It's 1959. Xerxes ("Xero") Konstantakis flunks out of Columbia U. and, torn between the expectations of his Greek immigrant parents and his own urge to find an angle, runs away with the circus. The circus, real and metaphorical, becomes the touchstone for his life. With Sinatra's "My Way" echoing in his head, he takes us through the end of the 20th century accompanied by an assortment of friends, gypsies, acrobats, lawyers, poker players, con artists, a couple of Mafia hoods, a genial Irish gangster and the denizens of his very own underground poker club. He learns it's not about going legit - it's about being the best degenerate you can be.
*****
"A coming of age novel about a literate poker-playing layabout of Greek descent. It's high time to reclaim the phrase "rollicking tale" - and Reber's Xero to Sixty is just the book to do it " Peter Alson, author of Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie and Take Me to the River
"Xero, circus traveler, poker player and self-reflective intellectual is a fascinating character. Most poker pros are boring. Not Xero. Reber brings this character to life in rich sentences and telling details. Enjoy the ride." Alan Schoonmaker, author of Anxiety and the Executive and The Psychology of Poker
"A delightfully bumpy on-the-road tale full of characters living on the fringes. Humor and introspection paint bizarre situations in quick and cleverly written brushstrokes." Alan Geik, author of Glenfiddich Inn
"If you'd ever wished you'd played in the edgier days of poker, Arthur Reber provides you a glimpse into what it was like. Suffocated by the rules of college, his hero seeks his fortune on the rougher edges of society. A great tour of back rooms and hustles now disappearing." Linda Johnson, First Lady of Poker