Meet Peter Alson: He's a compulsive gambler who likes to play for big stakes. He just turned fifty; recently proposed to long-time girlfriend Alice and his writing career is finally out of the toilet. Now he wants to settle down, and God knows it's time, just as soon as he gets back from Vegas...
In June 2003, Peter Alson boarded a plan that took him to the biggest game in town. He laughed, cried, won and lost, made friends and enemies. At times he maintained a Rocky Balboa stance and knocked 'em dead with a risky hand, yet on different occasions (usually 15 hours into a game) he sat bleary-eyed, fidgeting uselessly with his chips. Up or down, in or out, however, his goal never wavered: "I'm going down to the 'river,'" he said with conviction... that is, the winning hand at the 2005 World Series of Poker.
'Take Me to the River' is a first person account of one compulsive gambler's quest to play in the World Series of Poker - just because he can. Wither over 5,000 players to beat from the 2nd of June to the 14th of July, Alson had his work cut out for him and, to his credit he made it to the final 800 players on the 2nd day of the finals. Of course that wasn't exactly the river, and according to Alson it felt like sudden death (he decided to go bowling afterwards). In the end, however, the journey was a massive taste of Americana - the book, an ultimate, inside look at one of the fastest growing and most popular sports today, told by a deeply eccentric journalist and gambler.
