Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #153530 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
'Holden is the best possible guide to the new worlds of poker. He has seen it before, and lived it' Telegraph 'It's Holden's effortless prose that makes BIGGER DEAL a triumph. His ebullience is infectious' Poker Player Magazine 'BIG DEAL was high stakes gonzo ... BIGGER DEAL represents the more measured reportage of the seasoned semi-pro' Metro NON-FICTION OF THE WEEK 'A smoking-hot report from today's poker scene' Poker Listings 'Holden has an endearing way of turning descriptions of botched or brilliant poker hands into page-turning mini-narratives, discussing his mental demons and romantic travails. You can't help rooting for him' Scotsman 'The Bill Bryson of the gambling hall, Holden's deceptively laconic and urbane style is full of unexpected facts, colour and insights' Glasgow Herald 'Whereas Big Deal was high-stakes gonzo with the gusto of the anonymous amateur, Bigger Deal represents the more measured reportage of the seasoned semi-pro. But there are enough hands detailed here to keep poker heads in clover, while those who wouldn't know a royal flush from pocket rockets will still find it thoroughly addictive" Metro 'Shadowy appearances from various "molls", encounter with the old lions such as Al Alvarez, and many dramatic narratives of particular hands, ballsy bluffs and spectacular "bad beats". As usual, Holden's prose purrs along like the casino's best limo' Steven Poole, Guardian

Poker Player Magazine
'It's Holden's effortless prose that makes BIGGER DEAL a triumph.
His ebullience is infectious'

Metro NON-FICTION OF THE WEEK
'BIG DEAL was high stakes gonzo ... BIGGER DEAL represents the
more measured reportage of the seasoned semi-pro'

Customer Reviews

The 2nd Best Book on Poker
If you are looking for one of the many technical manuals to improve your poker, this is not the book for you. However, if you are a keen poker player, but want something entertaining to read between games, this might be the one.

You really need to have read 'Big Deal' written nearly 20 years before, when Holden first tried his hand as a poker professional. But even without that, this will still be an absorbing and amusing read.

Holden writes very well, being amusing, informative and philosophical. For a poker player like myself (enthusiastic, but not very good, and seeming never to improve) this book provides a degree of consolation, that even fairly good players will never be that great, and at the end of the day, it is a game and a passtime for most of us.

The best book on poker? Inevitably I think it is Holden's 'Big Deal', although the poker scene has changed beyond all recognition in the intervening years.

Read the book the next time you lose a stack to a fluke river card.

Bigger Deal
Reading Bigger Deal seventeen years after the original was like having sex with your wife after after all those years: at the back of your mind you know you still enjoy it but some how its not quite the same...Bigger Deal suffered from Holden's obvious disillusion with the New Poker and his melancholy at the Moll's now mere cameo appearances. It also suffered from the fact that he was not playing as a pro this time and just dipped in and out of the deep end when the sun came out. Holden comes across as a good cash game player but far too cautious to make it as a tournament player. You never got excited for him in his tournaments because you knew he is not top 10% It would have been nice to see more cash game narrative but somehow it all got skated over. The original Big Deal is probably the best poker narrative written but Bigger Deal comes nowhere near it. Still readable but just don't think it will be The Godfather II to the Godfather...

Not a spot on its predecessor
I really enjoyed Holden's prequel, "Big Deal", but this follow-up is a big disappointment. It's very egocentric and I just don't care about every minor tournament he has entered and the precise hand that he busted out with. It's pretty much a string of bad beat stories, which may be of great interest to the author but will send everyone else to sleep.