The Biggest Game in Town
by A. Alvarez
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Description
Al Alvarez touched down in Las Vegas one hot day in 1981, a dedicated amateur poker player but a stranger to the town and its crazy ways. For three mesmerizing weeks he witnessed some of the monster high-stakes games that could only have happened in Vegas and talked to the extraordinary characters who dominated them--road gamblers and local professionals who won and lost fortunes on a regular basis.Set over the course of one tournament, The Biggest Game in Town is botha chronicle of the show more World Series of Poker--the first ever written--and a portrait of the hustlers, madmen, and geniuses who ruled the high-stakes game in America. It is a brilliant insight into poker's appeal as a hobby, an addiction, and a way of life, and into the skewed psychology of master players and fearless gamblers. With a new introduction by the author, Alvarez's classic account is "the greatest dissection of high-stakes Vegas poker and the madness that surrounds it ever written" (TimeOut UK]). show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
"Even if you don't like ..." That's how a lot of recommendations go for books and things people might not otherwise try. "Even if you don't like football, watch Friday Night Lights." And it applies here. While it certainly helps to like poker, that affection isn't required to appreciate The Biggest Game in Town, written by British poet and New Yorker contributor A. Alverez.
This is not a poker how-to book. It's a portrait of Vegas as Dreamland, the only place these eccentrics who play in the biggest game can thrive. It's funny and beautifully written, even if you don't like poker.
This is not a poker how-to book. It's a portrait of Vegas as Dreamland, the only place these eccentrics who play in the biggest game can thrive. It's funny and beautifully written, even if you don't like poker.
A classic in poker literature and a portrait of the World Series of Poker before it became the bloated, corporate shill game it has warped into. Not that I don't love it.
This is just a fine book. The British poet Alvarez has created a great read about eccentric people and "fooled" a lot of poker player to read some quality litterature (i.e. this book).
A good discussion of what poker was like before the stampede following the televising of the games with pinhole cameras.
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Author Information
37+ Works 2,129 Members
A. Alvarez is the author of the acclaimed Where Did It Go All Right: A Memoir as well as the classic The Savage God: A Study of Suicide, The Biggest Game in Town, and several other works. His work has long appeared in The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books
Common Knowledge
- First words
- Nine o'clock on a Tuesday morning at the end of April 1981, and according to the giant illuminated figures at the top of the mint Hotel the temperature was already ninety-two degrees.
Classifications
- Genres
- Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 795.41 — Arts & recreation Recreation, sports, and performing arts Games of chance Card games Games of skill
- LCC
- HV6721 .L3 .A45 — Social sciences Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology Crimes and offenses
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 269
- Popularity
- 120,068
- Reviews
- 5
- Rating
- (3.67)
- Languages
- English, Hungarian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 12
- UPCs
- 1
- ASINs
- 6
