All-in

Denn Doyle

by Pete Hautman

Although nearly broke and without the support of his friends and family, Denn thinks his new life in Vegas is about to change when he falls for a casino dealer named Cattie, but between her secret and his desire to get his hands on the fee to get into the big poker tournament, Denn's failure to see the obvious may be his greatest downfall.

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, Fiction, Games

192 pages, Hardcover

First published June 5, 2007

About the author

Peter Murray Hautman is an American author best known for his novels for young adults. One of them, Godless, won the 2004 National Book Award for Young People's Literature. The National Book Foundation summary is, "A teenage boy decides to invent a new religion with a new god."

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you play poker or card games, you will definitely enjoy this book. If you've always been curious about Las Vegas, you'll enjoy this book. I don't play poker and I've been to Vegas, so I just kind of floated through the book without caring much what happened. The fact that I floated through the book so easily does mean that the book is well-written, smooth with fast pacing, but I wasn't all that interested in the characters or what happened to them.

[Ethan Denny]

All-In
Pete Hautman

All-In by Pete Hautman, is a book about overcoming struggles and learning that change is sometimes for the best. If you are a person who likes ups and downs and likes to be sitting on the edge of your seat while reading; then this book is for you! Personally, I enjoyed this book because it shows that with determination, out-smarting others, and being able to work with what you’re given you can make anything out of something.
With many ups and downs, comes many times that the reader has no idea what the outcome of a certain situation will be. The first problem that occurs happens when a 17-year old Denn Doyle meets a 19-year old Cattie Hart. Denn was a kid with a chip on his shoulder who was in Vegas to prove he could last. Cattie on the other hand was a young woman who did not trust anyone and was there to be away from home. As soon as his cold eyes met hers, it was all downhill from there. Up until he met her, Denn was on a historic run when it comes to winning poker games. It wasn’t until he was screwed over at the poker table that he realized she was the reason his historic run came to a screeching halt. I personally loved this specific instance that featured a downfall to Denn because as said before, up until he finally lost a poker game it was almost as if he was never going to lose a single poker game. So, when he finally did lose it was an instant shift with my opinion of the book. I began to realize this book wasn’t like others because for once the main character didn’t coincidentally have everything good happen to him.
As the book goes along, the reader can quickly understand that Denn blames all his bad luck on Cattie. He can’t get her out of his head, and the same goes for her. They were so much alike, which for some reason drew them closer to each other. When the times got tough for Denn Cattie seemed to be there for him. After Denn officially hit rock bottom, he understands that if he comes up with 10k he can buy into a very high dollar game that will turn his problems around. Cattie as said before helps him out when the times get tough and give him the 10k. I personally like this section of the book because it was so shocking to me. At the time she gave him the money, I thought there wasn’t a chance she would give him the money. But, as the story did continuously, it proved me wrong and did the unexpected. The unexpected being that Cattie gave Denn the 10k to give him the chance to turn his life around.
The last part of the book is my favorite. As it ends in a great ending for Denn. I loved this section of the book the most because the ending once again is apparent. It’s not completely obvious that Denn is going to hit the jackpot and win the big hand. It happens very slowly and almost very discretely. Denn ends up in a bind when Artie has a better hand than him, but without thinking Denn decides to go for the win and says “All-In” which is coincidentally the title for the book. The book does not instantly go out and say that Denn won, but the reader can understand that Denn won the poker game when in the end Jimbo states “Denn Doyle has a pretty good one. I wonder if he’s telling it now, wherever he is.”
The book All-In was a great book to read. I loved that I never knew what was going to happen. It was always whatever I didn’t expect to happen, happened. I enjoyed being on the edge of my seat the entire team I was reading the book. The author Pete Hautman did a great job in describing his characters and getting through tough situations. I especially enjoyed how realistic the poker games felt, I could honestly feel the tension when times got tough at the poker table. If I had to rate the book All-In by Pete Hautman, I would give it a 4.8/5. The reason behind not giving it a complete 5/5 is only because I think the ending could have been better. I wish the author would have went into better detail what Denn Doyle did with the money and if Denn and Cattie ended up lasting forever.

