
Fading Hearts on the River
A Life in High-Stakes Poker
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $19.60
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Joe Barrett
-
By:
-
Brooks Haxton
About this listen
Centered around multi-million dollar stakes and a series of nationally televised poker tournaments, Fading Hearts on the River offers a story of odds - the odds of a newborn surviving severe jaundice, the odds of Congress passing a law that renders one's online gambling income inaccessible, the odds of drawing the right card on the turn or the river.
In this tale of fatherhood and worldy success, Haxton follows his son Isaac's unlikely career as a poker player, the nervous father often sitting on the sidelines with his fingers crossed or staring at a casino monitor while Isaac wins more in one hand of play than Haxton has earned from all his books of poetry combined.
In this deftly crafted story, Haxton explores the propensity for abstraction, logic, and memory all good poets and poker players share, all the while taking listeners on a rollicking tour of complex, intertwined topics, ranging from game theory and financial strategies, to medical mysteries and lost love, to chess, Magic cards, and Texas Hold em. Guided by the through-line of a father's love and admiration for his talented son, Fading Hearts delivers a unique perspective on professional gambling and one family’s experience playing the odds.
©2014 Brooks Haxton (P)2014 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Gambler
- Secrets from a Life at Risk
- By: Billy Walters
- Narrated by: Billy Walters
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anybody can get lucky. Nobody controls the odds like Billy Walters. Widely regarded as “the Michael Jordan of sports betting,” Walters is a living legend in Las Vegas and among sports bettors worldwide. With an unmatched winning streak of thirty-six consecutive years, Walters has become fabulously wealthy by placing hundreds of millions of dollars a year in gross wagers, including one Super Bowl bet of $3.5 million alone. Competitors desperate to crack his betting techniques have tried hacking his phones, cloning his beepers, rifling through his trash, and bribing his employees.
-
-
Good but
- By Amazon Customer on 08-30-23
By: Billy Walters
-
Poker Satellite Strategy
- By: Dara O'Kearney, Barry Carter
- Narrated by: Dara O'Kearney
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best way for small-stakes poker players to earn life-changing amounts of money is to win a satellite into a bigger tournament. Yet, there is surprisingly little poker theory written about how to win satellite tournaments, until now. In Poker Satellite Strategy, professional poker player Dara O’Kearney gives you a framework for how to approach every stage of a satellite tournament, from the early levels right up to the bubble.
-
-
cashed twice after reading
- By tommy on 07-28-24
By: Dara O'Kearney, and others
-
Moon Palace
- By: Paul Auster
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Against the mythical dreamscape of America, Auster brilliantly weaves the bizarre narrative of Marco Stanley Fogg, an orphan searching for love, his father, and the key to the riddle of his origin and fate.
-
-
Pointless
- By Or Avivi on 11-28-24
By: Paul Auster
-
One of a Kind
- The Story of Stuey 'The Kid' Ungar, the World's Greatest Poker Player
- By: Nolan Dalla, Peter Alson
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stuey Ungar dropped out of high school to become an underground card-table sensation, eventually taking out every top gin-rummy player on the east coast. Bankrolled by the Genovese crime family, Ungar went on to win the World Series of Poker a record three times. Then his luck began to run out.
-
-
Truly One Of A Kind...
- By Kasper on 06-16-09
By: Nolan Dalla, and others
-
Shoe Dog
- A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
- By: Phil Knight
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Phil Knight - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
-
-
Just read it. (or listen, whatever)
- By Dan D on 07-07-16
By: Phil Knight
-
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
- A Novel
- By: Gabrielle Zevin
- Narrated by: Jennifer Kim, Julian Cihi
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sam and Sadie—two college friends, often in love, but never lovers—become creative partners in a dazzling and intricately imagined world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality. It is a love story, but not one you have heard before.
-
-
This book sucked the life out of me
- By RMan on 08-08-22
By: Gabrielle Zevin
-
Gambler
- Secrets from a Life at Risk
- By: Billy Walters
- Narrated by: Billy Walters
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anybody can get lucky. Nobody controls the odds like Billy Walters. Widely regarded as “the Michael Jordan of sports betting,” Walters is a living legend in Las Vegas and among sports bettors worldwide. With an unmatched winning streak of thirty-six consecutive years, Walters has become fabulously wealthy by placing hundreds of millions of dollars a year in gross wagers, including one Super Bowl bet of $3.5 million alone. Competitors desperate to crack his betting techniques have tried hacking his phones, cloning his beepers, rifling through his trash, and bribing his employees.
