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In 2011, author Colson Whitehead traveled to the World Series of Poker, where he competed and reported for Grantland. From his article series was born The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky, and Death which begins, "I have a good poker face because I am half-dead inside." For this week's episode of the New York Public Library podcast, we're proud to present the MacArthur Fellow, Guggenheim Fellow, Whiting Writers Award winner, and former Cullman Fellow Colson Whitehead discussing poker.

Whitehead began his writing career as a critic for the Village Voice, a relatively solitary endeavor. The experience of researching poker, he said, was enjoyable because it allowed for a form of proto-socialization that appealed to a more antisocial impulse:

"I don't like talking to people or leaving the house, so if you're a critic, you can just be in your house. They send you records, send you books. You don't actually have to communicate with other people, which is what I liked about working on this book when I was researching tournament play. It really is like being at home. You're surrounded by nine other people at the table. You don't really talk to each other if you don't want to, and it's sort of like Disney World for shut-ins. I'm 'being social' and leaving the house, but I can actually pretend nobody's there."

To prepare for the World Series, the author hired both a poker coach and a physical trainer:

"I'm hunched over, as you can see. I have bad posture, and you burn a lot of calories at the World Series. You're sweating a lot. Anxiety is wringing the weight out of your body, so it seemed a physical trainer could teach me how to sit properly, how to breathe calmly and keep my stuff together at the poker table... So I had my poker training, my physical training, and then the existential training kind of crept in as I realized I was unprepared for the World Series of Poker and had to figure out how to do it."

Before competing in the tournament, Whitehead needed to decide the country he would represent. With characteristic wit (read Apex Hides the Hurt if you want a laugh), he decided on one foreign to most cartographers:

"It was the World Series of Poker, but I wasn't sure which country I would represent. I'm American, but I don't always feel American. But I always feel like I'm a resident of the Repubic of Anhedonia, so that was my sort of joke, anhedonia meaning the inability to feel pleasure, which I definitely I guess identify with. And so, instead of playing for America, I'd be playing for the Republic of Anhedonia, which meant figuring out what my flag would look like and getting some gear. So I got a sweatshirt made with the Republic of Anhedonia just so people would know that no, I'm not part of the Swedish team; I'm not part of the Japanese team."

While the book does, of course, situate itself in the world of poker, Whitehead says that he doesn't think of The Noble Hustle as about poker:

"For me the book is not so much about poker. I always thought of it more as a humor book. So I was really just trying to cram in as many jokes per page as I could while explaining poker, while explaining my experiences hopefully in a fun, entertaining way. I did want it to appeal to people who don't like poker, who hate poker, who have family members who like gambled the house away but could still pick up a book about poker."

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