Book Review Done By: Ethan Denny

[Michael Meadows · Rating 4 out of 5]

All-in by Pete Hautman is a very suspenseful novel that has a lot of ups and downs. There is a very young man named Denn who starts poker early in his childhood. Everyone around him is very intrigued on how good he is at the game. People always ask him how he got so good and he would always say “it’s luck.” Although, his peers know its not just luck, because there is something about Denn that is different and its not his age. But Denn starts going on a losing streak and enters a tournament where he sees the girl who started his losing streak. Denn then starts to gather up earnings from different tournaments so he can buy a restaurant.
The author does a good job at telling the story from first person point-of-view. Since the story is told in a first-person point-of-view this makes the book ten times more interesting. The bad thing is that you are only getting one character’s complete thoughts instead of multiple. I think the author does a good job at making sure details are said about the other characters to further the knowledge the reader can gather about the other characters. One key thing is that you don’t need to understand card games to really understand the book. Even though Denn Doyle’s life revolves around poker he has other interests such as Cattie. The author makes sure to add the steps on how to play the card games if you are curious and really want to know what some of the slang/jargon that is used in the book is about.
Denn Doyle is described in the book as a very good card player at 17 years old, “The kid has a little over $19,000. I got $6,400. Del has made a couple of bad moves and is down to $2,500.” From the last quote the reader can easily infer that this kid is no joke. Cattie is a very mysterious young woman that no one knows what her and the kid are, “I know the kid is having a little thing with Cattie; they hooked up a couple weeks back.” Cattie is also a girl that is known for her enticing looks, Cattie is pure fox, right down to the red hair, the clean brown eyes, and the canine smile.” Del the Cabby is an old man that still shows a little interest in card games, “… who still drives a taxi even though he’s about 80 years old, sees all the money hitting the table and wanders over to check out our action.”
All-in is about several suspenseful situations Denn Doyle was in and was able to overcome. I thought the authors description of the poker scenes were so good that you could imagine yourself in the room while the tournaments were going on. This was a sense of imagery that overall helped the book create a good picture. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries and overall likes things that are suspenseful. Coming from myself, a person who only likes to read sports books, this book has changed my mind.
If you have read Ruby Holler by Sharon Creech, you will enjoy All-in by Pete Hautman. Similarly, Ruby Holler is about kids that have a tough life and it takes them a lot to get through their situations. This is like Denn Doyle because Denn was just a youngster growing up practically supporting himself. These two books bind together very well, and I believe readers would love to read and make the comparisons I made with both books.
On a scale out of 5 I would give this book 4 stars. The book was very interesting and had many aspects that made the book interesting. I would not give it a 5 because something was missing whether it was supposed to end differently or… something else. Whenever you read a certain book certain things click but sometimes not everything clicks and this was the case for me with All-in. I do believe anybody should give this a read because it will be worth your time and take you on a suspenseful adventure.

[Mag · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pete Hautman’s All-In is an award winning book and arguably his best novel. Often described as very taut and suspenseful. All-in is a novel about seventeen year old prodigy poker player, Denn Doyle. Denn was on a great winning streak until his luck ran out and now he’s almost broke. Denn met Cattie at a poker table in a casino in Las Vegas. She was dealing the cards but Denn was focused on her instead of the game. Denn and Cattie ended up having a one night stand type thing and Cattie ended up ghosting him. A couple weeks later they met again at a poker table. Once again she was dealing the cards but he was focused on her. When he was focused on her he could not focus on the game so he was losing lots of money. He ended up going to a bar that had a lot of experienced former poker players. When he first got there all of them were making fun and laughing at him. While they were just playing for scraps he ended up learning a lot. Then came the game of a lifetime. A million dollar jackpot winner takes all poker game. All he had to do was come up with the $10,000 entry amount. Out of 5 stars I’d give this book a 4. It was very interesting and it seemed like it had a good structure to the book. This book was one good book and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good interesting book.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Makes me want to learn how to play Texas Hold'em!

