Molly's Game: From Hollywood's Elite to Wall Street's Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker

by Molly Bloom, Cassandra Campbell (Narrator)

When Molly Bloom was a little girl growing up in a small Colorado town, she watched her brothers win medals, ace tests, and receive high praise from everyone they met. Molly wanted nothing more than to bask in that glow a little herself, so she pushed herself too—as a student, as an athlete. She was successful but felt like she was always coming from behind. She wanted to break free, to find a life without rules and limits, a life where she didn't have to measure up to anyone or anything—where she could become whatever she wanted.

Molly wanted more, and she got more than she could have ever bargained for.

In Molly's Game, Molly Bloom takes the reader through her adventures running an exclusive high-stakes private poker game. Her clients ranged from iconic stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck to politicians and financial titans so powerful they moved markets and changed the course of history. With rich detail, Molly describes a world that until now has been shrouded in glamour, privilege, and secrecy, one where she fearlessly took on the Russian and Italian mobs—until she met the one adversary she could not outsmart, even though she had justice on her side: the United States government.

Molly's Game is an incredible coming-of-age story about a young girl who rejected convention in pursuit of her version of the American dream. It's the story of how she gained—and then lost—her place at the table, and of everything she learned about poker, love, and life in the process.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Audiobook, True Crime, Book Club, Autobiography

9 pages, Audible Audio

First published March 11, 2014

Reviews

[Wendy'sThoughts · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Had To Check This Out Stars
* * * Spoiler Free
I recently saw a trailer for a film that caught me by surprise. Aaron Sorkin was involved and it has an all-star cast. I was so impressed by what I had seen... I had to do some investigating.

When I dug a little into the person the story was about... I got a rush of recognition. In a past life, I lived in the area where this tale took place. I was involved with people/businesses filled with these types of personalities highlighted in this book. I remembered the publicity surrounding the main character when things got dicey.

The trailer was for Molly's Game. The woman is Molly Bloom. The story was a scandal involving heavy hitters in the entertainment and sporting industry, the financial world and the Russian mob.
Molly's story works backward, with the Feds coming to take her in the dead of night...So we know what is at stake here...

All she knows....and she knows a lot.

The book gives us everything a novel would if we were trying to write something with a determined young woman... who likes to identify with being an outsider and has a kinship with Greek Gypsies.
She comes from a family of overachievers; two brothers who were at the top of their respective games...one a sports legend in the making and another who would become a well-respected surgeon.
Dad always drove the kids to succeed...and was proud of the boys' accomplishments... but for Molly ... whatever she did wasn't good enough, she felt.

So even after becoming an Olympic skier like her brother... she felt she only got a pat on her head...
This lead to her going on a break from college and traveling the world a bit. It was those Greek Gypsies who made a huge impression on her... they were free... in charge of their own lives and were not afraid to risk...

Molly decides to go to Los Angles to see what was happening there...she was on a break after all and she had a friend who would let her use the couch for a limited time. She arrives and looks for a waitress gig because she knows she needs to work right away.

Side Note-
This is someone who had skills, discipline and made it into college to be an attorney. Her point of view was how naive she was but also determined....

What happens next is the fateful turning point for Molly. Her path crosses with a rich man who has his fingers in a lot of pies; Restaurants, Real Estate, and other businesses. What he needs right now is a waitress for a new place opening tonight... Bingo- Molly is hired.

Molly first works at the new place and she lets us know... she is a crappy waitress but fantastic with people. She can read them... anticipate what they will need next and she sees this is as her talent.

Time flies; Molly had some friends, was working a couple of gigs... getting by and working for the madman boss. He was nuts but he was teaching her things... business dealings and opening her eyes to the possibility...

The possibility of becoming more than she was... Successful, savvy, wanted and in control.

It all starts to take off when the crazy boss starts to run a private poker game in the basement of the Viper Room. Yes, The Viper Room... the Hollywood place where musicians would show up unannounced and playsets to shocked attendees. Yes, the same place where we lost River Phoenix.

These games became Molly's focus... besides doing all of the assistant work for her boss. The players were household names or names you never heard of but impacted your life without you knowing. In other words... really high-level people who liked the risk of high stakes poker.

In this tell-all which really doesn't tell a lot...or tells just enough to feel like it does... we go on this ride Molly is on. She hobnobs with movie stars... some nice, others not so much. She learns what makes all of these guys tick and tries to become indispensable to them to protect her position. She becomes "too big for her britches" and has her game taken from her by one of the power players.

