And after a couple of global bestsellers, Mezrick can't be short of money. He must be getting paid some big fat wedge to take account of the damage a shill job like this will do to his reputation.

If this does end up getting written, I hope 2+2ers make it difficult for Mezrich to sell books. We can at least leave negative ratings, post comments in articles, edit Wikipedia pages, etc.

Ben - If you are reading this, I really hope you decide to pass on the book. Do not just write off the people in this forum as disgruntled poker players. These AP guys really did steal millions of dollars directly from players. Writing a book about them with any sort of positive spin is a disgrace and an injustice.

Thanks Kevmath & yes it was. it will be a good read. Mezrich will tell it like it is.....an incredible ride to the top of the online gaming world by a bunch of Missoula SAE college buddies along with all the gory/awesome details and their sick decent to the bottom including prison all in the name of greed and hedonism.....

styleXX, care to elaborate on what lent to your early post?

Amen, brotha'.

Their rise AND fall makes a far better story than the rise and "oh no, now we are poor, sympathetic victims of the oppressive American politicians" angle that Mezrich appears to pursue.

Oh, and cast Serinda Swan as herself in the film adaptation.

Edit: that's two "Amen, brotha" replies in one thread. This is why Ben's writing sells more than mine.

It seems the book is available for pre-order now, and will be published May 28th: BenMezrich.com.

wow

so full of rage. reserving judgement until the book is out, but if it reads like the cover/synopsis it needs to be 1 starred to oblivion across the Internet

http://pokerfuse.com/news/media-and-...t-month-14-04/

I like Ben's comments at the bottom regarding this article about his book coming out.

hahaha

Depending on the PR effort, I'll set the line at 2000 sales* with no talk show push, 4000 with. I would probably take the under either way.

*Sales minus unsold store and distributor returns within a year of release.

I've read some of his work and I think Mezrich is a hack. But he's very well known and frequently makes the bestseller list. Shouldn't this book sell well on name recognition alone?

It is amazing what a good PR team can do for a mediocre book, or person. Annie Duke is a good example, so anything is possible. At the moment though the interest in poker stories is waning outside of the poker community.

Won't that metric speak more to how accurately they predict sales to be, rather than how many sales are made?

50k sales and 100k returns may be bad for his business, but it's far worse for the poker community compared to 10k sales and 0 returns.

This guy seems to be fairly popular, no matter how many books they print he'll probably sell a good bit more than most in this thread are happy to see. Lets hope his story is not exclusively painting the picture we think it is (or that PP meant something else and/or his actual books in people's hands sales are very low).

We tried to contact Ben prior to the publication of the article, and the previous article that drew connections between Ben the AP founders, but he didn't respond. Then he replied in our comments within a couple of hours of publishing the story.

Hey, We’ll Be Rich! Uh oh, They Passed a Law. Now We’re Going to Jail!
‘Straight Flush’ by Ben Mezrich

By JANET MASLIN
Published: May 22, 2013

What ethically challenged billionaire would not welcome the journalistic cosseting of Ben Mezrich? With each new book, Mr. Mezrich becomes increasingly adept at how to use his kid gloves. He is expert at making up conversations he did not hear, sexing up parties he did not attend, pumping up the thrills of getting rich quick and playing down the legal liabilities of characters who may have done a teeny bit of innocent law-bending or moral compromising on their ways to the top.
...

this should be good book, but...

Mr. Tom gets special treatment for “being persecuted,” for having “built a company out of an American pastime,” and for simply trying to help the poker-loving community. “He truly believed, in his heart, that he was innocent,” writes Mr. Mezrich.

Great

Wrong forum for this, but I'll do it anyway...

Brag: Maslin calls out Mezrich on his BS-based books.

Beat: Maslin neglected to mention anything about the AP scandal, only touching on its UIGEA squabbles.

Variance: I still enjoy Mezrich's actual writing, even though he bends the truth better than anyone this side of Howard Lederer.

This is the world we live in.

hate to be "that" guy who knows nothing.

but all I know is that AP kind of screwed over customers. but i didn't know how it all began and whatnot.

can anyone give me cliffs?

Au contraire. Ben Mizrach is much more savvy and astute as to what works (and what doesn't work) when it comes to marketing a book in which Hollywood might take an interest. Ben knows that controversy, especially heated controversy, sells books. If he portrays Scott Tom and his frat boy friends as counterculture "heroes" who scored big while essentially ignoring the dark side of their shenanigans, that kind of book will generate a lot of controversy - and sell a lot of books. Of course, Ben could write a more even handed treatment that tells both sides (good and bad) but that kind of book doesn't exactly fit in with his tried and true formula. Ben has a formula which he sticks to - a "formula" which features smart young college kids showing up establishment types - and getting super rich in the process. Telling the true story of what went on at AP/UB doesn't fit in with his formula. (Not to mention the fact that Hollywood would probably not be interested in a routine ho-hum story about thieves and crooks cheating nerdy poker players. That kind of story is more in line with CNBC's "American Greed" series.)

I suspect Ben will choose not to break with his tried and true formula - he'll portray Scott Tom and his buddies as heroes - and laugh all the way to the bank as he deposits royalty checks and sells the movie rights to Hollywood for a minor fortune. Hey, that formula has already worked twice, why should he think it won't work a third time?

EDIT: My goof. When I began writing this, I did not notice that the OP in this thread was posted over a year ago - despite the fact that I posted a reply! I watched the Squawk Box interview and thought Ben had appeared on the program this morning. Oh well, most of what I wrote (above) still stands.

Mezrich is about to be a guest on CNBC's Squawk Box this hour.

EDIT: ugh, and they are using The Gambler as the lead-in music.

DOUBLE EDIT: he mentioned that the superuser scandal is covered in the story. Doesn't say to what extent, though.

Mezrich came on CNBC and had a several - five? - minute segment to cover his book. The story was college buddies form an online poker site, it's one of the biggest in the world. they're about ready to IPO, then Black Friday happened, the success came crashing down, and now they're fugitives from the law around the world with one of them in prison. He was asked if they were billionaires and he said no, but millionaires, I think.

Andrew Ross Sorkin then asked about the scandal that went on, and Mezrich said that was a story inside the bigger one - one of the (inside people?) was able to see the cards and cheat, and this became one of online poker's biggest scandals.

Then a little more discussion about the arc of the company.

I read most of this book this weekend and I was underwhelmed. Good thing it wasn't an investigative reporting piece because it failed in regards to the AP superuser scandal.