The Biggest Game in Town

Rating:
Summary: Delicate and Hypnotic.
Review: Quite simply, this is one of the best books I have ever read. My only regret is that it was way too short. Alvarez, simply put, is a great writer. You will not be surprised by his background as a poet after opening it because he writes masterfully. He has a poet's sense for distilled language no words are wasted and the quotations are carefully selected and sometimes astounding (like Binion's equating gambling with all that is American). The organization and flow of the work is tremendous and his 188 pages turned like 40. There's no way you'll put The Biggest Game in Town once you start it.

No work better describes the "alligator blood" of the world's top notch professional poker players. His portraits of Doyle Brunson, Johnny Moss, and Jack Strauss will be with you forever.

The sheer aggression of Hold 'Em becomes quite obvious as does the way in which our sexual drives, and just about everything else, become sublimated in those who are addicted to gambling. However, the allure of "action" is quite apparent and will make readers want to fly out to the World Series of Poker to experience the pagaentry for themselves. This is a rare and valuable offering.

Rating:
Summary: A nice look at the World Series of Poker . . . 20 Years Ago
Review: Written nearly 20 years ago, Alvarez focuses mostly on the personalities that made up the early years of the World Series of Poker, the Binions, David Sklansky, Doyle Brunson, Stu Unger and many others. He gives their personal histories and repeats anecdotes that help explain them. He also gives a decent profile of Vegas itself and the many regional poker masters from around the world who come to Vegas to lose all their money.