Molly’s Game – Molly Bloom
In 2004, Molly Bloom moved from Colorado to Los Angeles with dreams but no plan. Within a year, she was hosting a weekly poker game for her boss at the Viper Room that attracted high rollers and Hollywood stars, including Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Ben Affleck. Eventually, she took over total control of the game, moving out of the basement and to high class hotel suites and private homes. She then moved to New York, starting games there with Wall Street tycoons, enticing them with her celebrity contacts. Unfortunately for her, she also attracted the Russian mob. In 2013, she was arrested and charged, along with 33 others, as part of a $100 million money laundering and illegal sports gambling operation tied to the Russians. After losing everything, she turned to writing, producing her memoir Molly’s Game.
I saw the movie adaptation back in 2018 and, earlier this year, picked up the copy on the cheap from the Kindle store. If you trust her as a reliable narrator, she had all the money in the world but, having dedicated her entire life to poker, no friends or family. It was an interesting tale of power, who has it, and how they wield it.
