Poker Player: DAVID SPANIER

DAVID SPANIER discovered poker, like many other people, while at university. In his spare time he studied major writers such as Shakespeare, who knew quite a bit about gambling. (Hamlet: Now might I do it, pat.) In those far-off days five card draw was the game. As a student, a loss of five pounds or ten bucks meant he couldn't eat for a week.

On graduation he joined The Times newspaper in London and developed his poker playing skills in Fleet Street and beyond. He took time off to become a foreign correspondent but usually got back for the regular Tuesday game he helped launch in London. He also played a lot at the Press Club in Washington DC.

David believed that foreign policy has a lot in common with gambling, particularly poker. In diplomacy, each side is trying to out-play and out-think the other and gain its objective, as in cards.

David's first book Total Poker, celebrated the game in all its aspects - "Sex is good but poker lasts longer" . The book has become something of a minor classic, in the sense that a lot of young players first discovered poker through reading it.

He has written several other books on gambling, listed below. His favourite town was Las Vegas.

He wrote a weekly column on poker in The Independent, London, which was the first and so far as we know the only column on poker in a national newspaper, anywhere in the world. David passed away on April 18th, 2000, which was a sad blow to his many friends around the world.

These are his books:

TOTAL POKER
An entertaining round-up of the fun and folklore of poker
including a survey of American Presidents who played the game.
ISBN
0-671-24855-3

EASY MONEY - INSIDE THE GAMBLER'S MIND
A study of the
physical and psychological motivation of gamblers.
ISBN 0-87147-242-X

THE GAMBLER'S POCKET BOOK
A survey of casino games and analysis of
the best betting strategies.
ISBN 085533 266 2

ALL RIGHT, OKAY, YOU WIN
(American title WELCOME TO THE PLEASUREDOME) - a hip and amusing
deconstruction of modern Las Vegas showing what makes the money go round.
ISBN 0-87417-213-6

THE LITTLE BOOK OF POKER
- a collection of
some of David's best weekly columns from the Independent.
ISBN 1901982-54-8