Big Deal
One Year as a Professional Poker Player
by Anthony Holden
Reading Profile
Should I read this?
Reading this feels like shadowing a curious travel writer who has wandered into a closed-off subculture. Holden spends a year embedded with professional poker players across Las Vegas, Malta, Morocco and at sea, narrating hands, personalities, and barroom repartee while folding in moments of self-reflection. What works best is lively, anecdotal immersion — scenes of stakes, banter, and travel that bring the game to life. The main limitation is repetition and jargon: narrative momentum stalls when similar stories and name-dropping pile up, and it offers little in the way of practical poker instruction.
Read this if...
- •a magazine feature writer preparing a long piece about gambling subcultures who needs colorful on-the-ground scenes, dialogue, and travel detail to sprinkle into reporting
- •an amateur or weekend poker player curious about table atmosphere, player ritual, and the social side of high-stakes play rather than technical strategy
- •a travel or culture reader wanting episodic vignettes from Las Vegas, Malta, Morocco and shipboard life—useful now if you need easy-to-digest scenes and voice for a short research sprint
Skip this if...
- •you'll likely put it down when the mid-sections repeat similar tournament scenes and bar-room anecdotes — that’s the common slow point
- •annoying if you prefer clear, concise arguments or practical takeaways — the book lacks hands-on exercises and little actionable poker instruction
- •avoid if you dislike anecdote-heavy, conversational travelogues or if gambling-set scenes and insider name-dropping make you impatient
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...
Before You Buy
Reading Specifications
Difficulty:hard
Audience Fit
- a magazine feature writer preparing a long piece about gambling subcultures who needs colorful on-the-ground scenes, dialogue, and travel detail to sprinkle into reporting
- an amateur or weekend poker player curious about table atmosphere, player ritual, and the social side of high-stakes play rather than technical strategy
- a travel or culture reader wanting episodic vignettes from Las Vegas, Malta, Morocco and shipboard life—useful now if you need easy-to-digest scenes and voice for a short research sprint
- you'll likely put it down when the mid-sections repeat similar tournament scenes and bar-room anecdotes — that’s the common slow point
- annoying if you prefer clear, concise arguments or practical takeaways — the book lacks hands-on exercises and little actionable poker instruction
- avoid if you dislike anecdote-heavy, conversational travelogues or if gambling-set scenes and insider name-dropping make you impatient
Check formats, pricing, and availability options for Kindle, physical print, or audiobooks directly.
View available editions on AmazonKey themes
Why recommended
Recommended by 2 sources and appears in Poker, Most Recommended Books, and Nonfiction.
Recommended by notable people
People and public figures who have recommended this book.
Recommendation Signals
Recommendation proof is sourced from public posts, interviews, reading lists, and cited references.
Daniel Negreanu
““@Dom_Chez: @RealKidPoker favorite poker book(s)” Positively Fifth Street, The Big Deal, and The Biggest Game in Town #oldschool”
Appears In
Not sure if this is the right fit?
Consider Harrington on Cash Games, Volume II by Dan Harrington.
“Dense, methodical and example-heavy, Harrington on Cash Games, Volume II walks through turn and river play with hand-by-hand breakdowns and clear attention to practical decision points. The most useful material is the stepwise reasoning on multi-street decisions and when to shift between value-betting and pot control. The main limitation is repetition and technical depth: long analytical passages and repeated examples can feel dry, and the book expects patience and some prior cash-game experience.”
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Each recommendation is collected from a public source — interviews, articles, or curated lists — and linked to its original URL. Books with many verifiable recommendations from respected people rank higher.