PRO POKER SCHOOL Learn Before You Earn

Poker Review

Review by Jon Eaton

Probably the most famous book about big-time poker, A. Alvarez's Biggest Game takes you back into the first years of tournament poker. Set around the World Series Of Poker in the early '80s, Alvarez wrote at length about the people and places that make up the poker world back then.

Probably the best part about the book is that it's not quite as 'linear' as most other books. Alvarez doesn't go from chapter-to-chapter describing the rounds of the tournament, nor does he even go through in an real discernable order. This is a collection of stories and events throughout the early part of the poker days that have become legend today.

When I read this book, I wanted to actually see these poker events take place. I have since seen videos of the old World Series tapes you could by in the Horseshoe gift shop, but none of them do the job that this book does in depicting the glory days of Doyle Brunson and the gang. If you really want to 'see' what it was like back then, this book is as close as you will get.

Alvarez writes on a level that is perceivable by the novice poker player, and also writes from a fairly independent viewpoint. That is, Alvarez was a poker player himself, but unlike players like Phil Hellmuth and the likes, he has no vested interest in the business of poker, therefore, he writes very openly and honestly and the people and places around him.

His observations of the opening events of the 1981 World Series Of Poker, leading up to the conclusion of Stu Ungar's championship, are definitely the best passages ever written about poker. The entire time, I felt like I was immersed in the smoke-filled poker rooms of the early '80s, and that I was actually watching Ungar take down his second title in a row.

I've read a lot of books that have tried to emulate this book, but no one has come close. If you're looking for a true classic about the game of poker, then Alvarez wrote this one just for you. Any true poker fan should try and pick up a copy of this and read it at one point.