Book Review: Lawyers' Poker, 52 Lessons that Lawyers Can Learn From Poker Players, by Steven Lubet
Some would argue that understanding game theory and other principals that apply in poker can help the way that a litigator thinks about a case. For instance, poker players apply mathematical formulas to poker hands that can be useful in analyzing the settlement value of a case.
Both playing poker and litigating a case are deceptively simple, but often extremely complex. In both it's sometimes hard to tell who is playing well and who is playing poorly. In both, you can be the best player at the table and still lose. In both no matter how well you play, you may not be able to overcome the losing hand that you are dealt.
I love the idea of a book that explores the similarities in the thought process in playing poker and
litigation. Unfortunately, Lawyers' Poker by Steven Lubet is not a book that I can recommend on this subject.
The book appears to be written for poker novices. Interesting poker writing deeply explores a subject. The analysis in this book, however, is shallow and broken up into 52 topics. Litigators would be better served by learning to play poker and reading books by some of the leading poker writers such as David Sklansky, Ed Miller and Dan Herrington and then thinking about how some of the concepts could come into play in litigating a case.
Experienced poker players will find the book weak and of no value. There are better books on both poker and the law.
