Poker News

Anthony Holden Simon & Schuster, 2007 ISBN: 0-7432-9482-3 291 pp, $26.00

During the 1980s, writer and poker aficionado Tony Holden took a year off from civilized life to travel the professional poker circuit. The chronicle of his campaign, Big Deal, became an instant classic in poker circles. It was both a rare glimpse into the little-known realm of the professional poker player and an epic adventure through which amateur players could vicariously live. Given the recent popularity of poker, it seems only natural that the author would give life on the road another go.

The author’s strange journey covering his adventures between the 2005 and 2006 World Series of Poker is the subject of Holden’s latest book, Bigger Deal.

The poker world has changed drastically since the events of Big Deal. The game has moved from the shadows to the bright lights. Television has become part and parcel of the tournament game as played for the highest stakes. More than anything else, poker has become huge, attracting enormous numbers of players, both skilled and not, and numerous hangers-on.

The author has changed since Big Deal as well. This should hardly be surprising since nearly 20 years have passed since he experienced his fi rst year-long poker escapade. With grown children, an apartment to himself, and only a part time job, he fi nds himself in that rare place in life with minimal responsibilities. This allows him to hit the tournament trail, playing the game he loves so deeply. Perhaps not surprisinglyfrom one who cut his teeth on old-school poker, Holden often seems to long for the game as it used to be played. The smoke-fi lled back rooms, players who won and lost with dignity, and personalized service have been replaced by no-smoking card rooms plastered with advertising, players whose antics are said to be “good for television,” and tournament fi elds so large that participants have to be herded like cattle.

While I can certainly understand Holden’s sentiments, it seems odd to come from someone who, over the course of this book, has many of his tournament entry fees and business-class fl ights paid by sponsors. Due to the celebrity Big Deal has generated for him in the poker world, he now has the red carpet rolled out for him in most every venue where a fl ush beats a straight. It would seem that not everything about the “new poker” is all bad. We see the fruits Holden reaps from new poker, but he seems to not acknowledge just how much he benefi ts from it.

Perhaps the main difference between the two books is that in Big Deal the world of professional poker was unfamiliar to the author, but by now it has become quite commonplace. This is possibly as true for the reader as it is for the author.

The author no longer feels much of a sense of amazement, and familiarity by the reader requires that this world be viewed with jaded eyes. This inhibits the sense of wonder that we encountered in Big Deal, and it keeps his new book from delivering the same impact.

Bigger Deal is still well worth reading by those who are entertained by poker narratives, but I cannot consider it to be in the same league as its predecessor.

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