10 Poker books you MUST read: Big Deal

When I began playing poker choosing a ‘primer’ -as poker strategy books are often called-was a fairly simple process, since there were typically only a handful of books on the particular topic in print! And no, I’m not 75 years-old, I began playing poker a few years before the nuclear bomb known as Chris Moneymaker went off in 2003.

Nowadays, the process is a lot more complex for the sheer fact that there are hundreds of ‘primers’ to choose from, so with that in mind I have devised the following list of the 10 poker books you MUST read, and honestly I am loathe to include any ‘primers’ on my list; although a couple of more theoretical tomes seem to have found their way onto it, as well as two general poker ‘primers’!

• 1. Ace on the River, by Barry Greenstein
• 2. Cowboys Full, by James McManus
• 3. Positively 5th Street, by James McManus
• 4. Zen and the Art of Poker, by Larry W. Phillips
• 5. Biggest Game in Town, by Al Alvarez
• 6. Education of a Poker Player, by Herbert O’Yardley
• 7. Big Deal, by Anthony Holden
• 8. Theory of Poker, by David Sklansky
• 9. Mathematics of Poker, by Bill Chen and Jerod Ankenman
• 10. One of a Kind, by Nolan Dalla and Peter Alson

So without further adieu, here is #7 on the list of poker book you MUST read:

Big Deal, by Anthony Holden

Big Deal chronicles the author’s saga as he plays on the professional poker tournament trail for a year -starting with the 1988 World Series of Poker and ending at the 1989 World Series of Poker. Far from a how-to book on poker, Big Deal is similar to James McManus’s Positively 5^th Street-in fact it is the precursor of McManus’s book by more than a decade– in that both tomes give players a look at the inner workings of professional poker minus the glitz and glamour, but still leaving enough shine that the reader will immediately want to book a flight to Las Vegas and do better than the author!

Big Deal follows Holden to major poker tournaments across the globe in exotic locales like Malta and Morocco, as well as the more typical poker settings of Las Vegas, Louisiana and California. After winning a satellite into the Main Event, Holden decides to spend the next year honing his poker skills, and trying to make it as a professional poker player -Without spoiling the book, let’s just say Holden ends the book as he began it: As a writer!

Holden’s book is aimed at a wide audience -he is after all a London columnist and author-and doesn’t need much poker acumen to read -in fact you’re likely better off knowing little about poker since his plays and strategies are a bit outdated shall we say.

I picked Big Deal for my list of the 10 poker books you MUST read because like Positively 5^th Street, reading Big Deal makes you want to immediately find a poker game, and play against the best in the world: Or, if you are like me and are a life-long player, you’ll become nostalgic for your early years in the game, when you had more hope and a whole lot less skill!