She can't let it stand so she dusts herself off and goes to NYC to catch even bigger players with more cash to throw on the card table...She has become the "Poker Princess" and there are many wanting to put her in her place...

The book starts out engaging and seems to have a handle on how to tell her story... but then there is this consistent string of letting us know she still is an outsider, needs reassurance but is also strong, cunning and able. The first 2/3rds gave us the climb and had enough "meat" to keep me interested to see what the deal was going to be...But then her personal behavior was difficult to justify for me. She had relationships but didn't really work on them. Her main focus was getting the game bigger and higher stakes.

Eventually, bad stuff started to happen. The time frame is from her childhood for backstory and then from 2005- 2011 broken into 6 parts. The parts are her progression up the food chain and then the fall.

Molly Bloom was convicted on May 3, 2014, of being a key player of an illegal $100 million high-stakes gambling ring. She was sentenced to a year probation and a $1000.00 fine.

Now Molly Bloom has sold the rights to this book and the story of her trial fight, which brings me back to the terrific trailer that sent me to Amazon to buy this book in the first place.

Am I sorry I bought and read it... Absolutely not... I wanted to see what the movie was going to do with this story. Now I will know what they used and what they didn't. I also have NO DOUBT Molly Bloom had enough dirt on the players in this town to line up her deal before the gavel had hit the wood.

Here is the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vu4UP...

For more Reviews, Free E-books and Giveaways

[karen]

guess who made a list of molly's game readalikes that Ben Mezrich retweeted?

http://www.rifflebooks.com/list/24099...

FURTHER READING FOR FANS OF MOLLY'S GAME

Poker? I barely know her!

Molly's Game is a memoir written by a woman who went from being a cocktail waitress to running an exclusive, but illegal, high-stakes underground poker enterprise and coming into conflict with entitled celebrities, mob bosses, and the FBI. It's one of those off-kilter American dream stories where an outsider takes initiative and enjoys success in a big glitzy celebrity-gossip-filled way and the criminal aspect just makes them that much more appealing. We do romanticize our outlaw figures.

Nonfiction book lists, even for highly narrative nonfiction like memoirs, tend to be closer to readarounds than readalikes, and this list is no different. It identifies some of the most prominent elements of the book: poker, gambling, crime, secrecy, fringe people, etc., and provides thematic matches for readers interested in exploring these topics from different angles or perspectives.

This is my hand, you tell me if I won.

And don't miss our Molly's Game giveaway! Ahead of the movie adaptation release on Christmas Day, we're giving away tickets to see Molly's Game on the big screen, and copies of the memoir that started it all!

Click through to enter to win! <--- you'll have to actually go to the link above to do this part. do it! WIN!

[notgettingenough · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hard to imagine a characterisation of The American Dream which is more repulsive than this. Not to mention a movie which preserves for posterity the repellent nature of the game of poker. As one who has played games in serious ways at high levels, to watch dicks and pigs sitting there swilling around, chucking away hundreds of millions of dollars in a real 'mine's bigger than yours' comp is embarrassing. To think I once thought of learning this game - one mistake I have avoided in life. I'm used to an intellectual, rigorous quality to the games I play and poker doesn't begin to cut it. Ugggh. I mean, truly ugggghhhhhhhhhhhh. I challenge anybody to come away from this movie and feel other than defiled. It was an incredibly unedifying experience.

Made worse by the discovery, upon checking that the movie had stuck to the facts that:

What is Molly Bloom doing today?
Molly is using her networking experience to reach fellow women and help them become successful. "I have a network, and I have a lot of lessons," says Molly. "I made a lot of mistakes. So I want to help women to be successful."

Recommended for: anybody sucker enough to be surprised that the US of A is itself.

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I discussed this book and its movie adaptation over on Booktube!

[Mónica BQ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I committed a cardinal sin: I watched the movie before I read the book.

In my weak defence I had no idea what any of it was about. I vaguely remember reading about the Tobey Maguire and Leo DiCaprio poker scandal a few years ago, but I don't think I paid much attention to any of it.

So after I watched the movie, I was morbidly curious. And I was not disappointed.

Look, Molly's Game won't be winning any literary awards. It's very obviously written by someone who's not a writer. The whole thing gets wonky at times and if you truly think about it, there's no much plot at all. The book is a straightforward, almost unbelievable memoir of the girl who for years organised underground high stakes poker games in Los Angeles and New York.

