Poker Book Review: Big Deal by Anthony Holden

Intelligent, humorous, and adventurous this is a story of a man and his poker. We follow the exploits of Mr. Holden himself (a writer) on his quest to have a profitable year of traveling the world and playing (mostly tournament) poker for money. From one WSOP in the money finish, to the following year back at the WSOP Holden's journey wraps around the globe and his brain

From mentally draining bad beats to thought provoking sessions with his psychiatrist Holden here explores the history of poker, cards, philosophy, competitors, gambling, and play-by-plays of some poker games where he sat with the best players in the world .

As a genuine writer amongst all the books on this website, Holden does the best at drawing a picture for the reader while connecting with the stmoach crunching bad beats, and stressful life of money management as a professional player. In addition, he does an superb job of describing the foundations and history of poker during the intermissions of his adventurous year.

"Poker, Holden insist, is not gambling. Like Chess it is a paradigm of life at its most intense; a gladiatorial contest that brings out the best as well as the worst in people. Its heroes, its eccentrics and its comedians stalk the pages of this remarkable book, along with all the hair-raising, nail-biting excitement of the games themselves."

I certainly didn't expect too much from this tame looking book, but couldn't put it down for 2 giggling, thought provoking days. With all the players trying to score on the poker craze by writing their own books, it's genuine writers like Holden that we would really like to hear from again.

by Marty Smith @ PokerStrategyArticles.com



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