[Gunnar C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed read All-in by Pete Hautman. I found it interesting to learn more about poker and how it is like living in Las Vegas. The book started off with the main character Denn packing everything up and moving out to Las Vegas with his fake i.d at the age of 17. As Denn is finding success in Vegas, a card dealer by the name of Cattie catches his eye. The two of them start spending more time together and getting closer to each other. However, one day when Denn is playing poker and Cattie is dealing, a man from his past who Denn had won a restaurant off of sits down next to him. Denn being the poker prodigy he notices Cattie dealt cards unfairly to this man. Now the only person Denn knew in Vegas had cheated him and he has to now figure out what to do.
There are a few reasons why I dropped my rating for the book down to 3 stars out of 5 stars. The main reason for the 3 stars is the lack of information given about the characters past. There were a few times in the book where I just wondered how Denn or Cattie got to where they are. Denn being only 17 years old, it seemed odd that he was just living in Las Vegas and nothing about his family's history is mentioned or hinted at. There was also a time in the book where Cattie was questioning to talk to her mother for the first time in a long time, but it is never told why they haven't talked. Overall though, I did feel like the book read well and I was hooked during most of the plot. I would recommend this book to someone who has an interest in Las Vegas or reading about a 17 year olds exciting adventure.

[Ethan Kirkpatrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book All-In by Pete Hautman was an average book with a good plot and story, with poor writing and execution. The plot of an underage kid going into Las Vegas and winning thousands of dollars is very good and intriguing but the way Hautman organized the paragraphs, each written from a different persons perspective which at times was confusing as there would be many chapters in a row from the main character’s perspective, Denn, then it would switch and even though it specifically stated that it was changing, it was still confusing as you still felt like it was Denn’s perspective you were viewing. In the second half of the book this did not happen as much which made the book exponentially easier to read. I also think that the side plot with Cattie could have also been better. I understand that there have been lots of books written about poker and Hautman wanted to make this one different, but the romantic side plot he added was not well developed, and made the story overall less interesting and I dreaded chapters that were about this horrible part of the story. Overall, the main plot of the book was very good but it was poorly executed and had a useless side plot.

[Levi White · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really interesting. Denn Doyle is a very young poker player and is trying to enter a very expensive poker game. He has to scrounge together 10,000 to enter this tournament and if he wins he gets 1 million dollars. So if you like poker and you are a risk taker you will love this book.

[Jaocb Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the book was very well written. It gave us a good understanding of the gambling scene I think anyone who thinks gambling is interesting or just wants a good book to read should diffidently pick this book up. I would have gave it 5 stars but their where some slow parts that held me back.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book interesting because I’ve always been intrigued by gambling. It caught my attention when it talked about an underage gambler because I wondered first of all of he would get caught and in major trouble, and secondly if he would regain all the money he lost prior and then some.

[Ben Kress · Rating 4 out of 5]

overall good but not great ending

[Candi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read with my 10th grader for school. Interesting book, highlights some of the issues with gambling but also kinda glamorizes it.

[Caitlin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trash. Cliche and without thrill.

[Andrew Kobus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was probably my all time favorite book that I have read. I love how the author writes. He has a good style. It is an intense book but also somewhat of a drama book. I rate this book 5 stars and recommend it to others who like these types of books.

[Joe Van · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just recently finished the book All In by Pete Hautman. The book is about a character named Denn who plays Texas holdem poker. He is only seventeen, so he isn’t legally old enough to gamble. His fake ID gives him the opportunity to show his excellent poker skills against some of professional players. He is doing good in the gambling world, making good money, until he hits rock bottom. He then had to slowly make his money back so he could enter a winner take all tournament at Artie Kingston’s casino.

This book seemed like it had a very slow developing plot to me. The beginning and ending of the book had my attention the whole time, but the middle bored me at times. I believe this happened because the events in the beginning and end of the book were faster paced and kept me on my feet. Overall, the book was pretty well written, and I enjoyed it as well. The chapters were broken up into short sections featuring different characters. I think one big theme in this book is that gambling can be a big problem in some people’s lives. Denn, the main character in the book, lost all of his money by playing poker.

If you are a poker player, or enjoy hearing about the game, I would suggest you take a look at this book. I play poker every once in a while, and I could understand everything mentioned in this book. If you’ve never played poker before, I wouldn’t recommend this book. It would be very difficult to understand, and you would miss out on many key points of the book. In conclusion, I enjoyed the majority of this book, and would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in poker.