To say that I was glued to the pages is putting it mildly. I was completely riveted by the implausibility of it all.

[Leftbanker · Rating 1 out of 5]

Molly’s Game walks a delicate tightrope between star fucking and drooling over rich people. This chick is just about the most materialistic idiot that you could ever imagine. Champagne, yachts, VIP lists, and everything and anything expensive dazzle her like a prehistoric fish to a shiny lure.

She tolerates her ex-boss, a guy who treats her worse than an animal. If ever there were a guy in need of an ass-kicking it was this creep yet she goes on to become actual friends with him. Then she branches off on her own, watching filthy rich assholes throw away fortunes on poker games. When the next revolution comes around, this gal’s address book will provide the list of names to be first in line for the guillotines.

I realize that this book belongs on the crap pile but I liked the movie, which was a huge surprise for me. I hate gambling of any sort. It’s a pastime for morons and hucksters. Aaron Sorkin did a great job of pulling a gem out of this turd of a book.

If Toby McGuire is half the asshole she makes him out to be in this book then someone should throw him down a long flight of concrete stairs.

If I had been in a room where he demanded a woman get up on a desk and bark like a seal to get a $1,000 poker chip I would have beaten the living shit out of Spiderman. What a creep! Whatever, she put up with it instead of packing up and leaving. Instead of lumping her in with the #MeToo she needs to be in the “me total coward” group. Believe it or not, men often find themselves in situations in which they are the weak party. If they tolerate their situation without standing up for themselves they have no one to blame but themselves.

There is nothing glamorous about gambling. It's a pathetic addiction like smoking meth and every bit as destructive. The very idea that you can somehow get something for nothing is moronic and goes against every principle of what forms an adult human being. I never understood those Bond movies where he is wearing a tux and playing in a casino which is no different than rolling dice in a filthy alley. Would it be glamorous if instead of handing over a stack of chips the loser had to suck the other dude's cock? Maybe that's your thing, I'm not being judgmental. Your move, Mr. Bond.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molly Bloom is an ultra-motivated young woman who is used to achieving personal goals by overcoming obstacles. A member of a seemingly wholesome and similarly motivated family, she left Colorado for the west coast where by indenturing and ingratiating herself to the right people, she became hostess of a high stakes poker game at which movie stars and business barons wagered the lifetime wages of a working stiff like me on the turn of a card.

I found her book nicely structured and remarkably well-written, although the last quarter of the book seems rushed and not as detailed as the first part of the book. The politics involved in her keeping the game are fascinating; naturally as soon as people realized she was thriving unsavoury characters wanted to cut in on her action. Molly doesn't shy away from telling the reader exactly who is a jerk and who is solid; baby face Tobey Maguire is one chap who doesn't come out too well.

As much as I found the book hard to put down, I felt there were parts of the story not being told, and little sober reflection on morality was exhibited. Ms Bloom allowed people to denigrate and humiliate her in order to earn large quantities of cash, and I found that surprising when I consider her advantaged upbringing. I also thought that little consideration was given to the obscene hedonistic lifestyle of the principals involved in the games Bloom hosted...a lifestyle she wanted for herself. If you have enough cash for a $50,000 ante in a poker game, more than the annual wage for a lot of folks, then you just have too much cash. Probably enough money was lost at her tables to build a city of houses for disadvantaged people.

Moralizing aside, Bloom has written a real page-turner here, or at least 3/4 of a page-turner. It's a highly entertaining quick read.

[Briar's Reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

Molly's Game by Molly Bloom was an interesting peek into the life of a woman who "ruled Hollywood" for a while as "Hollywood's Poker Princess." I remember hearing about the controversy at the time (mostly about Leo and Tobey), but I never gave much thought into what actually happened. I do want to eventually watch the movie (Aaron Sorkin is amazing!) but I figured the book was a great start.

I kind of expected more out of this book. I wanted to see what happened after the fallout. What happened to Molly? Did she find another job? How did she cope? How were the relationships she built? The book stops at the trial and doesn't go any further. I was so nosey since it felt like the book just stopped. There was no "ending." The book also skims over relationships, her career, and how she got where she was. It felt a lot like she was handed much of it, when I know she definitely had to work for it.

Overall, this book was okay but left me feeling a bit disappointed.

Two out of five stars.

