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Review of Barry Greenstein’s Ace on the River

Over the last couple of years, Barry Greenstein has emerged as one of the more enigmatic poker celebrities. Known alternatively for his legendary cash-game wins and massive charitable donations, Greenstein decided recently to add another facet to his public persona – poker author. The result is a fairly slim, oddly tall, glossy as heck tome entitled “Ace on the River.”

Overview
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This isn’t your typical poker book, a characteristic that defines the book for better and for worse. It more accurately sits somewhere in the categorical space between memoir and essay. Greenstein does offer a decent amount of advice about playing poker for a living, but the emphasis is a bit more on the ‘poker living’ aspect of the career as opposed to the ‘poker playing.’

Book Structure
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Clean but a bit random. The book is broken up into chapters, some no more than a few pages, in which Barry introduces a general topic and then offers a sometimes meandering, sometimes fascinating discussion of said topic. The material covers everything from the pedantic to the insightful.

Unique Advantages
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First of all, it’s a very attractive book. If you’re looking for the slickest poker book ever published, I think you have a hands down winner right here. Beautiful, full page, full color photographs fill dozens of pages in the book.

Second, it’s clearly advice that comes directly from Greenstein and not some ghost-written book chucked out on the market to make a quick buck. Barry’s interest and dedication to the project is detailed further on his web site, barrygreenstein.com. Advice from a source as known and respected as Greenstein can’t help but be valuable. As a matter of fact, that’s almost what the book feels like – a conversation with Greenstein.

Disadvantages
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If you’re looking for charts and the like, this isn’t the book for you. If you’re looking for a detailed account of Barry’s life, look elsewhere. This book won’t teach you how to play poker, nor will it teach you how to be a professional poker player.

In short, it’s a very specific book for players who already have a very good idea of how to play poker and are looking for a text to fill in a few blanks or generate some new ideas about the game and how it should be played.

Conclusion
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There are certainly some other books you should have higher on your to-buy list, but if your list is short and you’re looking for a quick, interesting read, this book is for you..

Focus: 6/10
More of a generalist work than anything.

Quality of advice: 8/10
It is Barry Greenstein; it is well written.

Examples: 7/10
A few intriguing hand examples round out some of the conceptual advice Greenstein offers. Would have liked more of these.

Readability: 7/10
The brief chapters were sometimes annoying, and the writing is a bit clipped.

Appropriateness: 6/10
Not very useful for a brand new player.

Overall (not an average): 7/10
A handy book that you won’t regret reading.

VERDICT: Buy it as a second option or request it as a gift.

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