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The Biggest Game in Town
Called "the best book ever written on poker" by players and critics alike, The Biggest Game in Town is a sought-after classic thats finally available in print again. Acclaimed author A. Alvarez delves into the seedy, obsessive world of high-stakes Vegas poker, where "the next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing." Uncovering an exotic underground rich in ambiance and eccentricity, The Biggest Game in Town is "a magnificent book " (San Francisco Chronicle), a real one of a kind.
188 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
32 people are currently reading
666 people want to read
About the author
Al Álvarez
48 books66 followersAlfred Alvarez was an English poet, novelist, essayist and critic who published under the name A. Alvarez and Al Alvarez.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
July 11, 2020
What happens when an esteemed, Oxford-educated British poet, novelist and critic attends the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas?
This book. And what a book it is: funny, insightful, superbly written. It's justifiably considered one of the best volumes ever written about the game.
Back in 1981, when Álvarez visited Sin City for three weeks in the scorching spring – on assignment from The New Yorker magazine, no less – poker wasn't the phenomenon it would soon become with televised tournaments and younger players drawn to the game by the internet.
Álvarez, an amateur player himself, fills in the history of the tournament, begun by Benny Binion of Binion's Horseshoe Casino in the so-called Glitter Gultch, or downtown (old) Vegas. He also introduces you to some of the well-known (at the time) professional players, including Doyle Brunson, Johnny Moss, Stu Unger and Jack Straus, each of whom had won or would win a WSOP title and bracelet. (In 1982, the following year, Straus would make a legendary comeback from a single chip to the $520,000 title.)
And there are others across the U.S. who are drawn to the three-day event to compete against these players; all they need is the $10,000 to buy in, stamina and a bit of luck. Oh yes, and skills. (Many of them also sport Stetson hats and little bolo ties.)
You have to wait until the final two chapters for the tournament itself, which Álvarez captures with colour and drama; his writing is so vivid you can see everything as it's unfolding: the showdowns, the bluffs, the graceful or graceless exits.
The rest of book is filled with other stories – about the tournament, Binion, Vegas, and why the brightly-lit, 24/7 town draws people from all over the world to test their luck. A couple of anecdotes are so good you'll repeat them to your friends.
Obviously, Álvarez had great access to everyone: the players, the owners, even strangers standing around a table or lounging about in bars or pools. The quotes, complete with accents, are fabulous. He takes in people and the environment with a poet's eye and a poker player's understanding of tells. One of the things you come away with is an understanding of the psychology of the professional player, who can sometimes win or lose an ordinary person's annual salary in a single card – or golf – game.
Even though the book's nearly 40 years old, it hasn't dated much, except for a bit of language we might call culturally insensitive (especially about weight and class). I bought a remaindered copy for $5, and I'd consider that a win. For several hours of entertainment, I got an enormous return on my investment.
This book. And what a book it is: funny, insightful, superbly written. It's justifiably considered one of the best volumes ever written about the game.
Back in 1981, when Álvarez visited Sin City for three weeks in the scorching spring – on assignment from The New Yorker magazine, no less – poker wasn't the phenomenon it would soon become with televised tournaments and younger players drawn to the game by the internet.
Álvarez, an amateur player himself, fills in the history of the tournament, begun by Benny Binion of Binion's Horseshoe Casino in the so-called Glitter Gultch, or downtown (old) Vegas. He also introduces you to some of the well-known (at the time) professional players, including Doyle Brunson, Johnny Moss, Stu Unger and Jack Straus, each of whom had won or would win a WSOP title and bracelet. (In 1982, the following year, Straus would make a legendary comeback from a single chip to the $520,000 title.)
And there are others across the U.S. who are drawn to the three-day event to compete against these players; all they need is the $10,000 to buy in, stamina and a bit of luck. Oh yes, and skills. (Many of them also sport Stetson hats and little bolo ties.)
You have to wait until the final two chapters for the tournament itself, which Álvarez captures with colour and drama; his writing is so vivid you can see everything as it's unfolding: the showdowns, the bluffs, the graceful or graceless exits.
The rest of book is filled with other stories – about the tournament, Binion, Vegas, and why the brightly-lit, 24/7 town draws people from all over the world to test their luck. A couple of anecdotes are so good you'll repeat them to your friends.
