Stephen Hyde

Players: Con Men, Hustlers, Gamblers, and Scam Artists Stephen Hyde

Brief Description: Once I hear the clatter of chips I almost go into convulsions," said Dostoyevsky, while Anatole France wrote, "The gambler is driven by the fascination of danger at the bottom of all great passions." The characters the reader meets in Players--chess grand masters, poolroom hustlers, or street-hardened practitioners of the short con--are all alike propelled by the ecstasy of risk. "The stake is money," France wrote, "in other words, immediate, infinite possibilities." In fact, as the reader hooks up with David Mamet in the poker room and meets Damon Runyon's Bookie Bob, Saul Bellow's immortal Yellow Kid, and learns from Herbert Asbury about the antics of Izzy and Moe, and from David Maurer about the discreet charm of the confidence man, Walter Tevis on Fast Eddie Felson and Minnesota Fats on the seductions of nineteenth-century gambling dens, high lives and low will merge and the world of gambler and con-artist will blur. Selected writings by Jorge Luis Borges, Hunter S. Thompson, Nick Tosches, and many others are featured. Publisher Marketing: Once I hear the clatter of chips I almost go into convulsions," said Dostoyevsky, while Anatole France wrote, "The gambler is driven by the fascination of danger at the bottom of all great passions." The characters the reader meets in Players-chess grand masters, poolroom hustlers, or street-hardened practitioners of the short con-are all alike propelled by the ecstasy of risk. "The stake is money," France wrote, "in other words, immediate, infinite possibilities." In fact, as the reader hooks up with David Mamet in the poker room and meets Damon Runyon's Bookie Bob, Saul Bellow's immortal Yellow Kid, and learns from Herbert Asbury about the antics of Izzy and Moe, and from David Maurer about the discreet charm of the confidence man, Walter Tevis on Fast Eddie Felson and Minnesota Fats on the seductions of nineteenth-century gambling dens, high lives and low will merge and the world of gambler and con-artist will blur. Selected writings by Jorge Luis Borges, Hunter S. Thompson, Nick Tosches, and many others are featured. Review Citations:

Kirkus Reviews 08/15/2002 pg. 1197 (EAN 9781560253808, Paperback)

Contributor Bio:  Hyde, Stephen Steve Hyde is the founder and CEO of Hyde Rx Services Corp., which provides low-cost prescription drug benefits to self-insuring companies all over the United States. In the 1970s he founded Peak Health Care, one of the nation's first HMOs, and many of his innovations are still being used today. Contributor Bio:  Zanetti, Geno Zanetti is a life long motorcycle rider and freelance journalist. A veteran Sturgis attendee, Geno rode with several one-percenter clubs in his youth.