“Wasn’t that the idea to live like kids forever. The Joy of Poker ‘“Are we not children anymore?” I ask the boys over blackened hamburgers. Every time I win, a fellow gambler has lost and I have taken his money." She even struggles with the moral dilemmas of the in a way that the more hardened pro does not: "Compared to the solidarity of the dice table poker is sick and wrong.
There is a great deal of the author’s blood in the ink, including details of her dealings depression and her addiction to roulette. Where most poker biographies are a list of tough times doled out by the cards, or drugs, or the law for Coren it is a broken heart. The book is also more candid about her feelings. Whether she is trading silver coins in her Tuesday night home game or losing a wad of fifties betting on a (very) drunk Martin Amis at scrabble she always seems slightly unbelieving of her luck in being there. The role of amateur and therefore outsider works she is every home game hero who took a shot, by maintaining an outsiders wonder, she – like Al Alvarez or Anthony Holden – is a far more relatable guide to the poker world than a big game regular can be. Coren may be an ‘amateur’ on the baize, but putting word two after word one is her profession. Structurally, from sentence to chapter to overarching sweep, the book is far more interesting and well put together than most collections of poker anecdote. The book is structured around that first EPT win, with each chapter flashing back from a given hand to tell a story from the past while retaining that present tense voice used by every poker player to relate their table-stories. It is hard not to be charmed by the self-deprecation of someone who still considers themselves an amateur despite a £500,000 EPT title and a sponsorship deal.
And in contrast to your average chip-slinger poker is only ever her obsession and addiction, never her day job. For Richer, For Poorer is one of several autobiographical works from Victoria Coren (now Coren-Mitchell), including Once More, With Feeling (an attempt to produce the ‘greatest porno ever’), and her short collection of essays on being a teen: Love16, which was bound and printed when she was still in her teens.įor Richer, For Poorer is her poker biography.
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