-
-
Good but
- By Amazon Customer on 08-30-23
By: Billy Walters
-
Poker Satellite Strategy
- By: Dara O'Kearney, Barry Carter
- Narrated by: Dara O'Kearney
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best way for small-stakes poker players to earn life-changing amounts of money is to win a satellite into a bigger tournament. Yet, there is surprisingly little poker theory written about how to win satellite tournaments, until now. In Poker Satellite Strategy, professional poker player Dara O’Kearney gives you a framework for how to approach every stage of a satellite tournament, from the early levels right up to the bubble.
-
-
cashed twice after reading
- By tommy on 07-28-24
By: Dara O'Kearney, and others
-
Moon Palace
- By: Paul Auster
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Against the mythical dreamscape of America, Auster brilliantly weaves the bizarre narrative of Marco Stanley Fogg, an orphan searching for love, his father, and the key to the riddle of his origin and fate.
-
-
Pointless
- By Or Avivi on 11-28-24
By: Paul Auster
-
One of a Kind
- The Story of Stuey 'The Kid' Ungar, the World's Greatest Poker Player
- By: Nolan Dalla, Peter Alson
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stuey Ungar dropped out of high school to become an underground card-table sensation, eventually taking out every top gin-rummy player on the east coast. Bankrolled by the Genovese crime family, Ungar went on to win the World Series of Poker a record three times. Then his luck began to run out.
-
-
Truly One Of A Kind...
- By Kasper on 06-16-09
By: Nolan Dalla, and others
-
Shoe Dog
- A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
- By: Phil Knight
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Phil Knight - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
-
-
Just read it. (or listen, whatever)
- By Dan D on 07-07-16
By: Phil Knight
-
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
- A Novel
- By: Gabrielle Zevin
- Narrated by: Jennifer Kim, Julian Cihi
- Length: 13 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sam and Sadie—two college friends, often in love, but never lovers—become creative partners in a dazzling and intricately imagined world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality. It is a love story, but not one you have heard before.
-
-
This book sucked the life out of me
- By RMan on 08-08-22
By: Gabrielle Zevin
-
Me Talk Pretty One Day
- By: David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Sedaris' collection of essays - including live recordings! - tells a most unconventional life story. With every clever turn of a phrase, Sedaris brings a view and a voice like no other to every unforgettable encounter. You can also listen to Sedaris in an interview with Terry Gross on Fresh Air.
-
-
Subtly Funny Musings on Life Experiences
- By FanB14 on 09-03-12
By: David Sedaris
-
These Precious Days
- Essays
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
“Any story that starts will also end.” As a writer, Ann Patchett knows what the outcome of her fiction will be. Life, however, often takes turns we do not see coming. Patchett ponders this truth in these wise essays that afford a fresh and intimate look into her mind and heart.
-
-
Heartfelt Essays, Beautifully Performed
- By Brent Holcomb on 11-23-21
By: Ann Patchett
-
My Beloved World
- By: Sonia Sotomayor
- Narrated by: Rita Moreno
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The first Hispanic and third woman appointed to the United States Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor has become an instant American icon. Now, with a candor and intimacy never undertaken by a sitting Justice, she recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a journey that offers an inspiring testament to her own extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself.
-
-
Overcoming proverty via education
- By Jean on 01-17-13
By: Sonia Sotomayor
-
One More Thing
- Stories and Other Stories
- By: B. J. Novak
- Narrated by: B. J. Novak, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, and others
- Length: 6 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
B.J. Novak's One More Thing: Stories and Other Stories is an endlessly entertaining, surprisingly sensitive, and startlingly original debut that signals the arrival of a brilliant new voice in American fiction. A boy wins a $100,000 prize in a box of Frosted Flakes - only to discover how claiming the winnings might unravel his family. A woman sets out to seduce motivational speaker Tony Robbins - turning for help to the famed motivator himself. A new arrival in Heaven, overwhelmed with options, procrastinates over a long-ago promise to visit his grandmother....
-
-
It gets better, and better, and better, and better
- By David Shear on 02-07-14
By: B. J. Novak
-
Storyworthy
- Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling
- By: Matthew Dicks, Dan Kennedy - foreword
- Narrated by: Matthew Dicks, John Glouchevitch
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A five-time Moth GrandSLAM winner and bestselling novelist shows how to tell a great story - and why doing so matters. Whether we realize it or not, we are always telling stories. On a first date or job interview, at a sales presentation or therapy appointment, with family or friends, we are constantly narrating events and interpreting emotions and actions. In this compelling book, storyteller extraordinaire Matthew Dicks presents wonderfully straightforward and engaging tips and techniques for constructing, telling, and polishing stories that will hold the attention of your audience (no matter how big or small).
-
-
not many tips on how to deliver a good story
- By polaris on 08-22-19
By: Matthew Dicks, and others
-
Lucky Man
- A Memoir
- By: Michael J. Fox
- Narrated by: Michael J. Fox
- Length: 5 hrs and 30 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In September 1998, Michael J. Fox stunned the world by announcing he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease: a degenerative neurological condition. In fact, he had been secretly fighting it for seven years. The worldwide response was staggering. Fortunately, he had accepted the diagnosis and by the time the public started grieving for him, he had stopped grieving for himself.
-
-
The True Story of Onset Parkinson's - Life Goes On
- By Howard P on 04-25-13
By: Michael J. Fox
-
This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage
- By: Ann Patchett
- Narrated by: Ann Patchett
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Blending literature and memoir, Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder and Bel Canto examines her deepest commitments: to writing, family, friends, dogs, books, and her husband in This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage. Together, these essays, previously published in The Atlantic, Harper, Vogue, and The Washington Post, form a resonant portrait of a life lived with loyalty and with love.
-
-
Entertaining, engrossing, and elucidative essays
- By Bonny on 01-07-14
By: Ann Patchett
-
Fooling Houdini
- Magicians, Mentalists, Math Geeks, and the Hidden Powers of the Mind
- By: Alex Stone
- Narrated by: Alex Stone
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Alex Stone was five years old, his father bought him a magic kit - a gift that would spark a lifelong love. Years later, while living in New York City, he discovered a vibrant underground magic scene exploding with creativity and innovation and populated by a fascinating cast of characters: from his gruff mentor, who holds court in the back of a rundown pizza shop, to one of the world's greatest card cheats, who also happens to be blind. Captivated, he plunged headlong into this mysterious world.
-
-
I suppose the author thinks he's clever
- By Joe on 11-01-12
By: Alex Stone
-
Vacationland
- True Stories from Painful Beaches
- By: John Hodgman
- Narrated by: John Hodgman
- Length: 5 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Hodgman - New York Times best-selling author, semifamous personality, deranged millionaire, increasingly elderly husband, father, and human of Earth - has written a memoir about his cursed travels through two wildernesses: from the woods of his home in Massachusetts, birthplace of rage, to his exile on the coast of Maine, so-called Vacationland, home to the most painful beaches on Earth.
-
-
Not your typical coming of age story
- By Tiffany Pearce on 11-02-17
By: John Hodgman
-
Schuyler's Monster
- A Father's Journey with His Wordless Daughter
- By: Robert Rummel-Hudson
- Narrated by: Johnathan McClain
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Schuyler Rummel-Hudson was 18 months old, a question about her lack of speech by her pediatrician set in motion a journey that continues today. When she was diagnosed with bilateral perisylvian polymicrogyria (an extremely rare neurological disorder), her parents were given a name for the monster that had been stalking them from doctor to doctor, and from despair to hope, and back again.
-
-
Must-read for medical parents & those who ❤them
- By Kelly A. Wolske on 05-23-18
-
Keep Moving
- And Other Tips and Truths About Aging
- By: Dick Van Dyke
- Narrated by: Dick Van Dyke
- Length: 5 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With a fun and folksy way of addressing its audience, Keep Moving serves as an instruction audiobook on how to embrace old age with a positive attitude. The chapters are filled with exclusive personal anecdotes that explore various themes on aging: how to adapt to the physical and social changes, deal with loss of friends and loved ones, stay current, fall in love again, and "keep moving" every day like there's no tomorrow.
-
-
Disappointed with aspects of this audiobook.
- By vasilios on 11-08-15
By: Dick Van Dyke
-
My Own Devices
- True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love
- By: Dessa
- Narrated by: Dessa
- Length: 7 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rapper and singer Dessa gives a candid account of her life as a touring musician, her determination to beat long odds to make a name for herself, and her struggle to fall out of love with someone in her band. Raw and intimate, Dessa demonstrates just how far the mind can travel while the body is on the six-hour ride to the next rap show. Dessa finds unconventional approaches to all of her subjects - braiding her lived experience with academic research and a poet's tone and timing. In the vein of thinkers who defy categorization, we get the debut of a deft, likable, and unusual voice.
-
-
so sad and wonderful all at once
- By Joe on 09-22-18
By: Dessa