The poker industry is joining other forms of Literature in mourning the Alfred Al Alvarez, who breathed for the last time on Monday. The legendary poker writer was born in August 1929, so was short of just ten years to celebrate a century on this planet.
Al Alvarez will be remembered in the poker ring for generations to come, especially for the book he documented in 1983. The book ‘The Biggest Game in Town,’ was initially running as an article in the New Yorker before its expansion to become a book. The historic book covered the behind-the-scene activities in the 1981 World Series of Poker.
CardPlayer reported that the celebrated author passed away peacefully at his London home on Monday. His death comes after succumbing to a long battle with Viral Pneumonia. Alvarez was born in London, where he underwent most of his schooling before becoming a tutor himself in both England and the US. However, he soon quitted his teaching responsibilities and took to writing until his death. He wrote from poetry to non-fiction books that sold well across the world.
Al Alvarez has Jewish ancestry both from his father and mother, but still became one of the finest authors in the world. Almost twenty years after writing his debutant poker book, Alvarez authored Poker: Bets, Bluffs, and Bad Beats in 2001. The 2001 production appeared as his final writing about gambling, but the Risky Business, which he authored in 2007 also has various poker features.
In general, Al Alvarez was an avid writer in fields that he excelled, including mountaineering and gambling sectors. Another subject that Alvarez enjoyed writing was on Suicide, though he never excelled in the action like the earlier aspects. Theirs is no way he could be perfect in suicide when he lived for 90 years and died a natural death. On poker, The Guardian revealed that Alvarez was an avid poker lover, who enjoyed playing the game more than half of the years he lived.
Like any other poker enthusiasts, Alvarez valued what risk was, and used it to become strong in various aspect of life. Though he was born with an abnormality, he never used it as an excuse for not performing physical activities. He enjoyed some successes in mountaineering after undergoing an operation to have the lead boot on one of his feet. Alvarez would break his nose in boxing and have the same fate on his ankle while climbing mountains. To summarize his physical ability, Alvarez was also a rugby player, a game that’s associated with excruciating injuries. In his own words, Alvarez admits that a time came that he had to stop being “the fragile child” he was born.
While most people keep on figuring about the time it all went wrong in their lives, Alvarez wrote his autobiography entitled Where It All Go Right? Alvarez never had boundaries when it came to writing, covering nearly every aspect under the sun. For family affairs such as marriage and divorce, he wrote Life After Marriage and Dreams to push his knowledge on the matter.
Following his death, Alvarez’s second wife Anna now becomes a widow while Luke and Kate are the orphans left behind. Alvarez first wife Ursula Barr died before the husband, and that was the same case with the son, Adam, who was the fruit of the author’s first marriage.
Various poker characters have taken to Twitter to eulogize the author whose book is still considered the most comprehensive one in the industry. Victoria Coren Mitchell, a poker player, and a writer posted a tweet saying that “I wanted to be like him, and I’m so sorry he’s left the game.” Christian Harder tweeted “The Biggest Game in Town is iconic. RIP” in reference to Alvarez’s book.
