Behind The Felt

Most poker players only see what happens on the felt. Larry McCracken has seen what happens behind it.

Behind the Felt takes you inside the world of live poker rooms from someone who has experienced the game from both sides of the table-as a player and as someone who has worked as a dealer, floor person, and manager.

Drawing from years inside real card rooms, McCracken reveals the side of poker most players never get to see: the personalities, politics, difficult rulings, dealer mistakes, demanding customers, favoritism, marathon shifts, management decisions, and constant pressure required to keep a poker room running.

You'll discover what dealers really notice about players, what happens when the floor is called, how poker-room politics affect employees and customers, why some rooms earn players' loyalty while others lose their trust, and what separates a great card room from one that eventually falls apart.

Along the way, McCracken shares lessons from his own journey-from learning the business in a small card room to working sixteen-hour shifts, taking on greater responsibility, and discovering that the most important part of any poker room isn't the tables, chips, promotions, or décor.

It's the people.

Funny, revealing, sometimes uncomfortable, and written in McCracken's straight-talking conversational style, Behind the Felt isn't another poker strategy book.

It's the story of the game happening around the game.

If you've ever wondered what poker rooms don't tell the players, pull up a chair.

You're about to see what's really happening behind the felt.