[Michelle Curie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I wanted a big life, a grand adventure, and no one was going to hand it to. I wasn't born with a way to get it. I was waiting for my opportunity, and somehow I knew it would come."

Molly Bloom has made headlines in 2013 when it came out that the Poker Princess has been running illegal poker games for celebrities like Ben Affleck and Tobey Maguire in Los Angeles and New York City, making thousands of dollars every night. The story only came to my attention when it was made into a movie, but the story intrigued me enough to reach for her memoir.



The story is one of those American Dream ones: Colorado-born Molly moves to Los Angeles and starts working as a cocktail waitress before a chain of events gives her the opportunity to host a poker game - the players including people like Leonardo DiCaprio and Todd Phillips (the director of Hangover). After making $3.000 from tips that night, she realises that she's onto something.

The first few pages irritated me slightly - Bloom isn't the most eloquent writer and when she briefly covered her upbringing I had that suspicion she would put herself in the role of the victim, trying to make the public like her after all people knew about her upon release was how she had to spend a year in prison. But it didn't take long for me to be drawn into the story. Bloom was smart, she knew how to play the game and she did it well.

"It wasn't just the game; there was a world of opportunities built into it. The game was my entry into a world I wanted to be part of. The hedge-fund world. The art world. I could do a game with politicians, artists, royalty. Every subset of every society had gamblers within it, and unearthing them was my speciality."

I think what intrigued me most was the look into celebrity culture it allows. And it's an uncomfortable, business and money driven world. While she changed some names, others she talks about freely. The only one coming off as a proper dick, however, was Tobey Maguire. He's described as a bad tipper and worse loser as well as a manipulative control freak who on one occasion tried to make Molly bark for a $1.000 tip. Ew.

"You can tell a lot about a man's character by watching him win or lose money. Money is the great equaliser."

So Molly's Game turned out to be a real page-turner that I read within a day, because I couldn't put it down. If the story itself interests you, it definitely won't disappoint you as a read.

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Molly Bloom’s story is eerily familiar to Piper Kerman’s (Orange Is the New Black). The exception being Molly owns her misstep, nonetheless I’m confident Molly’s book deal, and I’m sure a movie or TV series of her story will be on the horizon all enabling her to erase her debts and manage a lucrative profit. Another convicted felon turning their misfortune into a windfall.

Molly a sheltered small town gal from Colorado, raised by loving parents, privileged, educated, ventures to LA and finds herself lured by money, mystique and celebrities as she plays hostess in high stakes poker games, soon commandeering the games on her own.

Rather than relying on her brains and legitimate success, Molly feeling inadequate to the achievements of her siblings decides to pursue the ‘gray’ area of illegal poker games. Making a name for herself, a boatload of money, the ‘Poker Princess’ falls hard.

If you enjoyed Piper Kerman’s self serving memoir, you’ll adore Molly’s tale. Similar to Piper’s book, the writing is less than mediocre.

[Lisa Carlson · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the story of an attractive, sheltered, spoiled young woman who grew up in Colorado in a family where success was expected not pursued. Even though she made the US national ski team she appeared to live in the shadow of her other siblings and it didn't seem good enough for her father. Arriving in Los Angeles with no goals it isn't surprising she began as a waitress and caught the eye of a pompous blowhard. What follows is a lucrative but demeaning job as his assistant and eventually leads to the secret high end poker game with the likes of mediocre movie stars. This book feels like there's many details missing and probably for a very good reason. The writing is sophomoric which screams a Hollywood movie in the distant future.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

You were workin' as a waitress in a cocktail bar
When I met you
I picked you out, I shook you up and turned you around
Turned you into someone new

Now five years later on you've got the world at your feet
Success has been so easy for you
But don't forget, it's me who put you where you are now
And I can put you back down too.



Molly Bloom moved to Los Angeles from Colorado, seeking fame and glory. Working as a waitress in a cocktail bar, she stumbled into a job as personal assistant to an abrasive guy named "Reardon" with nebulous business dealings and connections to all sorts of rich and famous people. This leads to Molly running poker games attended by Hollywood A-listers and billionaires. At first working for tips alone (which could total tens of thousands of dollars a night in games where celebrities are dumping half a million dollars on the table), Molly climbs her way up until she is running the games herself, with an exclusive invitee list in LA and New York. This ultimately proves to be her undoing - when she is merely collecting tips, her job is in a legal gray area, but she's pretty safe (she actually retains a lawyer, makes sure to pay taxes on her earnings, and so on). But as she became more ambitious, and greedier, once she's actually organizing the games and collecting a "rake" (the house's share of any money bet), she has become the operator of an illegal gambling enterprise. And that's how the book ends, with Bloom given the full FBI home-invasion treatment and then awaiting trial.

