Holden On Hold'em – Book Review

Holden On Hold'em – Book Review

Wednesday, 10 December 2008

Many poker players don’t know that Big Deal author Anthony Holden is best-known as a biographer of the British Royal family and of artists including Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky and Laurence Olivier. Then again, many members of the British Royal family don’t know he plays poker.

That’s his credentials as an author out of the way, now on to the bit we all care about – the poker content. In his previous books (Big Deal and Bigger Deal) he narrated from the sidelines in between trying his hand at becoming a poker pro, including runs in the WSOP Main Event. This time, he spends half the book as a player, teaching basic strategy; then he spends half back in the role of the amateur, reporting on others' play at various circuit events during 2006-07 amid other, interesting, Hold'em-related digressions.

Part one of the book is entitled ‘the basics’ and if you can’t work out what’s in it you might well need to give it a read. It’s very beginner-based and assumes the reader has never so much as held a deck of cards before. The second is a slightly more advanced strategy guide but it’s nothing you couldn’t find on the Two Plus Two forums.

The third part is more like Holden as he spends five chapters documenting various European Poker Tour events from the EPT's third season. In the book's final chapter, Holden returns to the WSOP, this time taking a shot at the 2007 Main Event. This is probably the most entertaining part of the book, making it worth the retail price. If you’re a complete poker beginner it’s probably worth an investment too, but then why are you on this site?



Tags: Poker News, Holden, On, Hold'em, –, Book, Review