Community Cards: Al Alvarez on “The American Game”

Topics: Epic Poker League, Community Cards, Poker in Popular Culture

One of my favorite poker writers is Al Alvarez. I’m hardly alone in taking such a position. Indeed, any short list of great poker writers generally begins with Alvarez, and not just because his initials remind us of our favorite pocket pair. (His writing generally appears under the name “A. Alvarez.”)

Nearly three decades after its initial publication, Alvarez’s narrative The Biggest Game in Town remains a gold standard of poker reporting. More than just a comprehensive look at the 1981 World Series of Poker, the book provides a fascinating and insightful portrait of America that transcends the card games at its heart.

I include The Biggest Game in Town among the required texts in my “Poker in American Film and Culture” class, thereby giving myself the chance to enjoy it again and again while also introducing it to new readers. It’s a book that comprehensively demonstrates how poker reflects a host of so-called “American” traits and values, thus making it a perfect fit for my American Studies course in which we regard poker as a “lens” through which to view U.S. history and culture.

The first chapter alone highlights several themes connecting poker and American culture. Beginning his tale at Binion's Horseshoe, Alvarez initially lingers over the old seven-foot-high, million-dollar display that once stood outside the casino like an ostentatious, garish shrine affirming Americans’ devotion to the almighty dollar. The collection of $10,000 bills under glass strikes Alvarez as emblematic of “the perennial dream of the Las Vegas punter visible to all, although not quite touchable.”

From there Alvarez moves inside the casino to observe and comment on the rituals of the game as well as what he'll later call “the differing ordering of reality” recognized by those who play poker at the highest stakes. He also finds room to speak of both the artificiality and eclecticism of Las Vegas, “the logical conclusion of what is for the foreigner one of the eeriest aspects of America: the utter lack of continuity between the large towns and their surrounding countryside.”

Alvarez has more to say about America and its values and how he sees those values illustrated in the oddly-formed, patchwork landscapes of the country as a whole and Vegas in particular. Not all of what he has to say is flattering, of course, with certain “American” values of self-reliance and independence at times shading over into self-interest and even indifference, at least from the perspective of a Londoner like Alvarez.

In his later 2001 book Poker: Bets, Bluffs, and Bad Beats, Alvarez revisited both poker and American culture as subjects of inquiry. For my class, I assign the first chapter of that book, too, titled “The American Game,” where in the space of just a few pages Alvarez proposes the thesis that “poker is the most American of games” and then supports that idea with a long, persuasive list of evidence.

Alvarez draws links between poker with other sports like baseball and football, and then notes how poker isn’t merely a spectator sport. Rather, “poker is more than the national game; it is a part of the American way of life,” played by millions.

Alvarez notes how poker satisfies Americans’ “passion for toughness without the tedious business of staying trim and fit” -- another not-so-becoming national characteristic here remarked upon by the Englishman.

With regard to American fashion, Alvarez recognizes how “in America anything goes.” Like our landscapes, we, too, exhibit a bewildering variety in our manner of dress. Yet poker provides a perfect context for such diversity, “a truly democratic activity” where “race, color, creed, what you look like, where you come from, and what you do for a living are of no interest at all.”

Alvarez considers as well how poker terms have infiltrated the Americans’ way of speaking, listing more than a dozen examples (e.g., “something up your sleeve,” “ace in the hole,” “keeping a poker face,” etc.) that help prove the point “that there is a poker expression for almost everything.”

“American vernacular is so saturated with poker terms that it seems almost impossible to live life without playing the game,” Alvarez concludes.

He goes on to quote another foreigner who famously wrote about America, Alexis de Tocqueville, who in Democracy in America suggested that Americans like “all undertakings in which chance plays a part.” Alvarez sees that readiness to take risk and emphasis on self-reliance in both poker and American history as well, the combination helping to make it “the perfect frontier game.”

Alvarez additionally points out how poker provides a context for the kind of “social Darwinism” encouraged by capitalism. “Poker is about winning and the disciplines necessary for this: calculation, insight, deception, ruthlessness, and, above all, the virtue Texans call ‘a leather ass’ -- known elsewhere as patience.”

Alvarez is talking about poker, but might as well be referring to all manner of other pursuits that are important to Americans -- business, politics, sports, entertainment, you name it.

As a visitor to the Epic Poker blog, you’re undoubtedly someone who likes to read about our favorite card game. And if you’re checking out “Community Cards” you’re probably also among those who like to consider the cultural relevance of poker, too.

If that’s you, and if somehow you’ve made it this far without having acquainted yourself with either The Biggest Game in Town or Poker: Bets, Bluffs, and Bad Beats, let me recommend both as insightful, rewarding investigations into poker and its place in American culture -- truly a couple of aces from Al Alvarez.