<div dir="ltr"><div>All,</div><div>Please find below and attached Jeremy Larance's review of Amanda Botfeld, <i>A Girl's Guide to Poker</i>.</div><div>Thanks</div><div>Duncan</div><div><br></div><div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif" align="center"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">Amanda Botfeld, <i>A Girl’s Guide to Poker </i>(D &B Publishing, 2020)<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif" align="center"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">Reviewed by Jeremy Larance, West
Liberty University<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">“Seeing a woman at poker tables is like flopping a set or
making a flush—it <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">happens, but don’t count on it.”<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.5in;margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span>---Amanda
Botfeld<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">Given
the sheer number of how-to-play-poker books published every year, one might
reasonably ask if there is a compelling reason to read Amanda Botfeld’s <i>A Girl’s Guide to Poker </i>(2019),
especially—one might also reasonably ask—if one is not a girl. A lot probably
depends on what one thinks “A Girl’s Guide to…” means. Search for that phrase
and you’ll easily find dozens of titles like<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span>●<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><i><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">A Girl’s Guide to Hunting and Fishing<span></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span>●<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><i><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">A Modern Girl’s Guide to Personal Finance<span></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span>●<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><i><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">A Woman's Guide to Cannabis: Using Marijuana to Feel Better,
Look Better, Sleep Better-and Get High Like a Lady<span></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span>●<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><i><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">A Woman's Guide to Spiritual Warfare: How to Protect Your
Home, Family and Friends from Spiritual Darkness<span></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span>●<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><i><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">A Woman's Guide to the Wild: Your Complete Outdoor Handbook<span></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span>●<span style="font:7pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><i><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">The Woman's Guide to Running for Office and Changing the
World<span></span></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">Most
of these books are obviously published under the assumption that women want
guides that will help then navigate topics stereotypically reserved for, or
typically only enjoyed by, men. And, not surprisingly, <i>A Girl’s Guide to Poker</i> is not the first guide for women who are
interested in participating in the male-dominated culture of poker. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">In
2002, Laura A. Van Vleet and G. L. Norris published <i>Playing with the Big Boys: A Woman’s Guide to Poker</i> in which they
write, “We have taken these games, demystified them, and redefined them in an easy-to-follow
manner, all with a decidedly feminine twist.” Over three quarters of the book,
however, is little more than a collection of rules for various forms of poker,
mostly wild-card games that the “Big Boys” would probably not even consider
authentic poker. There is very little strategy and not much of a “feminine
twist” beyond referring to the players as “Goddesses” and expounding on trivial
aspects of poker like good luck charms and pre-game rituals. “These are the
mysterious and magical, the winsome and slightly absurd elements of Poker,”
they write, “They are felt and seen with the inner eye, and though not tangible
as other facets of the game, they should never be fully discounted.” In other
words, the authors openly reason that “A Woman’s Guide to Poker” does not mean
actually playing “<i>with</i> the big boys”
as much as it means to embrace trifling aspects of the game.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">This
is where Botfeld’s <i>A Girl’s Guide to
Poker</i> differs. Her guide <i>is </i>written
for women, but it could just as easily be a valuable guide to any gender. “I
never set out to write a ‘women’s’ poker book,” she writes, “I simply wrote it
in my own voice.”<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span>When I first spoke
to a female poker pro about writing <i>A
Girl’s Guide to Poker,</i> she liked the idea but wanted to make sure it
wasn’t…well…stupid. (I believe her word was “diminutive.”)<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span>“Like pink razors?”
I replied.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span>“Exactly”, she
said.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span>Feminine, but also
sharp.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">Her
“Girl’s Guide to...” does not hinge on the idea that one needs to trivialize a
subject to give it a “feminine twist.” She is, instead, attempting to help
women find their voices at the poker table, rejecting decades of chauvinism and
exclusion while, at the same time, embracing more feminine characteristics like
intuition and receptiveness. Women, she suggests, are simply more confident in
their ability to use their “social and/or emotional intelligence” than men,
making it easier for them to “learn people” before they “learn poker.” She
stresses the point that although poker “is very math-oriented and utilizes
skills that are traditionally ‘guyish,’ creative, connected, right-brain
thinking is a major asset.” The best way to utilize that asset, she argues, is
to turn the game into a story: “Whenever you’re playing poker, ask yourself
what story you’re telling.” <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">Section
titles throughout <i>A Girl’s Guide to Poker</i>
emphasize story-telling aspects of the game: “Tell Me a Story,” “Continue the
Story,” “A Tale of Two Stories,” “A Story…,” “Plot Twist,” “Alternate Ending,”
“The Sequel,” “What makes a good poker story?,” and--in a nod to her profession
as a journalist--“Author’s Choice.” Botfeld is certainly not the first poker
author to make this connection to learning how to play poker and learning how
to read (people, cards, etc.), but her emphasis on a woman’s perspective to storytelling
<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">is
unique and convincing. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">Unfortunately,
it is worth noting that the visuals in <i>A
Girl’s Guide to Poker</i> do, at times, detract from her premise. While this
might seem nitpicky, there are literally photos on every other page, making it
clear that someone, either the publisher or Botfeld herself, felt this was
necessary. This would not be so problematic if it weren’t for the fact that the
grand majority of these images are clearly cheap stock photos that often have
little to nothing to do with the text. In a section about checking, for
example, the accompanying photo is of a woman (clearly a model) working on a
laptop and drinking coffee in her pristine office. To be fair, she <i>might </i>be checking while playing online
poker, but the next image of a stoic woman (also clearly a model) sitting in a
dark alleyway with a pistol in her hand is even more disconcerting. Again, if
not for the overwhelming number of these stock photos, it would be easy to
dismiss such things as trivial, but they do make the book look more amateurish
than the quality of the writing deserves. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">But
the question remains, why read<i> A Girl’s
Guide to Poker</i> when so many guides are already available? Is it as
comprehensive as Doyle Brunson’s magnum opus, <i>Super/System</i>? Certainly not. But as a poker primer, you could do a
lot worse, especially in relation to the fundamentals of Texas Hold’em. Little
is said about other forms of poker, but, as Botfeld notes, Texas Hold’em is
what most people think of today when they think of poker, and, thanks to the
popularity of televised Texas Hold’em tournaments, most casual fans will likely
cut their poker teeth playing in a low-stakes tournament. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif" lang="EN">In
the end, reading Botfeld’s guide purely for strategy would be a mistake. What
truly sets this guide apart, and what makes it an interesting read, is the
style and the quality of the writing itself: “Told with a female flair and
girlish glam” while “teaching the ins and outs of the game with style,
sophistication, and moxie.” Like many of the best poker writers (James McManus,
Maria Konnikova, et al.), Botfield is a journalist whose skills as a writer
make her an exceptionally effective professor of poker, regardless of her
student’s gender. Her emphasis on style is what makes Botfeld’s manual an
unique and entertaining read, even for someone not all that interested in
learning how to play poker. “The key to good poker,” she reminds us, “is
storytelling.” </span><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%" lang="EN"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%" lang="EN"><span> </span></span></p>
</div><div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Remember to smell the roses as you recumber past<br><br>Duncan R. Jamieson, Ph. D.<br>Professor of History<br>Book Review Editor<br><i>AETHLON: The Journal of Sport Literature</i><br>Ashland University<br>Ashland, OH 44805<br>USA<br></div></div></div></div>