Big Deal: A Year As a Professional Poker Player [Hardcover]

Anthony Holden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 1990

In this highly engaging book, Anthony Holden turns a sharp eye and observant ear on his obsession: poker. Informing as well as entertaining, this book is not just for poker players, but for anyone interested in peeking into lives lived on the edge.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Literate sophistication and urbane wit inform this unusual tale of a British newsman and author ( Charles, Prince of Wales ) who spent 1989 as a professional poker player. More than a chronicle of that year, the book presents stories of the legendary heroes of the game, theories of gambling from Dostoyevski through Freud to David Mamet, and memories of Las Vegas (a town set in "a vast and utter nowhere"), London and Marrakech, where Holden played. He also writes of his friendship with writer A. Alvarez, a fellow poker addict, and the insights he received from a psychiatrist. For the non-obsessed there are many dull passages in which Holden analyzes hands he played, but the enormous amounts of money won or lost are rarely boring. "Busted out" by a four-to-one shot at the World Series of Poker in Vegas, he vows never to sit down with the pros again, even though he wound up his year "financially ahead."
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Holden is the top writer in pokerdom."

-- Martin Amis

"A remarkable odyssey -- part Damon Runyon, part Dostoevsky . . . His insights into the peculiar alchemy of character and fate that draws writers to poker turns his book into a high-stakes psychological thriller."

-- Vanity Fair

"Poker, as Anthony Holden astutely points out, is a lot like life. This idea informs his very funny book, with its priceless descriptions of hands, bluffs, and fellow players."

-- Los Angeles Times

"Mr. Holden writes with extreme grace and wit . . . [Big Deal is one of the] best books on poker."

-- The New York Times

"An entertaining tale, made all the more so by Holden's smooth prose and gift for self-deprecation."

-- The Washington Post

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Viking Adult; 1ST edition (October 19, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0670828475
• ISBN-13: 978-0670828470
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,465,125 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A poker memoir of reasonable quality, April 18, 2007

By 

Wayne H. Vinson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trademark Big Deal - A Year as A Pro Poker Player By Anthony Holden Instructional (Black/Red) (Sports)

This book falls in the category of poker memoirs. Unlike most such books, usually ghostwritten for a pro with name recognition, Holden writes about his own year-long stint as a pseudo-pro.

I say pseudo-pro because for most of the year Holden is a pro in name only - a professional writer visiting his subject matter. His skills are initially not particularly good, "honed" in a home game played mostly over various wildcard-dense forms of mickey mouse poker. Over the course of the year, he travels to numerous tournaments, loses money in them, gets lucky at blackjack (which he doesn't seem to realize is a long-run losing game the way he plays it), gets lucky playing over his bankroll in one big pot limit game, and eventually develops enough poker skill to beat satellites and mid-stakes limit games which is a reasonable accomplishment. Using this newfound poker expertise, he recoups his tournament losses & expenses, makes a few bucks, and calls it quits after a disappointing showing in the world series of poker marks the end of his year-long experiment.

Along the way, he collects the usual set of gambling stories, and those are told in entertaining fashion. This book is really a glimpse into professional poker as it existed before the poker boom, and as such is of historic value. It has little to nothing to offer in terms of poker strategy, and similarly little to offer someone considering "going pro" today since the boom changed everything. The book is well written and fun, but for poker players looking for additional depth or useful material, there's nothing to find.

If you want a real life gambling tale, my review is 4 stars - get it. If you want a memoir with some more useful poker material on the side (and written by a far better player), I suggest you get "Ace on the River" instead.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The biographer of royalty plays some cards, January 1, 2000

By 

Thomas Stamper (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Big Deal: A Year As a Professional Poker Player (Hardcover)

Anthony Holden, the author of many biographies including Olivier and Prince Charles, decides to leave his day job behind for an entire year to become a professional poker player. In his journeys he travels to Vegas, Los Angeles, Louisiana, New York, Malta, Morocco, and the Carribbean to play the best in the world. He sits down with several former World Champions, and he busts a few along the way. Ultimately you learn what goes on inside the head of a man who lives to play the game. He begins and ends his journey at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas at the World Series of Poker.

As a narritive, it is the finest book on poker I have yet to read.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's better than seeing Ace-Ace as your hole cards!, November 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Big Deal: A Year As a Professional Poker Player (Hardcover)

As good as it gets! Anthony Holden takes the reader on a rollercoaster journey, allowing us to peer in and see what it would be like to just leave your job for a year to become a professional poker player. After reading it the first time you will be calling your travel agent for the next available flight to Las Vegas. I have found that re-reading it about a week prior to taking any subsequent trips to Las Vegas will put you in such a festive mood, that by the time your plane is descending to McCarron airport your excitement has reached a fever pitch. The only thing to do at that point is to head right over to Binion's Horseshoe and make your own story come to life along the green baize. It is marvelously entertaining, and very informative. Reading this book is the second best thing to actually playing in the World Series of Poker!