Obviously, Álvarez had great access to everyone: the players, the owners, even strangers standing around a table or lounging about in bars or pools. The quotes, complete with accents, are fabulous. He takes in people and the environment with a poet's eye and a poker player's understanding of tells. One of the things you come away with is an understanding of the psychology of the professional player, who can sometimes win or lose an ordinary person's annual salary in a single card – or golf – game.
Even though the book's nearly 40 years old, it hasn't dated much, except for a bit of language we might call culturally insensitive (especially about weight and class). I bought a remaindered copy for $5, and I'd consider that a win. For several hours of entertainment, I got an enormous return on my investment.
August 15, 2023
Al Alvarez était un journaliste – il pratiquait le journalisme gonzo –, il a écrit plusieurs reportages pour des journaux prestigieux comme celui-ci pour le New Yorker consacré aux championnats du monde de poker (World Series) qui se sont déroulés à Las Vegas en 1981 – ils se déroulent chaque année dans la ville du jeu depuis 1970. Mais il était avant tout un écrivain et un poète.
Ou encore.
Dans ce livre, il réussit plusieurs choses. Il montre la déconnexion des joueurs avec le monde extérieur et la valeur de l’argent. L’argent ne doit pas avoir de valeur pour un joueur, ce ne sont que des jetons. S’il prend conscience des sommes qu’il est en train de jouer, il a déjà perdu.
Il nous offre une galerie de portraits hauts en couleur racontée avec une verve, un style et une classe incroyables sans oublier de nous faire vivre l’évènement qui les rassemble à la manière d’un journaliste sportif.
Enfin le tout est cohérent et est un véritable régal à lire. Malheureusement à ce jour seulement un autre de ses livres a été traduit en français, Nourrir la bête – je me le suis évidemment procuré sans attendre.
Également publié sur mon blog.
Le flegme britannique s’est dilué dans les vapeurs de bourbon et les voix paisibles des hôtesses de l’air, tandis que nous filions tout droit vers l’Ouest, dans la pénombre d’une nuit continuellement prolongée.
Ou encore.
Ensuite, je m’allongeais sous le soleil ardent, écoutant les antennes-relais de télévision craquer sous le souffle du vent, ou arpentant le périmètre du toit afin d’admirer la ville étalée à mes pieds, ses néons éblouis par les rayons du soleil, et sa ceinture de montagnes plissées découpant l’horizon.
Dans ce livre, il réussit plusieurs choses. Il montre la déconnexion des joueurs avec le monde extérieur et la valeur de l’argent. L’argent ne doit pas avoir de valeur pour un joueur, ce ne sont que des jetons. S’il prend conscience des sommes qu’il est en train de jouer, il a déjà perdu.
Tout est aspiré par la fiction du jeu et un narcissisme sans fond et insatiable.
Il nous offre une galerie de portraits hauts en couleur racontée avec une verve, un style et une classe incroyables sans oublier de nous faire vivre l’évènement qui les rassemble à la manière d’un journaliste sportif.
Le poker à hautes limites est un sport extrême, c’est comme conduire une voiture de course.
Enfin le tout est cohérent et est un véritable régal à lire. Malheureusement à ce jour seulement un autre de ses livres a été traduit en français, Nourrir la bête – je me le suis évidemment procuré sans attendre.
Également publié sur mon blog.
August 17, 2017
A look at the key players in the poker world in the late 70s early 80s. Almost liked it. Can't put my finger on why it's not a 3-star, because there was something about it I did like. The characters and the city seemed to be made into caricatures of themselves, but then again, maybe that's truly how they were. Maybe I'm comparing it to the Stuey Unger book that I liked so much and this wasn't that.
February 10, 2014
Didn't think I was going to enjoy a book about Vegas… I just got back and was sick and tired of the place. But Alvarez writes about the place in such a way that almost made me want to go back next week.
September 25, 2016
Frequently described as 'the best book about poker ever written' and I won't argue with that. It's quite good.
July 27, 2019
Great read if you are interested old time poker with the legends.
February 16, 2022
Solid look at the early WSOP days. Stories about the Binions and the origins of modern Vegas. Interest read, could’ve used more about Ungar and less about Doyle.
May 20, 2025
It's no Kawabata.
Notes
The combination of cards and money and position at the table creates a complex pattern of information (or illusion) that controls the flow of the game.
To be a high roller necessarily means to have a downside. It’s how you handle the downside that separates the men from the boys. People come in here and grind away, never knowing the romance of gambling, the enjoyment of the high roller. Not just business.
