Cowboys Full traces the story of poker from its roots in China, until Americans took what was a French parlour game and turned it into a national craze by the time of the American Civil War. Poker has been inextricably linked with American history ever since. It has been played by numerous presidents (Richard Nixon financed his first campaign office through his poker winnings) and has been used as a political tool to explain policy, for networking and to negotiate treaties.
Poker echoes how we conduct wars and do business: cheating and bluffing, leveraging uncertainty, managing risk and reward. In the past poker was thought to be a cheater's game but it has since become a mostly honest contest of cunning, mathematics and luck. It is the world's, and cyberspace's, most popular card game and has had an immense impact on popular culture - McManus explores its portrayal in novels, movies and plays.
Combining colourful history with the author's own personal experience of the professional tour Cowboys Full introduces the reader to all the major forms of poker, the game's most notorious players and demonstrates how poker has informed military, diplomatic and business life for centuries.
- 528 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
About this book
Trusted by 375,005 students
Access to over 1.5 million titles for a fair monthly price.
Study more efficiently using our study tools.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title page
- Dedication
- Quote
- Contents
- 1. Pokerticians
- 2. Loaded Knucklebones to Donkeys in Cyberspace
- 3. A Shivering Shaman and the Concubines of Invention
- 4. Jeanne D’arc and LA Hire to the Naked Singularity of Spades
- 5. Dr. Jerome Cardplayer and the Vying Games that Gave Rise to Poker
- 6. Poque to Pokuh to Poker
- 7. Mississippi Steamboats, the Internet Card Rooms of 1814
- 8. The Cheating Game
- 9. Styles and Technologies of Cheating
- 10. Sharps Reformed and Unreconstructed
- 11. Decks Cold and Colder
- 12. The Mary Situation
- 13. Look Away, Dixie Land
- 14. The Wizard
- 15. Nary a Pair
- 16. Aces and Eights
- 17. Early Draw Primers
- 18. Stud Poker
- 19. High Plains Drifters
- 20. Cowboys Play Poker
- 21. Dogs Playing Poker
- 22. The Mirror, the Riffle, the Shift, and the Shark
- 23. The Education of a Poker Player, Part 1
- 24. Hump Guns Down Brain Over Stud Debt!
- 25. The Education of a Poker Player, Part 2
- 26. The Secretary, the President, his Wife, and her Lover
- 27. The Education of a Poker Player, Part 3
- 28. The Buck Stops with Vinson—or Winston
- 29. Cold War Poker
- 30. Dowling and Kriegel, Blotzsky and Witherspoon
- 31. The Legend of Johnny and the Greek
- 32. Hold Me, Darlin’
- 33. The Opposite of a Peace Sign
- 34. Two Burn Holes in a Blanket
- 35. The World Series of Poker, Part 1
- 36. Gardena, That Seventies Poker Capital
- 37. The World Series of Poker, Part 2
- 38. The World Series of Poker, Part 3
- 39. The World Series of Poker, Part 4
- 40. The World Series of Poker, Part 5
- 41. Small Ball, the Bluff, and the Boom
- 42. Drawing Red Lines in the Desert, or How (Not) to Bluff a Martyr
- 43. Fooled by Randomness
- 44. Bunches of Luck
- 45. The Biology and Eros of No-Limit Hold’em Tournaments
- 46. The Andy Game, Part 1
- 47. The Andy Game, Part 2
- 48. LH and AI
- 49. The Poker World is Flat (In Spite of the Uigea)
- 50. Cheating 2.0
- 51. Poker School, Poker Law, Poker Ethics
- 52. The World’s Game
- Notes
- Selected Bibliography
- Glossary of Poker Terms
- Acknowledgments
- Plates
- Index
- By the Same Author
- Copyright
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription
No, books cannot be downloaded as external files, such as PDFs, for use outside of Perlego. However, you can download books within the Perlego app for offline reading on mobile or tablet. Learn how to download books offline
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.5M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1.5 million books across 990+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn about our mission
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more about Read Aloud
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS and Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app
Yes, you can access Cowboys Full by James McManus in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & World History. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.