As a casual poker player myself, I sometimes wonder how I'd do against celebrity poker players. While a few, like Ben Affleck and Tobey Maguire, have reputations for being very skilled players, most of the big names known for playing poker probably aren't serious students of the game. You can see this when you sit down at tables with people who will make the most (statistically) ridiculous bets because they see poker as "gambling," and not a game of probabilities and long-term odds. Of course those people are really annoying when they get lucky and crack your aces with a 9-4 offsuit "because it's my birthday hand! Hahahah!" Grr, DIAF, you donkey.

Anyway, I found this book very interesting as a rags-to-riches-to-convicted-felon story of a former cocktail waitress, but Molly's Game is not really very much about poker. (Molly herself was never really a player, and I think her knowledge of the game never extended beyond what she needed to run it.) Instead, it's really a glimpse at celebrity culture and the world of the 1%-ers at play, and also a story about Molly herself, whom I found to be an interesting and somewhat sympathetic character, yet rather lacking in self-awareness for all that she writes a tell-all about herself.

One of the interesting things about her memoir is that she freely names names - big names. A few people she keeps obscured (like her original boss, the mysterious "Reardon"), but she talks openly about games involving Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, A-rod, and numerous Hollywood executives and billionaires who also came to her games. Surprisingly enough, there really isn't a lot of "dirt" on any of them, since all she has to say is that they liked to play poker and play at being alpha males, as you'd expect.



Except Tobey Maguire, who really comes off as a dick in this book. According to Bloom, Maguire actually organized the games (using Bloom as his intermediary) for his own profit. His not-so-secret scheme was basically to go "whale fishing," luring very rich, very bad players to his game with his buddies like Leonardo DiCaprio, whose buy-ins he was actually paying for. It worked very well for Maguire, who has actually won poker championships, but as Bloom tells it, Maguire was cheap, a bad tipper, a sore loser, and eventually he squeezed Bloom out of the game because he resented the relatively small amount she was making for her work to keep it running. She tells about one night when he tried to make her "bark like a seal" for her tip after a game, and when she refuses, this seems to be the point where he starts moving to get rid of her.

All of that is interesting if you like celebrity gossip and poker stories, but I was also interested in Bloom's own development. She's never exactly bad, but it's clear that she went swimming with sharks, knowing what she was doing, and wanting to be involved in that world of money and glamour, but thinking she could somehow avoid becoming either a shark or shark-bait herself. The breakdown in her personal relationships, as she loses one rich boyfriend after another to her career ambitions, does not make her reconsider her life choices.

Eventually, having been essentially run out of Los Angeles (by Tobey Maguire, if her account of his behind the scenes machinations is correct), Bloom succeeds in starting up in New York City, running games for super-rich Wall Street types on a level above even what she was running in LA. Suddenly she is collecting a rake from games with $250K buy-ins, and making millions.

This is the point where she runs into organized crime. What struck me was her naivete - did she really think she could be running games like this in New York City and not attract the attention of the big boys? Apparently she did. Even when a couple of goons corner her and explain to her that she's just acquired some partners and how things are going to be, she thinks she can just say no thanks.

This works about as well as you'd expect, though she is saved from her own stupidity by a fortuitous major FBI operation that rounds up all the guys who were about to continue her education the following week. She flees back to Colorado, but in the aftermath of the FBI operation, her name gets dropped and eventually the FBI comes after her too.

Following the publication of her book, Bloom ended up getting a mere slap on the wrist, since her only role was basically to organize poker games. Although she was theoretically facing prison time, she got only probation and a $1000 fine. Of course, she'd also had all her previous proceeds confiscated, and now she's an unemployed ex-cocktail waitress with only a book to her credit.

My impression of Bloom, reading her own memoir, is that she was hungry for money and glory, but neither ruthless enough for that world nor scrupled enough to maintain boundaries. So it was no surprise that everything came crashing down. Still, it's clear she wasn't a hardened criminal, and the super-rich, entitled men she was organizing games for would certainly never face any consequences.

I'll be interested to see if Bloom is actually able to parlay this into any sort of meaningful future. According to her post-publication interviews, her current angle is trying to get it turned into a movie or TV deal... naturally.