[Logan Schwartzentruber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by: Logan Schwartzentruber

Warning, there will be spoilers!

I read the book "All-In" by Pete Hautman. I would rate it a 3.5 out of 5 stars. I enjoyed reading the book because there was a lot of suspense. The suspense made me want to keep reading more and more to the point where I finished. There was one thing that was interesting about how the book was written. The book had three main characters. Every chapter the point of view would change between those three characters. I liked that because with each different point of view,my oh could hear that characters thoughts. So hearing their thoughts put a lot of irony into the story. Another style of writing the author used was how he used some side stories to relate to what the characters were doing in the main story. Even thought that the book was only 177 pages, which is not a lot. I read this pretty fast. I think it was because you read each page faster and faster because the story kept on getting better and better. The final twenty pages was the end. It had the most important part when the final poker tournament began. There was a 10,000 dollar entry fee for every player that wanted to play. A good chunk of the book was Denn trying to get enough money to enter the tournament after he he went broke. I think that I would have enjoyed the book more if the author would have wrote less about Denn getting the money. And more on Denn actually playing in the tournament. I also would have liked it if the end was more clear on who won. I say this because the last words were "I went all-in". Overall, I liked the book.mi would recommend this to everyone even if you don't know poker, because it has the terms in it.

[Dakota · Rating 5 out of 5]

All-in
By: Pete Hautman

When everything you have is at stake, do you take a chance or go out? 16 year-old Denn learns that he can make a living off of something he is good at, Poker. But when he gets out of his game and has hit rock bottom. Does he try to climb out? Or does he just sit in a hole and not come out?
The main characters name in the book “All-in” is named Denn. Denn found out that he is very skilled and clever when it comes to the game of poker. He uses this to his advantage. While Denn is making a lot of money by playing, he sits at the wrong table. The dealers name is Cattie. Cattie knows that Denn is winning big and sets him up to lose. By dealing all the other players good cards. And giving Denn the losing hand every time. After he plays a couple games at Catties table, Denn is out of all the money he earned. He has hit bottom.
He keeps playing with what little money he has, And soon he has saved up $10,000 to buy into the biggest game of his life. A $1 million game of poker. Winner takes all. Denn gets back to playing his game, very strategic. As he plays game after game, there become fewer people sitting at the tables. As he makes it to the end, it comes down to 1 game between him and someone else. Does he climb out of the hole he was in or does he crack under the pressure?
Pete Hautman did an amazing job on the book “All-in”. Throughout the book it becomes very suspenseful because you don’t know what will happen next. I highly recommend people of all ages to read this book. Because it really a thrill to read.

[Zayd Nubani]

All in, by Pete Hautman, is a driving realistic tale about a teenage boy with dreams of being the best at poker. Denn, a seventeen year old, is the protagonist of this novel and is accompanied by his pal Jimbo. Denn is phenomenal at poker and everyone who he plays around knows it, but he is quiet keeping his shades on most of the time. He has the tendency to reject others in social situations because he feels it would get in the way of his playing. Denn becomes emotionally involved with a card-dealer, Cattie, but fails to see her scheme to take everything he has.
All-in is written at a high school level, but the story is more mature and captivating for an older audience. Poker is a game for the mature, but Denn is young and alone. He has no one to look out for him, everybody that loved him left him because of the game he loved. Poker makes Denn’s fortune, but it breaks the relationships he has made in the past. Eventually the past comes to haunt him when a challenger from the past comes to visit and haunt him. Denn has to make the rough decision of who is his allies and who is his enemies.
I liked All-In, but it wasn’t the greatest thing I’ve ever read. The story was basic and the ending didn’t really satisfy me, it was just too predictable. I really don’t enjoy reading books when I already know what is going to happen. However, it was a good book and I recommend it to those who like poker.

[Jason Kurtz · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I bought "All-In" at the Minnesota Council for the Teachers of English conference, it was from Hautman himself. He screwed up his face in thought, handed it to me and said, “This is the first copy ever sold!”

