Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom [Paperback]

Anthony Holden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008

In the years since Anthony Holden wrote his classic memoir Big Deal, the poker world has changed beyond recognition. In Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom, Holden takes his game on the worldwide tournament circuit to chronicle how the rise of online gaming has completely transformed the world of poker.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Long before poker had achieved today's stratospheric level of popularity, British writer Holden chronicled the challenges and frustrations of a year on the professional poker circuit, in 1990's Big Deal. In this enjoyable sequel, he revisits the poker world, playing in card rooms and tournaments in Europe and America, in home games in his native London and online during 2005 and 2006. The result is a rich account of how the game and its players have changed over the 17 years since he tried (and failed) to become a professional poker player. He profiles a range of people, from poker's living legend Doyle Brunson to the new breed of young professionals, schooled on the Internet and ruthlessly aggressive, and explores the reasons for poker's recent, unprecedented boom. Holden is particularly good in charting the meteoric rise of online poker (and its ambiguous legal status in the United States). He's also adept at articulating his fascination with the game: "The thrilling sense of triumph when you sense something that turns out to be right; the disproportionate despair when you're wrong or the poker gods are against you." (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Holden is British, but he knows Texas hold 'em; he proved that in Big Deal (1990), an account of his successful year on the pro poker tour. He's also a versatile writer, with a biography of Shakespeare among his credits. So it's a bit disappointing when he spends half of his latest poker quest dealing with divorce and taking a meandering (if entertaining) path to the 2006 World Series of Poker. But from the moment he wins $10,000 in a tourney pitting journalists against three world champs, Holden hits a hot streak, spiriting readers to a fascinating instructional camp in Vienna and the World Cup of Poker in Spain before returning to Las Vegas to compete with 8,772 other hopefuls in a WSOP "crapshoot." With Congress restricting Americans' ability to play poker for money online, the semipro invasion might have peaked. But Holden still has such a gift for finding the romance in hold 'em that Bigger Deal prompted a certain reviewer to enter his first two tournaments. He took fourth in the first and won the second. Watch your blinds, Tony. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743294831
• ISBN-13: 978-0743294836
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,292,189 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Proof that sequels are rarely better than the original, May 18, 2007

By 

Mahlon Christensen (Monterey, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom (Hardcover)

When Big Deal: A Year as a Professional Poker Player was released in 1990,it caused quite a stir around my house, my Dad is a recreational player and lifelong poker enthusiast, and he would entertain us by reading passages from the book featuring mysterious characters with colorful nicknames like "Texas Dolly" "Amarillo Slim" "Stuey the Kid", and "The Orient Express" This book played a major role in igniting my life-long love of poker, so needless to say I awaited the release of it's sequel Bigger Deal with great excitement.

Sadly, this book is proof that the Hollywood maxim about sequels never being greater than the original is true. I found that most of the magic that infused the original book had vanished. Thankfully this is not due to diminishing skills on Mr. Holden's part (He's still one of the best writers working today) but rather to the overexposure of poker these days, a theme which Holden expounds upon at length in this book. Back when Big Deal was published, poker gave the impression of inhabiting a somewhat seedy, secretive world that only those with sizeable bankrolls were able to break into. Thanks to the explosion of online poker in the last 5 years, and the Moneymaker effect, even an average Joe with a modest bankroll can dream of winning "The Big One" When you combine this with the profusion of poker coverage available today on TV, in print media, and online, this has greatly reduced the mystique that people had attached to the game, as a result, Holden's writing no longer seems "magical" but merely very good. The plot is similar to the last book, Holden tries to survive a year on the pro poker circuit. The book begins with him getting knocked out of the WSOP in 05, his stated goal is to win his way into WSOP 06 via a satellite, which he eventually does, along the way he chronicles poker's rise to respectability and writes insightfully and humorously about the changing landscape of the game. The strongest portion of the book is the last chapter which deals with how the poker community will adapt to the UIGEA, will it continue to thrive? Only time will tell, but rest assured Tony Holden will be there to chronicle it all! I recommend this book, particularly to new players who want to get a feel for the post-WPT poker culture.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but not as good as the first, July 8, 2007

By 

Ashley Adams (Roslindale, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom (Hardcover)

This is Tony Holden's follow up to his immensely successful book, Big Deal, about playing at being a professional poker player for a year. He is not nearly as ambitious this time around, neither as an author nor poker player it seems. The product of his efforts is interesting and well written, but not nearly as compelling as his tale the first time around. Perhaps that's as much a product of the poker world of which he writes. Back when Big Deal came out serious casino poker was still, largely, an underground and undiscovered game. And so his insider stories of hobnobbing with the biggies of the game and playing poker with them around the world was all the more fascinating and bold. Today, with poker on television 24/7 and with casino games virtually surrounding us, there's little left to reveal.
I must confess that I also got the sense that Bigger Deal was somewhat rushed in its final editing. It didn't have the same polished feel that Bid Deal had -- a certain slapdash quality of how the many details were put together into a final product.
Without a doubt though, just about any well written book about poker is, for me, better than nearly any book not about poker. And in that regard, Bigger Deal is at the top of my list for this summer's reading.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sequel to a classic, May 18, 2007

By 

2many2read (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bigger Deal: A Year Inside the Poker Boom (Hardcover)

Anthony Holden and A. Alvarez (The Biggest Game in Town) have invented the modern poker memoir, years before such players as Chris Moneymaker and Annie Duke gained their fame.

In reading Mr. Holden's first book (Big Deal) and other memoirs like it, I never got it: every UK poker writer is a crony of every other one -- David Spanier,Richard Sparks, Dave Ulliott, Des Wilson. Mr. Holden pals around with all of them, eating, drinking and playing poker.

The book is well-written, as you would expect from so prolific an author. He's written books about everyone from Princess Diana to Tchaikovsky and is the the music critic for the Observer (UK). In this memoir, he applies himself to lots of big games -- both cash and tournament. He frankly gallivants around the world playing poker -- Barcelona, London, Las Vegas, even a Caribbean poker cruise. To cap it off, he plays in two WSOP Main Events as well as big-money European tourneys.

He has both wins and losses at the poker table, but he studiously tries to improve. He not only studies Dan Harrington's books (along with every other player on the planet) but takes a poker camp in Austria taught by Howard Lederer and his sister Annie Duke. He absorbs lots of poker technique.

Unfortunately, in one big tournament, he has setbacks of the sort that seem like bad luck. (He makes a mistake -- if it is one -- that I personally have made often, but with a lot less money at stake. ) Oh, well, poker just ain't chess. Because of this, the book ends on a down note, as he recounts the US government's attacks on online poker as well as his own difficulties with the game.

He is a very committed player who been playing since before Doyle Brunson learned the game. Not really, but it feels like it.

A serious book, it's tinged with sadness, both in his personal life and in the poker room.