Herbert O. Yardley started mastering the infinite subtleties of poker in his teens in a saloon of the Old West. During the 1920s he worked in MI-8, the first U.S. peacetime cryptanalytic organization. When MI-8 was disbanded in 1929 Yardley caused a sensation with the publication of his memoirs, The American Black Chamber, still regarded as a classic book on codes, ciphers and spies.