[TheBookWarren · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.00 Stars — This memoir about a woman whom manages to organise and promote and grow a regular underground poker game, has no real surprises, but that manages to frame together an entertaining true story in which many have clearly come to enjoy. As an avid poker enthusiast and former amateur poker player, I read this because it came as a gift, not expecting much.

I was pleasantly surprised, the writing is solid and structure even better, altogether this is an engaging story that has some really fun elements and even a bit of intrigue. Molly herself is ultimately what makes this worth reading. A character that is superbly charismatic and yet also privately filled with humility, is Uber-relatable and I think that this is what has lead mostly to the success of the book and moreover the Hollywood depiction of the same.

Molly is savvy, street-smart and quick on her feet which brings about both her success and eventual downfall, as her confidence surpasses her illicit-activities-nous and despite reading people so well, trusting them was another fatal flaw. Definitely a solid novel that has some really engaging passages, Molly’s game is a true crime novel that is able to keep the reader turning the page without sensationalist solicitation, which is a credit to the author and publisher. Despite that seemingly untrue, most of what is revealed isn’t sensational as much as it is mere celebrity-gossip.

This serves as an easy to read semi-crime semi-poker romp that is what it is and does what it does fairly well.

[Molly&#x1f535;&#x1f7e3; · Rating 4 out of 5]

When molly was little she just dreamed of a life without rules and where she didn’t have to do anything for anyone. She wanted to become anything she wanted. In Molly’s game she takes you through her private intense poker games and her catering to clients. Then she made millions and became brave enough too take on the Russian and Italian mobs but could not outsmart the united states government

[Siobhan Brewer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me say, I loved the idea of this (somewhat illegal) story. The idea of a 26 woman running a badass poker game in a world of men made me think, "you know what, I can be a badass t0o!" And I've still got a few years to go to get there.

Now with the concept of the story out the way, let me get down to the writing of the piece. I feel that it lets the story down so much. It is such a unique thing to write about in the fact it is supposedly true. (I say supposed as we all know biographies tend to embellish).

There are holes left in the story, small holes, mind you, such as jumps in time, "how did she get there" moments etc.

What bothered me the most was the lack of finesse in the story telling. I could tell it was a biography because the story was presented in an "and then this happens, and then this happened" kind of way, the natural flow of a novel was left to the side in way of telling us what happened.

Relationships in the book were never truly developed, apart from those of her parents, and so the reader is left not caring about a relationship collapsing that she obviously cares a great deal about, and it's a real shame.

Overall, it was a great opportunity wasted, a few more drafts and get the flow of the story right and it could have been great. But for now, all I am doing is wishing it was better.

2/5 (harsh way to start the new year. Sorry not sorry)

www.siobhaninthesky.wordpess.com

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great story. The Poker Princess totally has won me over. Her life makes for a very entertaining read. Between the action of the game and the celebrity names involved, Molly’s Game is one hell of a ride.

Molly starts off with a life of privilege. Her father pushes her and her siblings, so no wonder she ends up on the on the US Ski team and take a medal, even after back surgery. That isn’t even the main issue in this story, it just shows her drive and determination not to fail. Once Molly hits LA for a year off of college she lands a job working for a hot headed hustler who gives her an education that takes her to the top of her game. Running games for him, she learns how to network and make the right contacts to eventually take over the game. What follows is a woman in her element and makes for one hell of an entertaining read.

Right from the start I was turning pages. This was a quick read but definitely worth it. I am sure there was a lot left out of this story. There was quite a bit of insider information and loads of celebrities in these games. To think Spider-Man Tobey Maguire was such a dick. Now the truth is out. Ben Afflack seemed like a pretty cool guy, but her old boss Reardon has some issues. Of course, we are only getting her side of the story, and the fact that she didn’t disclose in her book exactly what made her a felon was suspicious. Especially since she tried to follow the law throughout most of the story. It was a good read anyways.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blech -- I feel like I need a shower.

The issue with memoirs or biographies, is that I find myself not only making assessments of the book, but also the person who is the subject of the book. In this case, the subject is Molly Bloom -- a Type-A among the Type As -- ambitious to the extreme. The book chronicles her rise from waitress to organizer of some of the world's most expensive private poker games (and then, eventual arrest and downfall).