Poker was way out of worry into alertness and objectivity.
That’s Las Vegas, the only place where gambling is justified as patriotism.
'What makes the heroic?' asked Nietzsche, and answered himself, 'To go to meet simultaneously one's greatest sorrow and one's greatest hope.' He also wrote, 'Timid, ashamed, awkward, like a tiger whose leap has failed: this is how I have often seen you slink aside, you higher men. A throw you made had failed. But what of that, you dice-throwers! If great things you attempted have turned out failures, does that mean you yourselves are - failures?'
Notes
The combination of cards and money and position at the table creates a complex pattern of information (or illusion) that controls the flow of the game.
To be a high roller necessarily means to have a downside. It’s how you handle the downside that separates the men from the boys. People come in here and grind away, never knowing the romance of gambling, the enjoyment of the high roller. Not just business.
Poker was way out of worry into alertness and objectivity.
That’s Las Vegas, the only place where gambling is justified as patriotism.
'What makes the heroic?' asked Nietzsche, and answered himself, 'To go to meet simultaneously one's greatest sorrow and one's greatest hope.' He also wrote, 'Timid, ashamed, awkward, like a tiger whose leap has failed: this is how I have often seen you slink aside, you higher men. A throw you made had failed. But what of that, you dice-throwers! If great things you attempted have turned out failures, does that mean you yourselves are - failures?'
August 12, 2022
3, 3.25?
An entertaining look at the older days of poker and the early WSOP tournaments. Several players are profiled at length, which is fun to read through knowing their eventual explosion in popularity decades later.
Still, seemed a little choppy to me, and one could argue it paints poker players in a bad light. Several scores of pages dedicated to players gambling their lives away, but only a handful on someone like Sklansky talking about the strategy, math, and gamesmanship.
The author had an opportunity early in pokers popularity to really put the focus on poker as a kind game of strategy and mathematics and calculated risk - easy to say now in retrospect that this was missed. Either way, fun read, but there are plenty more entertaining forms of poker content I’d prioritize recommending over this.
An entertaining look at the older days of poker and the early WSOP tournaments. Several players are profiled at length, which is fun to read through knowing their eventual explosion in popularity decades later.
Still, seemed a little choppy to me, and one could argue it paints poker players in a bad light. Several scores of pages dedicated to players gambling their lives away, but only a handful on someone like Sklansky talking about the strategy, math, and gamesmanship.
The author had an opportunity early in pokers popularity to really put the focus on poker as a kind game of strategy and mathematics and calculated risk - easy to say now in retrospect that this was missed. Either way, fun read, but there are plenty more entertaining forms of poker content I’d prioritize recommending over this.
June 13, 2020
The prose is extraordinary and the description so vivid that one feels part of the poker tournament. The reader encounters the improbable stories of the greatest poker players of that time---lives completely devoted to the adrenaline found in playing and betting---as well as Vegas itself, a sort of statement against nature, the most extreme version of the "American dream".
December 18, 2024
A szerkesztőnek rá kellett volna csapni a kezére, mert sokszor követhetetlen volt a cselekmény. Bemutat egy versenyzőt, utána beszél a jelenről, aztán a múltról, utána megint valaki másról; személyenként külön fejezetek kellettek volna. Nagyon érdekesnek tűnik az összefoglaló szerint, és aztán nagyot csalódik az ember, amikor elolvassa.
August 28, 2019
first read in 1983; Another re-read that is every bit as enjoyable and informative as it was so many years ago.
The World Series of poker, played in Las Vegas at Binions casino, has an unlimited cast of characters -both players and fans: and they all have stories to tell.
The World Series of poker, played in Las Vegas at Binions casino, has an unlimited cast of characters -both players and fans: and they all have stories to tell.
February 1, 2021
This was superb. I picked it up because I have a fascination with the history of Las Vegas, though not so much gambling. That changed after reading this book! The writing was excellent and it made me want to know more about this topic.
November 5, 2017
A Brit decides to write a book about the Poker scene in Las Vegas in the 1980, and in doing so paints a complex picture of the personalities that dominated Poker at the time.
June 22, 2018
The story of Binnion's World Series of Poker and the characters that play in it. I learned a lot about poker.
November 12, 2018
Great character sketches and dialogue. Would have been interesting to have had a follow up on where they all went...
