Big Deal: One Year as a Professional Poker Player

(Paperback)

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Description

The story of a year spent by biographer Anthony Holden in the tough world of the professional poker player. He spent days and nights in the poker paradise of Las Vegas, in Malta and Morocco, even shipboard, mingling with the legendary greats, sharpening his game, perfecting his repartee, and learning a great deal about himself in the process. Poker, Holden would 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 is comedians stalk the pages of this book, along with all the hair-raising, nail-biting excitement of the games themselves. The book is reissued with a new introduction by the author.

Reviews

* 'A very good book and an important addition to the literature of gambling' - David Mamet * 'A remarkable odyssey - part Damon Runyon, part Dostoevsky' - VANITY FAIR * 'The best book about poker I've ever read' - Walter Matthau

Author Bio

Biographer Anthony Holden was an award-winning newspaper columnist and editor before becoming a full-time writer and broadcaster. He is also an admired translator of works from the classics to opera for Jonathan Miller at the English National Opera.