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Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom | |||||||||||
  enlarge | Author: Anthony Holden Publisher: Simon & Schuster Category: Book List Price: Buy New: $1.21 You Save: $24.79 (95%) New (31) Used (19) Collectible (1) from $0.01 Rating:  10 reviewsSales Rank: 696818 Media: Hardcover Pages: 337 Number Of Items: 1 Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3 Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.5 ISBN: 0743294823 Dewey Decimal Number: 795.412092 EAN: 9780743294829 ASIN: 0743294823 Publication Date: May 8, 2007 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Tell A Friend Add to Wishlist Add to Wedding Registry Add to Baby Registry | ||||||||||
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| Editorial Reviews: Product Description In the years since Anthony Holden wrote his classic memoir Big Deal, the poker world has changed beyond recognition. When Holden played in the 1988 World Series of Poker there were 167 starters competing for a prize of $270,000. Since then, poker has become the world's largest single-competitor sport -- at the 2006 World Series there were almost 9,000 players and a first prize of $12 million, the richest in any sport. What happened in the years between Big Deal and Bigger Deal could never have been predicted: the Internet and television sparked a worldwide explosion in the popularity of poker, one that shows no sign of abating. Poker even has a respectable image these days, much to the disgust of die-hard players. Gone are the seedy rooms of the Horseshoe -- you can't even smoke at the table! -- and you're more likely to find yourself head to head with a film star than an ex-con in Las Vegas. With the future of online poker now legally endangered in the United States, Holden's vision of the poker boom comes at a critical moment in the game's history. In Bigger Deal, Holden is your guide to the world of the "new" poker -- to the players who dominate the modern game and the personalities behind the multibillion-dollar business it has become -- as he tries once again to win the world title. After all, as Telly Savalas once reminded Holden, a million dollars is never irrelevant. Not to mention twelve... | |||||||||||
Customer Reviews: Read 5 more reviews... Bigger book deal, surely... November 12, 2008A. Clark (Chicago, IL United States) ...but not half the book Big Deal was. This reads like a flat, unedited, mercilessly endless magazine piece. Apparently everything merits mention, excepting real poker analysis. I'm sure Holden's game, like actual poker tournaments, involves more subtlety than just the all-in move, but, like many TV poker broadcasts, it seems to have been edited down to just those scenarios, to numbing effect. And the romance of the game, which Holden's old classic brought out, is almost completely absent. Perhaps most gratingly, Holden takes every possible chance to puff himself up, half the time by drawing attention to his modesty. He LOVES to quote--often embarrassingly extensively--other people praising him. Whatever. From now on when I want to introduce English majors and other people who actually read books to the game, I'll be pointing them in the direction of Al Alvarez. This book's about three miles long and one inch deep. Two more somewhat tangential gripes, and I'll stop: (1) The "chances of flopping a set" (or better) with a pocket pair aren't "1 in 7.5" but 1 to 7.5 or 1 in 8.5 (though it's more like 7.3/8.3). And chances are, Holden or his editors got this wrong rather than Annie Duke who's quoted as saying it. (Page 183 of the US hardcover--maybe it was fixed in PB?) (2) Holden points out more times than is comfortable that his wife left him, gave up on the marriage, etc., all the while inserting comments about how much play he gets (with the ladies, not at the tables). Obviously I have no idea why your once happy union failed, man, but is this really the appropriate venue for your marital blame game? It's no way to win her back, I can tell you that. So much poker writing nowadays is just so stale: recycling the same old truisms and the same sacred gambling yarns. Truth is, I think the ultimate poker book--not just on poker culture, or technique, but on the real allure and drama of the game--has yet to be written.  Literate and enjoyable September 3, 2008Roy Eassa (Massachusetts, USA) Anthony Holden has written a fine, enjoyable book about the world poker scene and his adventures within it. It covers all the territory you might expect, with a good mix of the game of poker, the personalities of poker, and his personal life. Mr. Holden is clearly a skillful writer. He's also a pretty darn good poker player. If you like reading about poker (mostly no-limit hold 'em), or are curious about the poker life, I recommend this book. (Its discussion of the 2006 US law that made online poker illegal is particularly sharp.) And, as always, I say "thank you" to my local public library, which is especially helpful for those books one might read only once and not need for reference thereafter. Self-Important May 26, 2008Two Stick Charlie (Los Angeles, CA) Very mundane. Too many stories about the author himself. Intertwined himself as a celebrity as often as he could. MisDeal December 10, 2007Kevin M. Malone (Atlanta, GA) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful A lot of people think reading about poker is boring; this book won't change their minds. The Big Deal was an engrossing joyride. The Bigger Deal is a slow crawl to nowhere. And, when we can watch several of the hands described in the book on ESPN every other day, it's a good idea to get the cards and the associated player comments correct. Mr. Holden should have folded and waited for better hand.  No Big Deal. October 5, 2007Bernard Chapin (CHICAGO! USA) 1 out of 1 found this review helpful Well, I like Anthony Holden and I loved Big Deal but there is nothing special about this sequel. It reads more like a personal diary of mundane events than an encapsulation of what poker has become. The incessant name dropping also rankled as he meticulously recorded the identities of everyone he met--even those for whom readers have little interest. I often had the feeling that Holden was saying to people on his travels, "check out my new book as your name will appear in it." No compelling narrative unwound. Holden seemed to be writing an ode to himself. With little transparency, the text appears to be a road to raise his own status as a player and a person. Some details failed to gel. He confesses to being both lonely but also having the company of women whenever he wanted it, but his obsession over his estranged wife, "the moll," was quite depressing. It served to debase the reader's trust in his perspective. I did find parts of it entertaining so I'll reluctantly give it three stars. | |||||||||||
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