Favorite Things Cut From the Book

Tomorrow I hand in the revised manuscript of The Badass Girl's Guide to Poker, and as in all writing projects, a lot of things I really like got cut for length, clarity, or just because they didn't really work. Here are some things you won't learn or hear anymore within it's pages. Here are my top 5.

5. To Pass or Not to Pass the Buck
The phrase “pass the buck” comes from poker. The theory is that back in the 19th nineteenth century, cowboys used markers made of either buckshot or knives with buckhorn handles to show who was dealing. Eventually that got shortened to “buck.” When it’s the next player’s turn to deal, it’s time to “pass the buck” to her.

President Truman, an avid poker player, coined the motto “the buck stops here” to declare that he was taking on full responsibility.

Unless you’re playing strip poker, “buck naked” has nothing to do with poker.


4. A new way to get a woman off your mind?
The king of hearts is also known as the suicide king because it looks like he’s sticking himself in the head with a sword. I wonder what he was thinking?


3. Poker Nation by Andy Belllin Quote
"Poker isn’t about the number of pots you take down, or how fantastic you look winning them (though I do admit to thinking I look really good sometimes). Claiming a pot when you have the best cards isn’t enough to make you a winning player….No one gives you a pile of money for drawing a royal straight flush. Some sucker has to pay you off."

2. Updike Poker Quote
"It’s in my character to feel worse about folding a winner than betting a loser; it seems less of a sin against God or Nature or whatever.”

1. And Finally, the line from Annie Duke that's too NC-17...
"I certainly got called a cunt at the table on several occasions."


I have yet to be called that myself...at the poker table, anyway.