James McManus, Columnist

Poker Princess Pens a Dubious Tell-All

Molly Bloom's dubious underground poker tell-all tells us nothing about poker and a lot about hype.

August 25, 2014 at 7:14 PM UTC

James McManus is the author of "Positively Fifth Street" and "Cowboys Full: The Story of Poker." He has written about the game for the New York Times, Harper's, the New Yorker, Foreign Policy, Esquire and Grantland. He teaches writing and literature at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Molly Bloom isn't revealing anything interesting.

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In a summer filled with important new books on poker, Molly Bloom -- known to the tabloids as the "Poker Princess" -- has written something of a blockbuster. It's called "Molly's Game: From Hollywood's Elite to Wall Street's Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker."

And what a book it could've been, with A-list movie stars in weekly hand-to-hand combat with legit and shady billionaires. Do Leo's acting chops help him bluff more effectively? Does Ben call too light on the river? What's Tobey's three-betting range when the fish is on his right? Are hedge-fund wizards as good at reading flop texture as they are at decoding the fatal footnote in an earnings report?