PopSyndicate.com

What does a funny guy who loves poker do with his time? When he’s not writing comedy skits overseas, John Vorhaus takes his passionate obsession with poker to the PC and pens mysteries around his beloved card game.

Vorhaus is the only poker strategist to be published in all four major poker publications, which include Card Player, Poker World, Poker Europa, and Poker Digest. His Killer Poker nonfiction series set him above the trends of the poker tournament craze of the late 1900s and early 2000s. But when he dipped his pen into the blood ink of suspense, Vorhaus turned a page in an exciting new direction for his writing career.

How does a guy who knew nothing about poker become the expert? Vorhaus explains on his Web site:

I’ve been writing about poker since 1988. It’s a funny story how I got started…

One day I drove by the Commerce Casino in bucolic Commerce, California.  Traffic was snarled, so thought I might go in and kill some time. I went in, plunked down my $20 and took a seat in the game.

Needless to say, they went through me like a freight train through the wind.

Needless to say, I was hooked.

Keenly aware that all good addicts need a means to support their jones, I immediately contacted Card Player Magazine and made the following pitch:

“Look, I know nothing about poker, but I’m keen to learn, and while I’m learning, I’d like to write about it for (and get paid by) your fine magazine. Kind of a ‘rake’s progress’ for poker.”

Well, they took the bait, and I’ve been writing about poker ever since.

Vorhaus isn’t just obsessed with poker. He’s a comic genius when it comes to the written word - probably why he is in such high demand for writing overseas comedy. Here is a great example from his Web site, www.vorza.com:

By the way, John Vorhaus John Vorhaus John Vorhaus Comic Toolbox John Vorhaus John Vorhaus Killer Poker John Vorhaus John Vorhaus John Vorhaus John Vorhaus. That’s for the search engines.

His site, titled “Vorza’s Brain,” offers a graphic of the author’s own brain, with sections he says are “Intentionally left blank” and “Random access.” Some of his best stuff can be found at his blog, http://www.somnifer.typepad.com/.

John Vorhaus is the author of over a dozen books, including the seminal comedy writing book, The Comic Toolbox, and the creative problem-solving bible, Creativity Rules. His six Killer Poker books define the first and last words on how to play successful poker. Now he has brought his writing and poker talents together in a unique new way, with Under the Gun, a combination murder-mystery/teaching-tool that guides readers on a journey through the top tier of tournament poker while, at the same time, instructing them on poker’s wonderful “inner game.” It’s a how-to whodunit that includes poker, murder, and a hundred-pound dog. What’s not to like?

When not slaving over a hot word processor, Vorhaus travels the world teaching and training television and film writers from Norway to Nicaragua. He has worked in 24 countries on four continents, including Romania, where his hit sitcom House Arrest is in its third season, and Russia, where he’s currently running the writing staff of the Russian version of Married… with Children. He can’t decide which is the greater achievement: making a final table at the World Series of Poker or teaching the Germans how to be funny.

Vorhaus is currently working in Russia on a TV comedy, but he took time out this week to chat it up with Pop Syndicate, and share a sneak peek into his latest fiction novel, Under the Gun.