Big Deal: One Year as a Professional Poker Player

Rating:
Summary: Clever and Fun.
Review: Big Deal is a vivid, charming tour many famous poker venues and events around the world through the eyes of a full-time writer and wannabe pro. Mr. Holden is quite skilled as a journalist. Through his description, one really feels like they are there in Malta as rain causes the roof to crumble. He has a strong eye for important and interesting details. Many of his quotations are invaluable and the book flows like words from the mouth of Amarillo Slim. The narrator has his own issues but one cannot help but be sympathetic towards him and cheer for his doomed attempts in becoming a poker legend.

The book will completely appeal to dreamers on every continent who wish to avoid spending the rest of their days working for the man (or mam as the case often is nowadays).

His trip to the psychologist and brief discussion of the psychology behind gambling was enlightening. I learned from his "shrink's" perspective and welcomed the alternative hypothesis concerning what makes people gamble. Saying it's simply masochism alone is in no way a universal explanation.

As a narrator, Holden unfortunately introduces some politics into his text. He exudes smug anti-Americanism in spades. (Yawn...) He appears to think the majority of us are uncouth and disinterested in the finer things of life although his friend Eric Drache obviously belies his stereotyped impressions. He makes digs about Margaret Thatcher and embraces the foppish left-wing notions of many in the English elite but there is no substance behind his snarky comments. Holden intentionally describes some hick at the table as predictably being a Republican. Southerners are also a target and to think, just because a gambling event in Louisiana was cancelled, that nothing has changed in the south in 150 years time is absurd, flawd, and deeply prejudiced.

He notes that many poker players are right wing, but why they are is the crucial angle he refuses to explore. All poker players are capitalists by definition--whether they admit it or not. Maximizing profit is why we sit at the table. Those who play should be opposed to redistributionist schemes. True social justice is about keeping what you've earned which is what poker is all about. Oh well, such mindless political asides are not representative of the whole book but they are annoying enough to keep me from giving it five stars. Otherwise, good show London Tony!


Rating:
Summary: A classic poker diary
Review: British journalist Holden recounts a year in his life spent travelling the world playing poker, his training course for the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.

A classic of poker writing, it makes me ask whether all poker writers know each other. The other best-read in the category is A. Alvarez's The Biggest Game in Town. Alvarez and Holden are regulars at their Tuesday Night Game in London. Another well-known author David Spanier (Total Poker) reports on Holden's playing for a UK newspaper.

The book is wide-ranging: from a brief history of the game to exciting card-by-card retelling of hands. It even teaches you the odds in Texas Hold 'Em. If you like the game, you will enjoy this book.

Follow this up with Positively Fifth Street by James McManus, a new poker saga inspired by Holden and Alvarez.

Rating:
Summary: nice book
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Rating:
Summary: The BEST non-"how-to" book about poker ever written
Review: If you wasted your money on Bellin's Poker Nation, redeem yourself by picking up this previously out-of-print classic. You will not be able to put it down. Holden is one of the few serious poker players who comes off like a genuinely humane and funny person in print. You'll learn quite a bit about how to play, but this is really a book about the culture of the game. And when it comes to that topic, it has no equals. Alvarez's Biggest Game in Town came first, and is also well worth buying, but Big Deal has better pacing and a more personal touch that makes it compulsively readable.

I've never written a review before, but I really think this book is worth rooting for. You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Holden turns in a royal flush commentary.
Review: In BIG DEAL, Holden recounts a year in his life as a professional poker player, along the way describing his ups and downs from home games in London to the World Series in Las Vegas. Holden introduces us to the fascinating cast of characters who make up the pro poker culture, and gives us an insider's view of the game itself. Even if you are not a particular fan of the game, you will understand the book and appreciate the battle of wits and chance that makes the game of poker what it is. The book includes a high level detail of individual games that the author witnessed or played in -- perhaps too much detail for the casual reader. For anyone who is curious about the lifestyle of a professional cardshark or wonders whether they could hang with the big boys, BIG DEAL goes a long way to giving the answers.

Rating:
Summary: Pocket 77
Review: Jounalist 'London' Tony Holden, clearly no slouch at the poker table, is emboldened by a boss placement at the World Series of poker (he finished ninetieth). He decides to see if he can 'run with the big boys,' or become a professional poker player. Thus begins a year of much intercontinental travel and poker play. Reading this account, it helps to be familiar with card games, especially Texas Hold 'Em; if you're not you might be perplexed or just bored by the play-by-plays of various hands ('the flop was a Qc-Kh-7c... Did the river hold an ace?'). But you need know nothing about gambling to enjoy Holden's breezy writing style: within these pages lie more than a few telling and insightful remarks on the foibles of gamblers, on his own gambling obsession (courtesy of a shrink Holden hires for that purpose), on the history of gambling and cards, especially in America, and the crazed capitalism concentrate that is Las Vegas. It's good stuff, delivered with the wisdom of a seasoned traveler and the self-effacement of a confirmed Briton. The book probably isn't representative of what might happen if Joe Public were to start mixing it up with the pros of poker; given the ease with which Holden mops up most of his competition, and regularly busts out old pros, he must be one of the better players out there. But if you're looking for a book that takes a hard, sympathetic look at the culture of gambling, this is a good one.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting and fun, even for the non-player
Review: Jounalist 'London' Tony Holden, clearly no slouch at the poker table, is emboldened by a boss placement at the World Series of poker (he finished ninetieth). He decides to see if he can 'run with the big boys,' or become a professional poker player. Thus begins a year of much intercontinental travel and poker play. Reading this account, it helps to be familiar with card games, especially Texas Hold 'Em; if you're not you might be perplexed or just bored by the play-by-plays of various hands ('the flop was a Qc-Kh-7c... Did the river hold an ace?'). But you need know nothing about gambling to enjoy Holden's breezy writing style: within these pages lie more than a few telling and insightful remarks on the foibles of gamblers, on his own gambling obsession (courtesy of a shrink Holden hires for that purpose), on the history of gambling and cards, especially in America, and the crazed capitalism concentrate that is Las Vegas. It's good stuff, delivered with the wisdom of a seasoned traveler and the self-effacement of a confirmed Briton. The book probably isn't representative of what might happen if Joe Public were to start mixing it up with the pros of poker; given the ease with which Holden mops up most of his competition, and regularly busts out old pros, he must be one of the better players out there. But if you're looking for a book that takes a hard, sympathetic look at the culture of gambling, this is a good one.

Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly enjoyable read
Review: Okay, I'm not a regular poker player, but after reading Holden's delightful book, I'd like to become one. His stories jump off the page and suck you in. You'll feel like you're right there with Holden, sweating the size of your bankroll, taking on the likes of Johnny Chan, and making your way through the World Series of Poker.

You don't need to know a great deal about poker to enjoy the book, but a rudimentary knowledge of Hold'Em would certainly make the poker-table anecdotes even more exciting. Either way, you'll be exhalting over Holden's wins and cringing through his bad beats right along with him.

Holden is an exceptional writer with a dry sense of humour that will have your friends wondering what the heck is so funny about that book you've been chuckling your way through for the past few days.

If you like poker, you will love this book. I did!

Rating:
Summary: Pocket 77
Review: To me this book was like pocket sevens, you feel bad throwing it away, but it's really not worth your time. Interesting at times, some good stories, but not all that great.