REVIEW
Fly
to Las Vegas to report on the final event
of the World Series of Poker, expenses
paid of course, win a satellite, and wind
up finishing beyond expectations in this
most prestigious of poker events. Jim
McManus chronicled this story in his fine
book, Positively Fifth Street,
but Tony Holden performed the same feat
more than a decade previously. As of 2002,
Holden's Big Deal is finally back
in print. In his book, Holden tells the
story of his tournament followed by a
year traveling the globe trying to make
a living as a poker professional.
Holden's
story begins and ends at the WSOP in successive
years. In between, Holden, a resident
of London, plays poker in Malta, California,
Morocco, and Louisiana among other locales.
He criss-crosses the globe possessed of
a meager bankroll looking for a soft game.
The author takes time away from his career
in an attempt to fulfill a dream, and
in this book he chronicles the ups and
downs that a player faces trying to make
a living at a demanding vocation. Along
the way the reader is treated to colorful
characters, improbable events, and exotic
locations. These are events that have
to be real. It would be too hard to make
this stuff up.
Like his friend before him, Al Alvarez,
author of the classic The Biggest Game
in Town and McManus, Holden is an
author first and a poker player second.
To most of the world he is better known
as a London newspaper columnist and a
biographer of the likes of Shakespeare,
Sir Laurence Olivier, and the British
royal family. This should be sufficient
evidence by itself of Holden's writing
prowess, but it takes no more than a few
pages for the author to demonstrate his
manifest skill to his audience. Big
Deal is skillfully written to an extent
to which most of us who are mere poker
hacks can only dream.
In addition to the storytelling, Holden
both explains the game of poker and provides
insights into the strategy behind it.
I have to say, though, that it's clear
to me that his skill as a writer far outstrips
his skill as a poker player. A great deal
of what he says describing the nature
and history of the game is excellent,
but some of the plays he makes elicit
grimaces from this reader. Big Deal
does a fantastic job of evoking the spirit
of the game, but as a strategy guide,
it falls short.
This
should not be taken as a criticism of
this fine book. There are plenty of other
good books to read for strategy, but few
that can be counted as true poker literature.
Big Deal is absolutely one of them.
Reading this book will probably not improve
the reader's game much, although at least
Holden gives us a multitude of interesting
poker situations one can think about,
but through its narrative it provides
a glimpse of the true nature of poker.
This is an elusive quarry, but the soul
of poker is as well illuminated in this
book as it has been anywhere.
This
is a story about a man's love affair with
the game of poker. Those poker players
who have no need for a philosophical inquiry
into the deeper meaning of poker as a
spiritual phenomenon can probably skip
this book. Those who are interested only
in information they can use to improve
their game won't find what they're looking
for here. However, I am certain that those
who believe that there is something magical
about the game of poker and who love a
well-told story will be completely won
over by Big Deal. I highly recommend
this book as one of the finest examples
of poker literature ever written.
Capsule:
Most
poker books are "how to" books.
They dispense advice on how to play poker
well. Anthony Holden's Big Deal
is not a "how to" book. Instead it succeeds
at communicating the feel of big-time
poker to its readers to an extent that
few other books have been able to achieve.
This is a marvelous book, and one of a
very select group that can be rightly
called "poker literature". I expect that
nearly everyone who enjoys reading about
poker will be enamored with Holden's story.
Nick
Christenson
Gambling
Book Reviews
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