parts that offered insight into the practical aspects of trying to make a living off gambling.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always interested in learning about characters either in the middle of or on the periphery of poker (and gambling, in general). Katy Lederer, the sister of bold-faced poker names Howard Lederer and Annie Duke, offered glimpses into what it's like growing up in a family with two pro poker players. But I kept wanting more. I'm not saying it was completely dull, but I feel there could have been more poker/gambling-induced juiciness included with the price of admission.

[Carrie Abitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first part of the book was interesting then the chapters seemed to jump all over the place. I continued reading; hoping the story would improve. I was expecting more from the book. Thankfully, the book was only 209 pages.

[Megan Hartman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would have been a lot more interesting if I knew anything about poker. Well written, she has quite an interesting outlook on life.

[Trudy Monk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was orignally fascinated by the cover and of course the main premise is about poker, it was about playing poker. So if your really into that game in general. Might be a good fit, lol.

[Klyon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read.

[Paula Koneazny · Rating 2 out of 5]

Katy Lederer's trajectory in becoming a poet was perhaps more unusual than most, and it is that "growing up" that she tells the tale of in her memoir Poker Face. The story/bio has all the elements of a great read considering that her mother (a purported "genius")and older brother and sister all become professional gamblers, first in NY and subsequently in Las Vegas, that saddest and most glittery of American cities. Her father teaches for many years at an elite high school for the very rich in New England, and then becomes an author of books about words and word games. It is in such an environment (where else could a comfortable middle class family feel impoverished?) that the family gets its start and where it falls apart. The materials are so promising, but somehow it doesn't all add up to more than a mildly engaging book.

[Don Edgar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had played poker against Katy a few times although I had never really spoken to her. She always seemed out-of-place (In a stylish New England finishing-school sort of way) in the various casinos which she frequented for a time. ... So when I saw the book, and figured out who she was, I pounced.

It turned out that my personal experiences were very closely aligned with hers ... same gambling venues ... same universities (in inverted order) ... same cities and so on.

I loved the book. She does a great job of relating how growing up in an educated (but poor) family situation ruled the course of her life for a time ... but in the end she seemed to find her compass and headed off into the real world of New York City.

(I later saw it classified as a "Feminist memoir" book ... but I must have missed that part.)

[Ensiform · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author, a poet and daughter of author Richard Lederer, tells of his quietly dysfunctional family: her neurotic father, alcoholic mother, and siblings who left home to become heavy hitter poker players in Vegas. Lederer writes well, with an engaging style that is polished yet simple.

But her memoir is overall too light, a mosaic of only slightly related anecdotes --- her mother trying out for “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire,” housesitting for her brother, adjusting to a wealthy boarding school. It’s billed as, and needs, a more cohesive theme; the bits and pieces here about her siblings’ rise for competitive kids in an intelligence-oriented family to Vegas players skirting the edges of licit employment are great, and there should be more here.

[Ann Diab · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am left mostly with this as an impression: " ... ". Some of the stories in the book were interesting. Many of them feel rushed and oddly inserted. Even though all of the depictions are expertly crafted, mostly you are left wondering why this story was told at all.
Odd timing that I picked up this book right around the time the Justice Department brought allegations against the book's impetus, Howard Lederer. I had been meaning to read it ever since it was published, which was only a couple of years after my son shared a kindergarten class with Lederer's firstborn.

[Danny Raz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable memoir from the younger sister of poker stars Howard Lederer and Annie Duke. Howard Lederer's story--which started with hotly contested chess matches against his father, and ended with him being one of the most feared sports and poker gamblers in the world--fascinated me the most. Katy Lederer's struggle to find her place in an ultra-competitive family gave the book a satisfying arc. Interesting read, especially if you're into high-stakes gaming.

[Linnea · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a memoir than a poker memoir (see her sister, Annie Duke's _How I Raised, Folded, Bluffed, Flirted, Cursed and Won Millions at the World Series of Poker_ for a more focused poker memoir), this is a compelling look at a highly intelligent, but odd and dysfunctional family. It has some interesting ideas about what draws people to certain kinds of games and professions.

[Joanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting to me largely because of the author's views of her older brother and sister, professional poker players Howard Lederer and Annie Duke. I am familiar with her siblings' careers and so found this book interesting. Outside of that, it was kind of a generic memoir, and a little patchy.

[David Long · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poet Katy Lederer re-counts a childhood and young adulthood growing up, literally in a House of Games. Youngest daughter of word maven Richard Lederer and kid sister to poker pros Howard Lederer and Annie Duke, she tells a compelling story of an unusually accomplished though frequently difficult and dysfunctional family.

[Elizabeth Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book would prove more entertaining to someone who likes poker as much as I do, and it did have it's entertaining anecdotes and poker-playing strategies, but overall I discovered I like playing poker better than I like reading about it.

[Abby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Katy Lederer is known for being the sister of two top-notch poker players from a family with a penchant for gambling. She is also a published poet with an MFA from Iowa. I kept waiting to Lederer to explore why her family was so attracted, in fact compelled, to take risks, but she never does.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

It reads like a good first draft, but it lacks the polish of a finished book.
I know that any ending to a memoir is artificial, but the ending is important.
This book didn't end. It just . . . stopped.

[Luckngrace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written by the younger sister of the famous Howard Lederer and Annie Duke, I enjoyed the inside look at the making of a poker star. I did feel, however, that big bro and sis probably didn't appreciate her portrayals or their lives and motivations. All in all, just okay.

[Bibi Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts of this book were excellent, but I wanted to read more about the gambling. The really good stuff abut that was mostly dumped in via hurried dialogue.

For a family saga with a gambling theme I much prefer DOUBLE DOWN by the Barthelme brothers.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent memoire about the Lederer family ... the author is sibling to professional poker players Howard Lederer and Annie Duke.

[Melissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really disappointed in this book. The narrative was disjointed and I didn't feel that the author was being honest about herself or her family.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can relate.

[Alena · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was an interesting biography. I was pleasantly surprised that it focused more on the lives of each of the family members instead of the actual game of poker.

[Mindi · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting story and peek into the lives of professional gamblers. A nice quick read.