Vegas or Bust by Johnny Kampis - ISBN: 9781770413764
Paperback
What happens when you take your wife, kids, and dog on a six-week trip to Vegas to battle the poker pros? Kampis’s folksy, conversational style will place readers in a world of massive chip stakes and lurid dreams.

Vegas or Bust

A Family Man Takes on the Poker Pros

$32.05

  • Paperback

    180 pages

  • Release Date

    22 May 2018

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Summary

Can a former semi-pro win against the best poker players in the world?

In 2006, Johnny’s pie-in-the-sky dreams of becoming world champion were dashed when his kings ran into aces in the World Series of Poker Main Event. But lady luck was with him when he met Amy, the woman of his dreams, who soon became his wife.

Like many players, he drifted away from the game after Congress passed a law later that year that cut off funds to online poker and harkened the decline of…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781770413764
ISBN-10:1770413766
Author:Johnny Kampis
Publisher:ECW Press,Canada
Imprint:ECW Press,Canada
Format:Paperback
Number of Pages:180
Release Date:22 May 2018
Weight:246g
Dimensions:216mm x 140mm
What They're Saying

Critics Review

“An entertaining memoir … The most winning aspect of the book is Kampis’s new perspective, transformed from 2006’s lonely young poker fanatic to 2016’s family man who appreciates his good fortune in having another kind of full house.” — Publishers Weekly
Vegas or Bust is the most honest depiction ever written of what it takes to be successful in poker — while simultaneously being successful in life. The book is filled with tales of promise and caution and showcases celebrities, degenerates, crooks, and heros. There’s also plenty of interesting hands for the poker nerd to mull over. If the poker dream lives within you, Vegas or Bust is a must-read.” — Jay Greenspan, author of Hunting Fish: A Cross-Country Search for America’s Worst Poker Player
“This might be the best book about poker in nearly a decade. A little more Hillbilly Elegy than Positively Fifth Street, Vegas or Bust tells the harrowing tale of a southern man struggling to maintain a proper work-life balance while pursuing the radical dream of raising a happy family and still being able to travel to Las Vegas for the WSOP … Johnny’s no big-time pro. But his adventures in poker from 2006 to 2016 traverse significant events that impacted millions who, at least briefly, got hooked on the game.” — Dan Michalski, founder of Pokerati.com
“Kampis tells a new kind of poker story — that of the grown-up family man taking a shot at the Granddaddy of them all, the World Series of Poker Main Event. Full of heart and humility, this isn’t a Positively Fifth Street noir-ish tale of murder and millions, but an honest look at the post-boom poker world through the eyes of a family man that understands that his real bankroll isn’t tied to his tournament winnings. A winner of a tale, told from the perspective of an Everyman of Poker. Kampis hit the jackpot with this story of love, hope, life, and poker.” — John Hartness, author of the Quincy Harker novels

About The Author

Johnny Kampis

Johnny Kampis has been a journalist for 20 years, winning a dozen newspaper association awards. He has been published in The New York Times, Huffington Post, Time.com, and FoxNews.com. He’s been an avid poker player since the release of Rounders and lives in Cullman, Alabama, with his wife, Amy, and children, John Harper and Sarah Beth.

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