King of a Small World: A Poker Novel

by Rick Bennet

King of the poker players from his suburban enclave in Maryland to Washington, D.C., Joey Moore faces a crisis in his life when an gambling opponent commits suicide and an unwanted baby is forced on him.

Genres: Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Brian Giermek · Rating 3 out of 5]

I play poker VERY casually so when I started this book i was interested in the story itself rather than the book being "a poker book". Nonetheless I found the story to just be meh. At some points i just found the story to be slow and unbelievable and other times i couldn't put it down. More time was spent on the girls he didn't end up with than the one he did. Either way, the high points equal the low points and while I have read a lot of better books, I have definitely struggled through a lot as well. 3 stars.

[Rick Goff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is an excellent evocation of underground poker culture. It's filled with characters and issues that I recognize from the games I play in. Poker books for the more general reader would be _The Biggest Game in Town_ by A Alvarez (yes, THAT A Alvarez; he's a player) and _Positively Fifth Street_ by James McManus. Good entertainment involving poker can be found in any of the novels by Tom Kakonis and those by James Swain.

[Will Harnish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down the best poker fiction I've ever read. Quick easy read and very re-readable

[Don Newcomer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very warm, and surprising story. Joey, the main character, not grows in his awareness of how Poker defines his life, but also matures as a person and realizes, in the end, what is really important to him. The story deals with a number of interesting side-characters, and accurately describes life in the Poker community. It also shows how addicting gambling can be to some people, but that it also can be entertaining and profitable to those with the right frame of mind. A good read.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was expecting some sort of crime thriller but, to my pleasant suprise, I got a nice bildungsroman coupled with an inside look at the Maryland poker scene instead. 3 stars if you don't care about poker, 4 otherwise.