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

Written by Molly Bloom

Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Now a major motion picture, written and directed by Aaron Sorkin and starring Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, and Michael Cera—the true story of ""Hollywood’s poker princess"" who gambled everything, won big, then lost it all.

Molly Bloom reveals how she built one of the most exclusive, high-stakes underground poker games in the world—an insider’s story of excess and danger, glamour and greed.

In the late 2000s, Molly Bloom, a twentysomething petite brunette from Loveland Colorado, ran the highest stakes, most exclusive poker game Hollywood had ever seen—she was its mistress, its lion tamer, its agent, and its oxygen. Everyone wanted in, few were invited to play.

Hundreds of millions of dollars were won and lost at her table. Molly’s game became the game for those in the know—celebrities, business moguls, and millionaires. Molly staged her games in palatial suites with beautiful views and exquisite amenities. She flew privately, dined at exclusive restaurants, hobnobbed with the heads of Hollywood studios, was courted by handsome leading men, and was privy to the world’s most delicious gossip, until it all came crashing down around her.

Molly’s Game is a behind the scenes look at Molly’s game, the life she created, the life she lost, and what she learned in the process.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9780062308924

Molly Bloom

Molly Bloom grew up in Loveland, Colorado. She attended the University of Colorado at Boulder, majoring in political science. For several years Molly organized one of the largest high-stakes poker games in the country. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews for Molly's Game

[OmarEl-Mohri · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A non usual story about Molly who finds herself in the middle of Poker game planning and finds that she got the talent to go through it and win it all. You might want to watch the movie after reading the book as it was produced after the book been out

[Kat Williams · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good story but I’m annoyed at the difference between the book and the movie. Usually the book is better. I can’t say that although there’s inherently wrong with the book but they really Hollywood-ized the ? . Half the shit in the movie didn’t even happen! Again, it doesn’t diminish the book but you’ve been warned.

[Nancy Harnum · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thrilling excerpt into an unknown cohort of poker playing elites. Well written and interesting.

[Louis Patrick Giguere · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a riveting story filled with twists and turns of the author's hero journey. The narrator Cassandra Campbell does an excellent job of expressing the different nuances plus each character had a distinctive voice. I loved it.

[Dafatota · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It is a fascinating novel with a fast pace, full of emotions, intrigues, excesses, dangers, glamour, and greed. Very entertaining with exquisite moments, it is based on the true story of the "poker princess." Molly was a charming girl who showed total contempt for rules and order. She had her own rules and her own language. She was an expert negotiator, very convincing, and with a strong spirit of perseverance, who functioned well under pressure. She saw that there were other routes to success; she wanted a great life, a great adventure, and she knew that no one was going to give it to her. And thanks to her personal skills, she made millions of dollars organizing poker games until the FBI arrested her, and she was sentenced by a federal court in the United States. It is a super addictive novel that I couldn't put down until I finished it. I liked it a lot, I enjoyed it immensely, and it did not disappoint me. The plot holds throughout the book with imagination and the brilliant story of the queen of poker. The Master Bet is an autobiographical work that can even be read like a novel, as it deals with one of the wildest and most amazing lives I have read. I thought it was a good work, a few pages too long, but with a very interesting point of reflection. I liked the way it is written. (Translated from Spanish)

[martinhughharvey_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I recently watched the excellent movie of this book so decided to read Molly's book. Without giving anything away Molly earned her fame by running some of the top poker games in LA, later NYC, and occasionally NYC. Stars such as De Caprio, MacGuire, and Affleck were players. BTW there is no personal information divulged on these players.This is a well-written book and a very quick read which is not to say it is shy on detail. The book does not cover the same time span that the movie does as it was written before her trial. The movie is fairly accurate to the book with a couple of major exceptions that I won't divulge. I found Molly's character in the film engaging and certainly so in the book too.

Molly felt she followed the law in her games which she likely did and was careful not to engage in peripheral dodgy activities but still got shafted by the “justice” system as she was a pawn to get at some of her players. She seems to be in a good place now.

Excellent quick read.

[knightlight777 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

A friend of mine recommended the movie so I thought I would read the book first to see how close they paralleled. Though the story is somewhat intriguing I was not on the edge of my seat reading this book. The scenario of her rising up through the male dominated scene of power poker was just not as interesting to me and predictable where it would all lead to her downfall.

I was a bit surprised that a number of movie stars were named as she led off with using a fictitious disclaimer to protect others. But then again those names were important to give the story some notoriety and they are known as big players.

So now onto the movie itself and will see if I come away with a different impression, but to me the book was nothing special.

[villemezbrown · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

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.

[highlander6022 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very good story. Movie version sticks close to the book, however reveals some of the "hollywood-ized" parts that did not exist in her book. But, the book also provides many, many more of the details that make her story fascinating. Plus, she dishes on the real movie star "JERKS" who were asses in the way they treated her...

[katkealy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really liked the movie and just had to read the book, even though I'd seen the movie, the book was still very interesting and shed light on some things that had been changed in the movie version. Fascinating story. I'm surprised they took all of her personal relationships out of the movie. Normally Hollywood adds love stories.

[mikelogan1971 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Meh. We listened to it as an audiobook, the premise seemed exciting, but it droned on to the point we lost interest and forced ourselves to finish it. The premise (I did not know it was also a movie until I found the book) for the movie makes the post-arrest and the mob seem more central than it was, so the drama was weak.

[katherinegregg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I could not stop listening to this book and can not wait to see the movie. Molly Bloom, a savvy, young woman, describes her life in the fast lane as a successful player in the high stakes world of poker. Molly lands in LA after college and ends up working for the owner of the famed Viper Room where she learns the ropes about organizing and running poker tables.