December 11, 2019
4.5 stars
February 26, 2020
Terrific book, the author has a Steinbeckian non-fiction style, paints a great picture of the time, characters, with observational wit. Doesn't feel dated.
October 19, 2020
Al dissects the high rollers in Vegas. America in microcosm.
March 4, 2022
This book is quite boring. No real plot, just collection of short stories. May be interesting for those who plays poker or doing other gambling. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone else.
January 24, 2024
Great stories, but the writing was very stream of consciousness, which could be hard to get into at times
July 3, 2024
A goodread. A little dated in some regards, but mostly very fine, observant, and engaging writing about the 1981 World Series of Poker and the wacky weirdos it attracts.
November 10, 2024
Short book with an interesting story
September 6, 2023
Fascinating look at the alien world of Las Vegas at the period when the World Series of Poker championship was new. Just rivetting!
January 13, 2019
This book is very similar to The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky, and Death, but is not contemporary. I enjoyed being taken back to the 1980's casino days through the author's vibrant prose, though it wasn't always flattering. The vignettes about famous poker players gave these figures life. I want to read his other book, Poker: Bluffs, Bets, and Bad Beats.
July 28, 2023
Surprisingly well-reported look at an early World Series of Poker event. This sort of outside-the-box sports reportage by an honest-to-goodness man of letters was much rarer in those days, so Alvarez’s book is something of a hidden gem. The book — which really comes alive in its final chapter, covering the event itself — chronicles Stu Ungar’s 1981 win (his second in a row). Doyle Brunson, Jack Straus, Johnny Moss, and various other legends of the game are profiled in turn, but Ungar — a self-destructive savant, though this wouldn’t be truly understood until later — is the real star of the show. Highly recommended.
March 9, 2017
Short and fun. Just a poker book. Game has changed a lot (written in 1982).
November 9, 2017
The first half was very interesting, a study of the gambling personality. The second half not so much.
November 9, 2013
A. Alvarez, The Biggest Game in Town (Houghton Mifflin, 1983)
[originally posted 14Aug2000]
Someone who's not involved in the wonderful world of gambling may look at Alvarez' spirited and slightly surreal view of the World Series of Poker 1981 as a study in caricature. "No one's like this," I can hear them saying. "No one's really that obsessive over this kind of thing. It's just a game, right?"
Let me tell you something, and this is coming from the perspective of a guy for whom $64 on a pick six ticket is a year-high bet: if four hundred thousand dollars of your money, and the same amount of the other guy's, are on the table in front of you, it stops being a game and becomes a test of wills. The cards become meaningless, or at least far less meaningful than the people holding them. And under those circumstances, it'd be on the insane side to NOT obsess, wouldn't it?
Alvarez, a witty and insightful Londoner whose first name has been a mystery for decades to those who only know him from his many books (all of which have been published under only his first initial, to my knowledge), travels to Las Vegas with a press pass, a curious nature, a "respectable" poker ability, and not nearly enough money to get himself into trouble. While there, he covers the World Series of Poker for 1981 ("not nearly as interesting as the side games, which have no limits") and, more importantly, gets to know a few of the many characters who give Las Vegas its somewhat unique charm. There are poker players with advanced degrees and poker players who are illiterate; there are quiet players and there are brash, boorish players; there are transgendered dealers and (well, there's really no other side of that one); the whole spectrum of Americana is represented within the Golden Nugget, as Alvarez would have it, and by the time you're finished with your trip through this book, as with a trip to Vegas, the oddness of the folks around him simply vanishes, and you're left with only their personalities and their strategies. They have only one thing in common—they analyze every detail of every hand in order to try and get better. The pot isn't all that great in the World Series of Poker—oftentimes men and women win ten times as much in a single hand in a side game—but it sure does give you bragging rights to have that title for a year or two. It may look obsessive... Okay. It is. But it's also wonderful.
If you liked Rounders, or if you like poker, this one's definitely worth hunting down. *** 1/2
[originally posted 14Aug2000]
Someone who's not involved in the wonderful world of gambling may look at Alvarez' spirited and slightly surreal view of the World Series of Poker 1981 as a study in caricature. "No one's like this," I can hear them saying. "No one's really that obsessive over this kind of thing. It's just a game, right?"
