socalpokerjoe (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} socalpokerjoe) wrote,@ 2007-07-13 13:44:00 |
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BIGGER DEAL by Anthony Holden
If you haven't read 1990's Big Deal: A Year as a Professional Poker Player by Tony Holden, stop what you're doing, go to the bookstore and buy it. Drive home, sit down and read it cover to cover taking only the occasional break to eat, sleep and poop. On second thought, read it while you poop too.
After you're done, drive back to the bookstore and purchase BIGGER DEAL by Holden. You might even consider buying both at the same time, what with the cost of gas these days.
Big Deal is one of those classic Poker narratives of which there are too few scattered on the shelves among the many, many how-to's in the Poker Section. You'll find it right between "Beating Pot limit Omaha" and "Chip Tricks for Dummies". Holden is a diciple od Al Alvarez, who wrote one of the best poker narratives of all time, The Biggest Game in Town.
Big Deal takes you on a year-long, multi-continent poker journey in the late 80's that examines lessons learned in poker and how it applies to the bigger picture, life. It is peppered with great stories about the history of poker and the personalities that had made it what it was prior to the "Poker Boom". That's right, BEFORE the boom. There was no internet poker, players played in cardrooms, and they smoked their weight in Pal Mals. There was no poker on TV, no WPT, no 12 part series on ESPN, no hole-cam for that matter. Freemont Street was still a meaningful location on the poker map, like Pompeii BEFORE the volcano. The book is a lot of fun and you should blow through it in 2 or 3 sittings because by that time you'll be bursting with anticipation to crack open that brand new hard-cover copy of BIGGER DEAL that's still in the Barnes & Noble bag like a gold fish that you won at the county fair and you can't wait to get home and put it in the bowl.
BIGGER DEAL picks up the action on the eve of the 2005 Main Event. Some years older and wiser, Holden is ready to get back in the poker arena and get back on the road with his old buddy Al Alvarez and everyone's new pal, writer Michael Craig. (and a few other family members, peers and colleagues too) The book gives you amazing insight into the underworkings of the Poker Boom that has happened all around you for the last few years. (Internet cardrooms, televised poker, the amazing growth in prize pools, etc.) BIGGER DEAL is a MUST read if you play, watch, follow or care about poker and the poker lifestyle in any way.
I can only hope that the clever title has left Holden a loophole to follow this book up with a third installment, Biggest Deal. (perhaps Summer 2010 Tony?)
If you haven't read 1990's Big Deal: A Year as a Professional Poker Player by Tony Holden, stop what you're doing, go to the bookstore and buy it. Drive home, sit down and read it cover to cover taking only the occasional break to eat, sleep and poop. On second thought, read it while you poop too.
After you're done, drive back to the bookstore and purchase BIGGER DEAL by Holden. You might even consider buying both at the same time, what with the cost of gas these days.
Big Deal is one of those classic Poker narratives of which there are too few scattered on the shelves among the many, many how-to's in the Poker Section. You'll find it right between "Beating Pot limit Omaha" and "Chip Tricks for Dummies". Holden is a diciple od Al Alvarez, who wrote one of the best poker narratives of all time, The Biggest Game in Town.
Big Deal takes you on a year-long, multi-continent poker journey in the late 80's that examines lessons learned in poker and how it applies to the bigger picture, life. It is peppered with great stories about the history of poker and the personalities that had made it what it was prior to the "Poker Boom". That's right, BEFORE the boom. There was no internet poker, players played in cardrooms, and they smoked their weight in Pal Mals. There was no poker on TV, no WPT, no 12 part series on ESPN, no hole-cam for that matter. Freemont Street was still a meaningful location on the poker map, like Pompeii BEFORE the volcano. The book is a lot of fun and you should blow through it in 2 or 3 sittings because by that time you'll be bursting with anticipation to crack open that brand new hard-cover copy of BIGGER DEAL that's still in the Barnes & Noble bag like a gold fish that you won at the county fair and you can't wait to get home and put it in the bowl.
BIGGER DEAL picks up the action on the eve of the 2005 Main Event. Some years older and wiser, Holden is ready to get back in the poker arena and get back on the road with his old buddy Al Alvarez and everyone's new pal, writer Michael Craig. (and a few other family members, peers and colleagues too) The book gives you amazing insight into the underworkings of the Poker Boom that has happened all around you for the last few years. (Internet cardrooms, televised poker, the amazing growth in prize pools, etc.) BIGGER DEAL is a MUST read if you play, watch, follow or care about poker and the poker lifestyle in any way.
I can only hope that the clever title has left Holden a loophole to follow this book up with a third installment, Biggest Deal. (perhaps Summer 2010 Tony?)
