Hungry for food and cooking mags? Shelves of them line bookstores. (Their subtext: hoo-boy, we love to julienne carrots and prove how hip we are by choosing the right cheese.) Dying to read pubs about health? Plenty of those, too. (Their subtext: here's our chance to bring up erectile dysfunction in polite company.) But the bimonthly Eating Well--the title translates to chowing down healthfully and deliciously--is apparently the only consumer pub with an in-depth focus on both nutrition and cooking.

I'm not a fan of "gambling lifestyle" magazines, few of which do much beyond relate insipid war stories and plug semi-relevant products. For these reasons and more, the summer issue of Poker Life wasn't likely to float my boat. But of the gambling-lifestyle mags that have flocked to newsstands like ants to a poorly secured picnic basket, Poker Life probably ranks among the best, and not merely by default.