Let me tell you something, and this is coming from the perspective of a guy for whom $64 on a pick six ticket is a year-high bet: if four hundred thousand dollars of your money, and the same amount of the other guy's, are on the table in front of you, it stops being a game and becomes a test of wills. The cards become meaningless, or at least far less meaningful than the people holding them. And under those circumstances, it'd be on the insane side to NOT obsess, wouldn't it?
Alvarez, a witty and insightful Londoner whose first name has been a mystery for decades to those who only know him from his many books (all of which have been published under only his first initial, to my knowledge), travels to Las Vegas with a press pass, a curious nature, a "respectable" poker ability, and not nearly enough money to get himself into trouble. While there, he covers the World Series of Poker for 1981 ("not nearly as interesting as the side games, which have no limits") and, more importantly, gets to know a few of the many characters who give Las Vegas its somewhat unique charm. There are poker players with advanced degrees and poker players who are illiterate; there are quiet players and there are brash, boorish players; there are transgendered dealers and (well, there's really no other side of that one); the whole spectrum of Americana is represented within the Golden Nugget, as Alvarez would have it, and by the time you're finished with your trip through this book, as with a trip to Vegas, the oddness of the folks around him simply vanishes, and you're left with only their personalities and their strategies. They have only one thing in common—they analyze every detail of every hand in order to try and get better. The pot isn't all that great in the World Series of Poker—oftentimes men and women win ten times as much in a single hand in a side game—but it sure does give you bragging rights to have that title for a year or two. It may look obsessive... Okay. It is. But it's also wonderful.
If you liked Rounders, or if you like poker, this one's definitely worth hunting down. *** 1/2
December 8, 2011
"Las Vegas is no more a place for childhood than it is a place for sensibility. It is a town without grace and without nuance, where the only useful virtues are experience, survival and money. "In Vegas, they weigh you up in gold," said Jack Straus. "They call it the golden rule: the man who has the gold makes the rules." (Page 40)
The Biggest Game in Town gives you the 1970's history of the World Series of Poker, held at Jack Binion's Horseshoe Casino, along with small biographies of some of the hardcore pro players who anted up ten grand each year to play in it. Although it doesn't really contain a full length story that weaves through it per say, it has some interesting smaller anecdotes on players such as Stu Ungar, Doyle "Dolly" Brunson and Chip Reese.
"Women's all right," Said Amarillo Slim. "Only place in the world you can beat one and not get thrown in jail is at the poker table." (Page 82)
The overall structure of the book is odd as it wanders a bit in its direction, much like you do when you walk the casinos of Vegas yourself, but it has some truly great descriptive work going on and really places you back in the time when the WSOP barely had one hundred people playing in it (Over 5000 play now).
"I was in the elevator of the Golden Nugget with a tall middle-aged cowboy with the aquiline profile and fierce beard of a Spanish conquistador..." (Page 83)
As for poker, the final thirty pages give you a solid overview, a play by play of sorts, of the 1981 WSOP. You won't find any strategic tips in this book but it will give you a sense of how it looked, sounded, and felt to sit down at the felt during the early WSOP years. This is a quick, light read, recommended highly as a stocking stuffer for poker players who like to read or poker history buffs.
The Biggest Game in Town gives you the 1970's history of the World Series of Poker, held at Jack Binion's Horseshoe Casino, along with small biographies of some of the hardcore pro players who anted up ten grand each year to play in it. Although it doesn't really contain a full length story that weaves through it per say, it has some interesting smaller anecdotes on players such as Stu Ungar, Doyle "Dolly" Brunson and Chip Reese.
"Women's all right," Said Amarillo Slim. "Only place in the world you can beat one and not get thrown in jail is at the poker table." (Page 82)
The overall structure of the book is odd as it wanders a bit in its direction, much like you do when you walk the casinos of Vegas yourself, but it has some truly great descriptive work going on and really places you back in the time when the WSOP barely had one hundred people playing in it (Over 5000 play now).
"I was in the elevator of the Golden Nugget with a tall middle-aged cowboy with the aquiline profile and fierce beard of a Spanish conquistador..." (Page 83)
As for poker, the final thirty pages give you a solid overview, a play by play of sorts, of the 1981 WSOP. You won't find any strategic tips in this book but it will give you a sense of how it looked, sounded, and felt to sit down at the felt during the early WSOP years. This is a quick, light read, recommended highly as a stocking stuffer for poker players who like to read or poker history buffs.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews