Customer Reviews
An enjoyable and well-written look at this fascinating subculture - By: A Reader, 17 Oct 2008 
The growing worldwide poker phenomenon... it's weird. People are playing all the time around the world online; for some it's their job. I don't play myself, but I find the whole subculture fascinating.
Bringing us up-to-date since his landmark "Big Deal" of some years ago, poker's chronicler Anthony Holden has written another insightful, great fun, brilliantly-written insider's look at the new poker scene. He comes across as a really decent guy... unsparingin his realistic assessments of his own poker abilities, his sadness at the lack of a Moll by his side, his enjoyment of his sons, cronies & assorted poker buddies. What's most enjoyable is his unbowed optimism & going-for-it attitudein his bid to (one day) become poker world champion. I really hope he makes it.
Even if he never makes it to champ, Holden has - with this book & its forerunner - proved himself to be the champion at one thing though: writing about poker.
Read & enjoy!
Bigger Deal - By: M. I. Laird, 20 Sep 2007 
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 & 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 & just dippedin & 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 himin 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...
The 2nd Best Book on Poker - By: Godot, 03 Jun 2007 
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 & amusing read.
Holden writes very well, being amusing, informative & philosophical. For a poker player like myself (enthusiastic, but not very good, & seeming never to improve) this book provides a degree of consolation, that even fairly good players will never be that great, & at the end of the day, it is a game & 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 recognitionin the intervening years.
Read the book the next time you lose a stack to a fluke river card.
