Big Deal - Anthony Holden

"The nuts" is a poker term for the best possible hand. If you've got A-10 on the hole and the board shows A-10-7-A-2, you can bet safe in the knowledge that you hold the nuts, no one would be able to beat your full house, Aces over tens. Terminology lesson over. Anthony Holden is a British biographer and journalist with an abiding passion for the game of poker. "Big Deal" chronicles a year of his life spent as a poker professional, from his first entry into the World Series of Poker, and his subsequent decision to try his hand as a full-time player, to his progress-marker entry into the same competition a year later. This is no ...  Read the complete review

Big Deal is Anthony Holden's story of the year he spent as a professional poker player. Better known as an acclaimed biographer, he recounts his experiences flitting backwards and forwards between Britain and America and beyond, playing cards for frightening sums of money. This is another one of my now infamous charity shop finds, and I'll cheerfully confess to having been riveted from page 1. When the book opens, the author is already a "keen amateur", with a regular crowd of friends and aquaintances who play weekly, and as many trips to Las Vegas as he can manage or afford. On one Vegas trip, through entering a "qualifying game" ...  Read the complete review