World Fantasy Award 1993, Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel 1993. Mythopoeic Fantasy Award nominee 1993.

Ten years ago Scott Crane quit playing Poker professionally – and he hasn't been to Las Vegas or held a hand of cards since.

But now he's having nightmares about a strange Poker game that took place on a houseboat on Lake Mead in 1969. The game in which he won a fortune twenty-one years ago is, in a supernatural sense, not finished yet. The money he took home was actually in exchange for his life... and perhaps his soul. And there's one hand yet to be played, a last terrible bet to be called, and he will have to wager everything.

From the Poker clubs of Los Angeles through the mythic wasteland of the Mojave Desert to Bugsy Siegel's magical city of Las Vegas, Crane's odyssey leads him to one last Poker game, a game that involves Tarot card and the souls of the players much more than the chips on the table.

Published
1992
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Tim Powers weaves together Chaos Mathematics, probability manipulation, Low Magic, gambling, skullduggery and Arthurian legend into a masterpiece. Possibly the best fantasy fiction ever written.  

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