| Title | 52 Greatest Moments World Series of Poker |
| Author | Mark Rogers |
| Year | 2006 |
| Skill Level | any |
| Pros | Well-organized recaps of many great moments in WSOP history. |
| Cons | Mistake-filled with grammar issues and formatting problems. |
| Rating | 3.0 |
| Page | Title |
|---|---|
| iii | Opening Commentary |
| 1 | No. 52 Bonetti's Blunder |
| 3 | No. 51 Fast and Furious Final |
| 5 | No. 50 Vera and a Dull Knife |
| 7 | No. 49 Like Father Like Son |
| 9 | No. 48 Shark Week |
| 11 | No. 47 Final Table Characters |
| 13 | No. 46 Annie and Lucy |
| 15 | No. 45 The Darkhorse |
| 17 | No. 44 Fisch Week |
| 19 | No. 43 Cinderella in 2005 |
| 21 | No. 42 Back to Back Flack |
| 23 | No. 41 Grand Old Man |
| 25 | No. 40 A Championship Shave |
| 28 | No. 39 Hollywood Poker |
| 31 | No. 38 Million Dollar Champ |
| 33 | No. 37 Ungar's Bluff |
| 35 | No. 36 Baldwin's Bluff |
| 37 | No. 35 A Quick Study |
| 39 | No. 34 Incredible Hand |
| 40 | No. 33 Pure Gold |
| 43 | No. 32 The Youngest Bracelet |
| 45 | No. 31 Hellmuth's Perfect 10 |
| 48 | No. 30 The Roving Gambler |
| 51 | No. 29 Satellite Service |
| 53 | No. 28 Poker's Shakespeare |
| 55 | No. 27 A Silver Bout |
| 57 | No. 26 Aussie! Aussie! Aussie! |
| 59 | No. 25 H.O.R.S.E. |
| 61 | No. 24 Fossils and Holograms |
| 63 | No. 23 A Money Bluff |
| 66 | No. 22 An Irish Champion |
| 69 | No. 21 Ivey's Year |
| 71 | No. 20 All Over, Baby! |
| 73 | No. 19 Good Things Come in Threes |
| 75 | No. 18 A Cowboy Bluff |
| 78 | No. 17 Brunson's Perfect 10 |
| 81 | No. 16 Moss Goes Back to Back |
| 84 | No. 15 Chan's Perfect 10 |
| 87 | No. 14 Jesus' Miracle |
| 91 | No. 13 The Binion-Dandolos Scheme |
| 93 | No. 12 The Young Gun |
| 95 | No. 11 Ungar Goes Back to Back |
| 99 | No. 10 More Than a Woman |
| 101 | No. 9 Chan Goes Back to Back |
| 103 | No. 8 Brunson Goes Back to Back |
| 106 | No. 7 Final Table Dan |
| 109 | No. 6 Binion Sets the Stage |
| 112 | No. 5 A Comeback Kid |
| 114 | No. 4 The Ambassador |
| 119 | No. 3 Chip and a Chair |
| 122 | No. 2 Movie Trap |
| 125 | No. 1 Money Explosion |
| 129 | Gallery of Champions |
| 131 | Poker Hand Rankings |
| 131 | Poker Terminology |
| 137 | Robert's Rules of Poker |
| 142 | Bibiliography |
| 143 | Acknowledgments |
| 144 | Photographic Credits |
| 146 | Index |
Note: Ebook has no table of contents and its page numbers do not match the printed book (the ebook is eight pages shorter in its default font size).
Rogers is clearly a big poker fan and is obsessive about the World Series of Poker. He lists nearly as many references as his book has pages. He has given tremendous thought to culling and ranking his "Moments", which are actually much longer, often including multiple poker hands from multiple hours of play. Each section is presented consistently with a ranking, a relevant quote, an introduction, "The Setup", "The Moment", and one or more factoids split up into multiple boxes like a series of tweets.
Rogers chose many WSOP Main Event final hands, and 36 of the "Moments" occurred during the Main Event. Other bracelet events account for most of the remaining sections, with a couple of special topics making up the rest. Almost half (24) of the section are from the 2000s (including Jamie Gold, Jim McManus, Chris Moneymaker, and Chris Ferguson), 11 are from the 1990s (Stu Ungar and Barbara Enright), 7 from the 1980s (Phil Hellmuth, Johnny Chan, and Jack Straus), and 8 from earlier (Doyle Brunson, Amarillo Slim Preston, and Johnny Moss). This does not reflect a recency bias, however; each decade has had far more bracelet events than the previous one as the WSOP has continued to grow.
The "Gallery of Champions" has two great color group photos of some of the oldest Main Event Champions but is otherwise just a simple list with each year's winner and first prize.
If you can stand the awkward grammar, bad formatting, and occasional error, 52 Greatest Moments rewards you with some great memories and fascinating stories that you may never have heard before.