Her chutzpuh and work ethic quickly give way to greed. There aren't a lot of likeable (real-life) characters in this book. If nothing else, one could consider this book a good warning on what happens when people put money, power, and success ahead of integrity and family.

[Darin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Barf. I really wanted to enjoy this but it was the same story chapter after chapter. Girl is determined. Girl gets what she wants. Girl stresses out. Girl gets knocked down. Girl finds her inner strength. Girl picks herself up. Repeat. Stories and writing are sophomoric. Zero substance. Feels like the book version of Entourage. I'm certain I will never get to pick for book club again after this monumental turd.

[Igor Mogilnyak · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐️

Дуже скучно написано, одноманітно. З цікавого декілька слів про покер, трішки атмосфери нелегальних та непрофесійних ігор у покер та й все. Читав-листав, щоб не випадати з контексту.

З.І. Є фільм, який точно буде цікавішим, трейлер сподобався.

[bri &#x1f9f8; · Rating 4 out of 5]

literally the definition of gaslight gatekeep girlboss ❤️

[Viola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Izlasot šo grāmatu radās nepārvarama vēlme iemācīties spēlēt pokeru. Interesants stāsts par provinciālas bijušās slēpotājas kļūšanu par pagrīdes pokera spēļu organizētāju. Labs ieskats Amerikas bagāto un slaveno dzīves aizkulisēs. Vietām gan traucēja pārlieku garie pokera spēļu apraksti,bet nu tas laikam šajā gadījumā pieder pie lietas.

[Dawnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this as part of my books to film 2018 challenge. Amazing and sad. What a situation this young girl found herself in. Amazing and very smart! I really loved the film and felt it was close to the book

[Philip Cosand · Rating 3 out of 5]

The enjoyment of this book will depend greatly on how much the reader desires an opulent lifestyle. The more one thirsts after $1,000 bottles of drink and mansions, the more enticing the read.

It is easy to see why this book is Hollywood-bound. It's a "thrust into the underground" story with 6 and 7 figure numbers flying by. Billionaires, hedge funds, actors, athletes; they are all there. Though you will probably never look at Tobey Maguire the same way.

The story is interesting and a quick read, though rather predictable. (All good things coming to an end, and all that.) I can't say that I loved it because I found it hard to take her side. I think the quest for money and luxury is not the finest of pursuits to base a book around. Still, one has to admit that for all the "tell-all" territory that she bumps up against, Bloom keeps things in perspective. Drugs, sex, and quite the beating, but none are over done for shock value.

Entertaining, sometimes fascinating, and ultimately "fine".

[Brianna (The Book Vixen) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredible story, and I can't wait to watch Jessica Chastain's portrayal of Molly Bloom.

The reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is because the reader is left not knowing how it all ultimately ends up for Molly. At the end of the book, Molly became a convicted felon and is awaiting her sentencing. Considering this happened on December 12, 2013 and the book was originally published in 2014, that makes sense. But the edition of the book I read was the movie-tie in version, so it would have been nice to have had an update.

I was able to find out this piece of information online:

She was cleared of many charges and sentenced in 2014 to one year of probation, a $1,000 fine, and 200 hours of community service.

And I'm sure the movie will explain how it all ended for Molly.

But what is yet to be revealed is where is Molly now? What is she doing?

[David Carraturo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun and interesting book, I was engaged the entire read and could not wait to pick it up again...I love this underground world, so I overlooked any shortcomings in literary prowess, and took it for what it was...a story that will make a great adaption to a movie (Nov 2017 release). I hope the movie stays true to the book, as the minutia was very interesting and the cast of characters was great.