I knew it was about gambling, and Texas Hold-em, and that is about all I knew. I was heading to Las Vegas in a few weeks, and thought it would be fun to read a book about a high stakes gambler. When I got back from Las Vegas, I couldn’t stop thinking about the book, and Hautman’s writing style in general. The gambling reality in the book was perfect. I competed in a small hold-em tournament in Las Vegas, and took third place.

The break-neck pacing in Hautman’s novel gave me a similar rush to the reality of the poker table. It was also about a somewhat controversial subject─gambling─for which there were no apologies. But why was I so enamored with All-In? I determined that I felt that Hautman had the casino reality exact because it was plotted perfectly as well.

Hautman’s books are short, and finely tuned page turners. Elmore Leonard is famous for claiming that his books are mostly dialogue and plot, and he leaves out the stuff that people skip over anyway. Hautman plots for teens like Leonard plots for adults, and that is a road to success.

[D. · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the sequel to STONE COLD (Aka NO LIMIT), we catch up with poker prodigy Denn after the events of the previous book. Hautman does a nice job of keeping the sequel friendly to people that didn't read the first book, but certain elements of it will resonate more if you read them in order.

This time, Hautman broadens the point-of-view, and raises the stakes (pun intended) for Denn by adding two interesting characters: Cattie, a card-dealer Denn is romantically attracted to but has some secrets, and Jimbo, Denn's only friend and a fellow gambler. As the story progresses, the different POVs help to deepen the storyline and explain the events (and intricacies of poker) as they unfold. This book is quite different in tone from the first book, but I can't say too much more about that without going into spoilers.

As with the first novel, Hautman lets the characters make mistakes, and doesn't moralize about their choices. Like the best writers, he lets the story stand for itself, and lets the readers make up their minds about who is right and who is wrong.

The ending is intentionally ambiguous, which might bother some readers, but there are some clues scattered throughout the book that will help close readers make up their minds about how things turn out.

Highly recommended.

[Christina Getrost · Rating 3 out of 5]

17 year old Denn lives in Law Vegas as a professional poker player, although he's not doing so well at the moment. He's just lost all but his last hundred bucks in a game where the dealer, cute redhead Cattie, cheated the deal so that he lost. In flashbacks and alternating points of view, from Cattie and Denn and "Jimbo" another young poker player, we learn Denn's history: he won a restaurant in a poker game in his hometown, but sold it when it tanked due to his bad management, and moved out to Vegas--the story told in the first book, No Limit. Now he's trying to win big, but he's gotten distracted by the cute redhead, who earns tons of money but has no one to spend it on or any motivation to change her life of crooked deals. Denn thinks if he could just come up with the $10,000 he needs to enter the big million-dollar tournament, he'll be on easy street. Lots of poker excitement, poker slang terms (luckily there's a glossary coz beyond "full house" and "the river", I don't know much about poker) and a general overall sense of despair and hope. You can almost smell the cigars and see the dim casino lights as you read.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the book “ALL IN.” The book “All IN” was a really good book. I read this book in really fast because sometimes I couldn't put the book down. The book only has 177 pages so it helped make it an even faster read. I really like the book because it wasn't only about one main character in it, it was a 3 characters with totally different backgrounds. this was a good book and I suggest it to anyone who wants to read it.

In the book there are 3 main characters and they have different roles to play in this. In the book there are parts that I think were good, ***Spoiler Alert*** like the part were Denn Doyle has to get $10,000 to get into a poker tournament so he tries his hand at black jack and ends up losing all of his money. I give this good a good rating because it was a good book to read

The book is something I have never read before. I suggest this book because if you like poker and can stand suspense in the book. I are a lot of great moments in this book but there are a couple of moments that you might not like. This book is a good book to read and I suggest it to anyone who wants to read this book.

[ACS Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

There 19s lots of fast sit-down action here for gamers and card players. I especially liked the initial buildup. Hautman doesn 19t dumb down the poker strategy, but he provides hints, and a glossary at the back.

After the first few chapters, though, the story goes downhill. There 19s too many unlikely setups. Some of the answers can be found in the book, "No Limit," but it doesn 19t make the plot any easier to accept. Could the main character, 17-year-old Denn, really win a restaurant in a poker game? How can Cattie, a runaway teen, get away with blatant cheating as a dealer in a million dollar tourney? And there 19s no good explanation for why the old goat Artie shows up in Vegas, and conspires to bring Denn down.

