In more than 25 years of reading, reviewing and selling books, I am most impressed with one that is not only a stand-apart work of history, but is also an art in itself. The book is Ulvis Alberts' Poker Face 2-25th Anniversary Edition, a picture book that captures the emotions of people playing America's game as well as the faces. With erudite text by A. Alvarez, whose own landmark work, The Biggest Game in Town (1983), accelerated world-wide interest in the game like few others in the 20th Century, Poker Face 2, through its hundreds of photographs (some in color, most in black and white) helps explain the game's "endlessly subtle fascination" internationally.
This oversized, coffeetable style book was published in 2006 and only 2,000 copies of the Collector's Edition (signed by Alberts and dedicated to his Latvian father.) exist. The original version, published in the early 1980s is so rare now that copies sell for $1,500.
This is a book designed as to be part of poker history, with great emphasis on the legendary World Series of Poker from its earliest days to modern times. It is potentially one of the fi nest gifts for someone who enjoys the game at any level as it is something that will be an impressive library addition and something a proud owner can display and show off to friends. It's a bit hefty to lug around in search of autographs, but with muscle and perseverance it could be done.
There are more than 300 photos in this one-ofa- kind masterpiece with two intelligent, easy-to-use indexes. One is labeled a Page Index of Photographs, which makes it easy to fi nd a person's photograph by page number. For example, there are names to go with the picture on Page 95-Bobby Baldwin, Benny Binion, Dody Roach, Doyle Brunson, Stu Ungar, Jack Binion. This is followed by an Alphabetical Index where names start alphabetically with Crandall Addington and end with Steve Zolotow. They may be in a photo-if so, it's "top, bottom, left, right" or just "quote" from that individual.
The clean, crisp, soulful photos take center stage while the text, with hundreds of quotes, sayings and opinions about people and game (from folks inside and outside the world of poker, people such as Albert Einstein, Doc Holliday, Doyle Brunson, Somerset Maugham and David Mamet) add to the impact of the book.
Alberts divided the book into two sections: The Historical Years (1977-1982), which covers about the fi rst 110 pages, and The Explosive Years (2002-2005). The fi nal page features Joe Hachem of Australia winning the 2005 World Series of Poker. This work may amplify or underscore how short life is in the world of poker. You'll see a baby-faced Stu Ungar winning it all, the great Jack Straus with the heart of a lion-who turned one $500 chip into a championship- the eyes of intensity and later the eyes we can't see because they tell too much. We see the toll the game takes on players as they hit the wall with exhaustion and we see the end of an era in photos of Binion's Horseshoe Club's fi nal days and hours. Everything changes and nothing changes- people change, but their goals remain the same- survive and win.
The photos in this book tell most of it, not all, but for most of us, who may never get to the fi nal table, this is as close as we'll get, because Alberts took us there via his great photography and an eye for human nature.