[Ozma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this book by a fellow Colorado girl and how she ended up running a high stakes, celebrity, underground poker game. I think she was a nice girl who got caught up in trying to make her mark in the world, be a success on her own, and then in the thrall of it all. I didn't find the story to be indulgent, and I appreciated many of the insights. Her father is a psychologist, and I believe she learned a lot from him about understanding human behavior. She came to the conclusion for these men that had it all (riches, women, maybe even fame), gambling in high stakes poker represented one of the few ways they could still take an enjoyable risk, like extreme skiing or something like that. It was their last way to get a thrill because they had it all otherwise. I enjoyed reading about her entrepreneurialism, her dedication to making the game she hosted into an experience. Otherwise, it was just a poker game. She had to do add on's (including having sexy Playmates attend and charm the male players). I was touched actually how she befriended the Playmates. Many women look down on Playmates, but Molly was smart enough to see that they could bring in other players, being connected in a world that most aren't, and that they could be her allies in keeping the game running smoothly. That among other innovations showed a lot of vision and imagination. This is a girl who was once the best skier in the country in her age group. But she knew that wasn't her calling, and I appreciated that she tried to carve out a place for herself in the world. Like all good things though, it eventually spun out of control. Interestingly enough, a lot of the downfall is the fault of Tobey Maguire. I kid you not! The Hollywood star was obsessed with the game and how much money Molly was making off of it as the host. He eventually, and unbeknownst to Molly, got her shoved out of her own game. She then moved on to New York City, on edge from the changes and not realizing how Tobey had betrayed her. Among other things, he also charged Molly for rental of his fancy card shuffler, which he required the game use. He sounds like a first class jerk. Reading about how he was out all night at poker games, when I know he has a wife and children, I was pretty disgusted. In a way though, Tobey helped her get established too. Like Spiderman's gifts, Tobey himself was both a blessing and a curse to Molly! This was a fast read, page-turner. I ripped through it knowing the end was coming. A lot of other reviewers have complained about this book, but I think we should take it for what it is, which is, overall, a very entertaining read, especially for those of us who know nothing about poker and the celebrity culture of entitlement.

[Clint · Rating 1 out of 5]

One of the least interesting books I can remember reading. The handful of villainous Tobey Maguire stories are entertaining, but otherwise I just kept waiting for this to get interesting. The author tediously and proudly details her sycophancy that temporarily got her close to several rich men who she ran a poker game for. I kept waiting for her to offer any sort of contrasting modern day self reflection on her actions, but it never came. I also lost count of how many different times she recounts an acquaintance saying "damn, (herself, the conventionally attractive looking female author), when did you turn into such a hot piece of ass?"

After a few exhausting and stressful sounding years of catering to rich degenerate gamblers to stay in their good graces, her laughably precarious "job" dries up like it was obviously always going to and she's left with nothing but legal troubles and alleged organized crime threats. The ending is then rushed (which was honestly okay at that point) and after so many pages describing the corrosive effects these years had on her personal life, her big takeaway is "I would do it all over again because I got to briefly experience the luxury and status of the obscenely wealthy, and also btw my future will only be more successful than my past."

[Cisz Geverink - Strasters · Rating 5 out of 5]

𝗟𝗨𝗜𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗕𝗢𝗘𝗞
Molly's Game ~ Molly Bloom
Voorgelezen door: Anouk Scheepens
HarperCollins Holland
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Wat was dit een geweldig luisterboek: perfecte combinatie van verhaal en stem. Ik heb genoten! Elk vrij moment moést ik verder luisteren, omdat ik nieuwsgierig was hoe het verder ging. Wat een bizar en bijzonder verhaal. En wat een geweldige bonus was de film dit keer. Geen poging tot kopie van het boek, maar een perfecte aansluiting op het boek. De film gaat qua verhaal echt verder waar het boek eindigde.
Het hoofdpersoon is een stoere vrouw, die het kaas niet van haar brood laat eten. En wetende dat het allemaal "echt" is gebeurd, maakt het nog zoveel toffer. Ja, dit boek boek had mij echt in de ban!

www.facebook.com/thebookbabecisz

[Nurul Badriah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Molly Bloom really presents a compelling narrative detailing her decade long ascent to the top of the underground poker world. Starting in Los Angeles, she encounters a hidden wonderland of high-stakes gambling and makes her entrance into and mark upon it. She glides over a lot of details, for the sake of preserving relevant identities, that her wealthy clients who have yet to be exposed. I️ thoroughly enjoyed it, even if her vicious shark like nature leaves much to be desired in the role-model department. Overall, this is a great story of ups and downs. Molly is an inspiration to anyone who believes they can only do a little. She has done a lot in her early life. It will be interesting to see how she does for years to come.
Loved the story a lot!

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started reading this about an hour after I finished watching the movie, which I would rate 4 stars as Aaron Sorkin wisely excised all of Bloom's romantic relationships and put a Hollywood gloss on her story that downplayed her greed and shallowness. The book starts well and names the celebrity names that Sorkin left out of his movie, which was really probably the main reason I read it. By the end of the book, I was a little tired of Bloom's thoughts on life and was starting to question the credibility of some of the stories being told, but I still enjoyed it overall as the basis of (or supplement to) a darn good movie.