This is pretty disappointing, as I've enjoyed Mezrich's books about the Facebook story and of course the MIT Blackjack story. Yeah those took some liberties to tell a dramatic story but they seemed pretty close to reality where it mattered. This one however, changes history too much for those of us who frequent 2+2, and know the real story about AP/UB.

Mezrich should have done some research here.

Yes; the point of this is that it should make you realize how much these stories actually do stretch the truth, even when you don't become aware of it. There are many aspects of Mezrich's Facebook story that were wrong and that many people believe as fact just because they think it wouldn't be written about in that way if it wasn't true. Lazy "based on a true story" writing like Mezrich's purposefully spreads misinformation. If he had any journalistic ethics at all, he would put footnotes in his books, or at the very least, endnotes, about what he chose to make up and what was documented.

Perhaps those who have read the book could write some reviews on Amazon...

The writing is atrocious - wish I had read this thread before buying the book. (airport - blah) I didn't make it nearly far enough to be disappointed with the coverage of the superuser scandal. Off with his (literary) head.

I saw another book on Amazon by Ben

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Social Network and Bringing Down The House comes the larger-than-life true tale of a group of happy go lucky grade school buddies who helped create and build an economic empire that united cities and spanned decades. They had it all; beautiful women, riches beyond imagine, and the blessing of powerful politicians. But there was trouble in paradise: along their journey these misunderstood entrepreneurs would encounter adversity in the form of nosy law enforcement, hard working unions, honest citizens, and the brother of a US President. Read the amazingly true, rags-to-riches tale of this group of cool fun loving best friends who went from the mean streets of New York to corrupting all forms of society through prostitution, drug trafficking, extortion, and murder. Purchase the new book by Ben Mezrich: "Forget about it!: The Harmless Hijinx of the Five Families of New York"

Interview video from the Today Show and Morning Joe.

Ben Mezrich needs to be punished for his ignorance and insolence

Read it this weekend.

As someone who was in Costa Rica for most of the time covered by this book, know many of the places referenced and such, the first half of the book was pretty enjoyable, and IMO a decently accurate description of what their lives were probably like. There was no shortage of sportsbook gringos flashing big money around, partying hard and no shortage of women available for them.

The second half of the book is, to me, too short. It was like Mezrich had a checklist of things to mention:

1) Plane crash
2) AP superuser
3) UB superuser
4) DOJ shutdown

and he touched on all of them very quickly. The book could easily have been much longer and covered these topics (and others such as those outlined by Haley) in more depth.

I think the book really suffered in comparison to, say Accidental Billionaires (inspiration for Social Network) in not having a true "tell all" insider (as Saverin was in that book). Beckley, who I guess is supposed to be in this role in this book, obviously is still loyal to his friends and not giving a full account of what happened. To be honest, it wouldn't surprise me if he really didn't know the full extent of the theft, either - everything I heard about him when I was down there was that he was much like he's portrayed in the book, the boy scout of the group.

In the end, the book is pretty close to what I expected based on Mezrich's history. This was a different type of subject for him (in that the protagonists were actually bad guys) and he definitely tried to shoehorn them into his standard formula of good guys doing something unusual to get rich and being faced with abnormal circumstances. It's not written for the twoplustwo crowd.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that Haley Hintze is doing a whole set of pieces about the book and she claims that Ben knowingly twisted the facts either by deliberate omissions or by fabrications to write this book.

The articles can be found here:

www.flushdraw.com

No one should be surprised by any of that. Mezrich spins a good yarn and tells a good story. But his books are just that: stories, and they should be labeled as fiction. They are generally good reads. Good, fictitious reads.

At least Mez got his act together and got an entertainning book out in a timely fashion

Maybe "Haley" should worry a little less about Mezrich, his loose reporting and his 7 figure payday and a little more about pulling her own grossly over researched book together and stop overpromising everyone

The FlushDraw articles are a joke. Nobody cares.

I would rather see a grossly over researched book than an under researched one.

Wall Street Journal destroyed this guys book for horrible prose, not talking about the cheating scandal and the article writer even credited twoplustwo for doing the detective work!

I read her articles and they were well written.

I don't know where the source of your hate stems from, but it seems unfounded to me.

Not enough people in the poker writing world are writing about interesting stories like this. Too many people are simply promoting other business or interests, or in the case of Mezrich, apparently some friends (though his real interest may just be in telling the tale that sells the most books).

In any case, I'd much rather read the real story, based on full information from Haley, than a tale someone spins based very loosely on real events. I can dream up my own tales in my own head or read many great works of fiction. I don't need historical fiction trying to be passed on us as fact.