The dialogue is good, except for Jimbo 19s rhymes 13 1Caction, Jackson 1D sounds tired, and 1Cnumero uno, Bruno 1D is a painful reach. Another problem 13 there 19s no real ending. When you combine all that with the more predictable moments, this story isn 19t a big winner.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Pete Hautman did a good job in the book All-In. I like to hear gambling stories and how some people can be extremely lucky and some can extremly unlucky. This book made never want to gambling again because most of the time Denn (the main character) didn’t have good luck.
I like this book overall some of things I like about is that Denn wasn’t successful right away. He did well for awhile and then he didn’t so well and then he did terrible and the he did amazing. Some things I didn’t is how the book wasn’t very clear on who was talking when someone was talking. I did like that they named the chapters of the person who the person they were going to talk about but sometimes the book just wasn’t clear enough for me to understand.
I would recommend this book to anyone that likes gambling and also have to be able to keep reading to be able to understand the book. You also have to be able to be able to know a little about gambling before you start reading because the book uses words that mean gambling or when they are playing poker. This book overall was very well written.

[Int'l librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s lots of fast sit-down action here for gamers and card players. I especially liked the initial buildup. Hautman doesn’t dumb down the poker strategy, but he provides hints, and a glossary at the back.

After the first few chapters, though, the story goes downhill. There’s too many unlikely setups. Some of the answers can be found in the book, "No Limit," but it doesn’t make the plot any easier to accept. Could the main character, 17-year-old Denn, really win a restaurant in a poker game? How can Cattie, a runaway teen, get away with blatant cheating as a dealer in a million dollar tourney? And there’s no good explanation for why the old goat Artie shows up in Vegas, and conspires to bring Denn down.

The dialogue is good, except for Jimbo’s rhymes – “action, Jackson” sounds tired, and “numero uno, Bruno” is a painful reach. Another problem – there’s no real ending. When you combine all that with the more predictable moments, this story isn’t a big winner.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This quick read of Pete Hautman was a page turner. It was an easy read and the perfect book for anybody who loves poker. I found my self looking in the mirror of this book because i love to play poker, it made me not want to put the book down. Denn is a run away at the age of 17 and finds himself in the city of broken dreams Las Vegas. He hides his shady personality behind his sunglasses at the poker table. Everything seems to be going his way until he meets a girl who sets him up and Denn finds himself almost pennyless and enters a 10,000 dollar poker tourney by a loan of another poker player...winner takes all!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read No Limit, which is the first book Hautman wrote about Denn Doyle and poker. But I didn't really need to. This is a fast-paced read that I found entertaining. I had to re-read the last chapter again to make sure I got it right though. And the clues were subtle about Cattie, the red-haired cheating dealer who Denn falls in love with. I think this is the first young adult book I've read about poker. I think. Recommended reads by this author: Godless (National Book Award winner), Sweetblood (kinda vampires) and Invisible (Whoa). (I can't believe I ended two sentences with prepositions)

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is based in the tourist capital of the world, Las Vegas. It is about a young adult named Denn Doyle. He is only 17, which makes him not old enough to gamble. In Vegas he meets another young girl named Cattie, with a interesting back story. After his luck streak, he becomes one of the best known poker players in Las Vegas. Then, he has a bad streak, he loses almost all of his money on one bet. His only option is to go into a winner take all, 10,000$ buy in, winner takes all competition at his rivals new casino.

[Trevor Oakley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hautman is damn fine -- he keeps the prose sparse and maintains a constant level of tension all the way through. This will have teen readers hoping there's some sort of closure or release after the cards are dealt. It's also about the main character's search for something to fill a void -- by just reading this, we don't know where the emptiness comes from, just that this kid is searching to patch it up.

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ive been reading the book All-in by Pete Hautman, and it is a very entertaining book. It is about an underage boy going to vegas and playing poker. But during the trip there he becomes a high roller but ends up losing almost everything in a set up. I think that the book is very good at keeping you into the story. I can't wait to get further into the story to see if Denn, the main charater, gets his money back