The Music of Chance

Book Review:
The Music of Chance
By Paul Auster
1990, Viking Press

A while ago my wife and I met up with some old friends and the topic of conversation eventually turned to books. I was asked what I had been reading lately and my wife replied, "Tyler reads mostly poker books now." This confused our friends, who in all the years that they had known us had never heard of me reading anything but fiction.

"Poker novels?" one of them asked.

"No. Books on how to play poker. And poker biographies. There are no poker novels," I replied.

But of course I was wrong. I had forgotten about Paul Auster's The Music of Chance as well as many other novels in which poker plays a large role. Thinking about this book now, I realize that it very successfully captures the paradox of gambling - the freedom one can feel by giving up control of ones life, and how destructive this impulse can be.

The novel tells the story of Jim Nashe, a Boston firefighter, who is as solid a guy as there is. But when he unexpectedly comes into a fair sized inheritance the routine of his life is overturned by the possibilities of what he can now do. He quits his job, buys a nice car and drives all over America, leaving his fate to chance and his decisions to the whim of the moment. When the money starts to run out however, Jim can't bring himself to return to his former life. Instead he falls in with a gambler who promises that, with Jim's backing, he can make them both a small fortune playing poker against a couple of rich suckers he knows. From this point onward the novel changes tone, moving from a gritty realism into the classic Auster blend of symbolism and wonderland mind games. This is good stuff and I won't spoil it for you.

For me, The Music of Chance is a cautionary tale. Poker people often talk about how the game is a metaphor for life, meaning that the discipline, intelligence and risk tolerance required to succeed at poker will also help you win at other endeavours. While true, the darker aspects of poker, such as it's appeal to our self-destructive nature, are reflections of yearnings that play themselves out away from the table as well. High marks to Auster for nailing the psychology that drives many to the game. I recommend everyone read it, and if you also play poker I hope you will recognize the Jim Nashe in you and keep his impulses in check.

I frequently repeat the saying that "fiction is the lie that tells the truth." If you are a poker player, I think you will be better at the game if you read great works of fiction. Poker is largely a psychological game and fiction more than any other art form concerns itself with understanding human behavior. It is no accident that many great players, such as Annie Duke, were literature majors. If you haven't read a novel in years and are wondering which book to start with, The Music of Chance is a great one.