Actually, Hindrider's complaint has some validity, though I do want to get the story right. I don't like posting on this forum, but I will this time out of necessity.

I had hoped to have this book out a long time ago, but between Travis Makar's stalling games on the UB side -- sorry Travis, I don't hate you, but that's the truth of it -- and the knowledge that this farce was coming out on the AP side, I decided to wait even longer to incorporate both of these important elements.

The last year-plus of my life has also been a time of considerable personal difficulty, as both of my elderly parents are dying, one of stage 5-6 Alzheimers and one of stage 4 cancer. I ask that you respect my family's and my privacy beyond that and please try to understand that while some people can persevere with projects like these through times of difficulty, I'm not good enough to do so. My need to do basic weekly/monthly work to keep the lights on and pay the bills also has to get done, and so the book grows ever larger and gets moved back. I've never intended to tease; frankly, the negativity of it all is a giant burden to me.

I apologize for all of that, but it can't be undone, and the book has never been my highest life priority.

If you want to read the real core story of that AP cheating and why Mezrich's book is such a horrid lie, parts 4 and 5 of this little series I'm working on should be the core of it. That Part 4 is now up, and someone else can link to if they feel it has editorial importance. That's free for all of you, right now, because it has to be told.

Signing out.

I need this

I assume you mean Haley's series:

http://www.flushdraw.com/news/ben-me...-of-deception/

There will be links to all of the articles on this post as they are published. It look like it is to part 4 of 10.

James McManus slams it in his WSJ review.
CLick the first result here to read it..
https://www.google.com/search?q=Bluf...hrome&ie=UTF-8

Nice title... Busted FLush Draw.

Haley, not sure if you'll see this post but my thoughts to your family.

In the meantime, I enjoyed your review of the book. Probably the best response I've seen from someone who both a) read the book and b) has detailed knowledge of the AP/UB scandals. Usually, the reviews have come from someone who claims one or the other, but not both.

Read it on the plane home from London today, enjoyed it. I'm sure it's slightly fabricated but some of the explanations are plausible

Also, some click-throughs of Haley's story led me to find various articles that refute Mezrich's other works. Obviously, this will be entirely old news for some people but it might help illustrate his M.O.

On Bringing Down The House: http://www.bostonmagazine.com/2008/0...-a-true-story/

On The Social Network (and, to a point, the Accidental Billionaires): http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfa...ialnetwork.php (Note: the primary source for confirming/debunking scenes is a different book, called The Facebook Effect. Although the latter apparently has Mark Zuckerberg's "blessing," it is perhaps equally subject to speculation and exaggeration.)

The silver lining (?) of all of this is that even those who enjoy Mezrich's works -- DrewOnTilt and myself apparently being among them -- know to ingest a gigantic grain of salt before diving in. I think I mentioned the TV series Law & Order earlier in this thread, a show that would take actual cases but then mold them into a complete work of fiction. No thinking fan of that show ever assumed the real-life case matched up with the reel-life version.

Those who care enough about the AP/UB episode won't have their minds changed by this book. And the few people who DO read this book without prior knowledge of the true story AND who take it as fact? Sure, they might feel some sympathy for Tom, Beckley et al. But they'll have forgotten about it as soon as they move on to the next Hunger Games sequel anyhow.

At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

McManus' take on the book seems on the mark.

I have read only the excerpt published in Bluff, but that seems enough to go on. FWIW, I spent a lot of time in Costa Rica over the years, although I never set foot in the AP or UB premises and had no business dealings or player account with either.

The Mezrich book seems clownish, in a Rocks and Rings sort of way, .... (Sure, Costa Rica offers a plethora of distractions and vices for gringos with money, but that is a sideshow to life there and to the business and ethical issues. FWIW, the same distractions and vices account for burnouts in a high percentage of folks who relocate to Las Vegas to "live the life".)

I haven't read the book, but it doesnt seem that this is the problem. You can compare this to something like A Beautiful Mind (the movie.....i didn't read that book either ). But when you take a story somewhat known amongst a subculture (online poker/professional mathematicians/etc) I think it's fine to use artistic liscence to tell outsiders a story they might not consume if it was told in literal fact form

I think most math people will recommend a beautiful mind to non math friends because even though it isn't completely true (mixes up/creates characters/jobs.....seems to get Nash equilibrium wrong etc) it gets the heart of the story right and tells it in an interesting way, making it worthwhile. From the reviews of this, I don't think any online poker player who knows about the main characters in this book would recommend it to non poker friends.

Holy hell. Jim McManus absolutely rips Mezrich a new ******* and stuff his head up it sideways.

Knowing the AP story and what I believe to be the truth of it really lessened my enjoyment of the book. Not really telling the truth lessened Mezrich in my eyes also.