TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER The Bookworm Sez Advertisement

Football, theoretically speaking, lasts for four 15-minute periods, not including time-outs. Overall, fans can expect about three hours in (and out of) their seats.

Baseball can be over in a few quick three-up-three-down innings, but you can generally plan a leisurely summer afternoon between start and finish.

Even watching basketball, with fast pivots and lightning-speed grabs, takes up the better part of an evening.

Now imagine a game that could last 15 hours or more. A sport in which thousands of people can play in the same arena simultaneously. A contest where the players put up the prize money, and amateurs regularly compete against pros.

Read about the sport, those players and that big prize money in "Bigger Deal" by Anthony Holden, now out in paperback.

In 1990, Holden wrote a book about his experiences in the world of poker. Once "Big Deals" was published, he settled down with a new wife, family, and his work. As often as he could, he caught a few Tuesday night hands with friends.

In 2006, following the break-up of his marriage and a job about which he was merely lukewarm, Holden heard the call of the card and knew the once-a-week game wasn't enough. He set his sights on the World Series of Poker, and he started practicing again.

But the years had dealt poker a few big changes.

Back in 1990, Internet poker didn't exist. When Holden went pok(er)ing around, he learned that Web site wagering was now a $72-million-per-day business.

Television saw big money in the cards, bringing poker games right into people's living rooms, complete with under-table cameras that allowed viewers to see hole cards.

Big-name players competed for endorsement deals. College students embraced poker. The game was - gasp! - becoming respectable.

From Monte Carlo (the country) to Monte Carlo (the casino), high-stakes deals to high-flying hands, poker camp to poker cruises, from small London pubs to the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, Anthony Holden played Texas Hold 'em.

And he was reminded of the brutal truth: You win some, you lose some.

"Bigger Deal" is a bit of a literary conundrum. On one (winning) hand, author Anthony Holden has a way of making even years-old poker games exciting.

He writes about the Holocaust survivor who holds the patent for the camera that revolutionized poker. He recounts the early years of the WSOP.

Holden seems to know everybody in the poker world -- other writers, big-name players, casino owners -- and he introduces you to them all.

On the other (losing) hand, this book will be somewhat difficult for non-players to follow, since there's no way to write a book on poker without talking the lingo. To the good, Holden offers a tutorial at the end as well as a glossary that will help.

If you're a sit-on-the-sidelines kind of person, read this book for the personality stories and skip over the play-by-play; if you're a poker fan, though, "Bigger Deal" is no flop.

I'm betting, in fact, you're going to like it.

"Bigger Deal" by Anthony Holden, Simon & Schuster Trade Paperbacks, $15, 304 pages.