"You Can't Beat 5 Aces!" :)

Howdy!

The 1959 paperback Poker According to Maverick is one of the most popular Maverick Kellectibles. I see it all the time at paper shows and it can easily be purchased online as well.

When it was originally published, Poker According to Maverick could be "yours for the asking...FREE!", simply by visiting one's local Jeep dealership:

I personally have four copies of this book (a couple were thrown in as freebies when I purchased other Kellectibles). It was even the subject of a guest post here in TDS.

What's interesting about Poker According to Maverick (aside from the front cover photo and the subject matter) is that there are different back covers for this book. Two copies I own have a regular back cover with a "blurb" about the book; one has a plain white back cover.

And, the fourth copy has this for its back cover:

 

An advertisement for Kaiser Foil (seemingly aimed at grocers) starring the "guys who know" that "You can't beat 5 aces"! The five "aces" are sales points for Kaiser Foil (it's quilted; there are five different types of Kaiser foil; Kaiser sponsors Maverick--yay!; Kaiser's promotions meet grocers' needs; customers quickly notice the ruby red boxes). But, I spot four more aces in this ad: Bart and Bret and the cards they're holding! ;)

Poker According to Maverick was so popular that it had sold over half a million copies by 1960, as noted in this review from the Amherst News Times:

And, the author of a forthcoming book about poker and pop culture also credits the Maverick TV series and Poker According to Maverick with sparking the mini "poker boom" of the late Fifties.

I've read Poker According to Maverick, but, alas, I still can't play poker (I'm afraid my card playing prowess is limited to 52 Pickup). However, this little tome still taught me something, which is: I love looking at the front cover...and sometimes the back cover, too. ;)

FUN FACT: Although Bret Maverick gives first-person poker tips in Poker According to Maverick, the actual author's name isn't printed anywhere on or in the book. Since Roy Huggins contributed the forward, most readers have probably assumed he secretly wrote the rest of the book as well. Nope: The book's uncredited author was actually veteran newspaperman and author James H. Cummings. According to a Columbus Dispatch story following his death in 1966, "Cummings 'ghosted' a novel Poker According to Maverick which sold more than one million copies. He also wrote and sold more than 200 magazine stories beginning in 1939." 

Odds are you'll enjoy what's coming up next in TDS, so please stay tuned! :)