Poker's First Comic Book Series

Final 9 is Poker’s first complete comic book series. The series is based on the biggest Texas Hold’em poker tournament in Las Vegas. The WSOP main event which has over 6000 players entering each year since 2006 and the winner get the famous poker bracelet and the reward of $10million dollars. 

Final 9 tells the story of the final table in a major poker tournament in Las Vegas. It explores the roles of background, media and money in the world of high-stakes, high risk poker, through the final nine players of the tournament: seven men and two women. All of the players have a different background and motivation which has led to their presence at the final table in pursuit of being the final champion, including hunger for: financial gain; prestige of winning the tournament; publicity to revive flagging careers or for reasons of self-promotion; ambition for personal and, in some cases, seeking to prove successful in poker in relation to their family, economic or gender-based starting point. The motivations of all of the characters are played out as the card game progresses, through performance at the table, articles and chapter events, against the backdrop of the history of the Tournament and the glittering casino lights of Las Vegas, with its allure of the ‘big win’.

The stories of the characters and the development of professional poker are also expanded through the characterisation of the media in the novel, which depicts the growth of the media role in the real world of professional poker. This is not just confined to the game’s rise in TV popularity and media coverage, but also through the use of the internet and the increasing popularity of online poker as a medium by which new players learn their skills and start their gambling careers. The media is a conduit through which the characters are explored as it takes a role in their own development in the game, particularly through their responses to media presence and pressure during this final part of the tournament. Ultimately the novel sees the success of one final winner, Levi, whose character does not just depict a response to the role of media in the world of poker, but also represents a challenge to cultural and media based assumptions of poker-playing and gambling as a poor example of family values.