I don't have the book in front of me so I don't know what time frame this was, but at the time of surrender, his half-brother mentions Tom is stuck on some island never able to leave.

Yea book says he is stuck in Antigua, an metaphorical jail cell

By the way, I was serious when I said I'm willing to buy a used copy of this book from any of you (to assuage my curiosity about this book without sending more profits to Mezrich). PM me and we can work out the details.

I'd sell you mine, but I might need to use it for fuel to keep warm if we have a cold winter.

Ok, been following this thread since its beginning; some very interesting conversations, and certainly everyone is entitled to their opinion. I went into this book knowing there would be a fair amount of controversy when it came out; not unlike my Facebook book, there are multiple sides to the story, and I'd chosen to come at it from the direction that most intrigues me, which may not be the direction that everyone out there wants this book to be written from. However, as an author, my goal is to go inside a story and see it through the eyes of the people who were there; to try and tell it as a thriller, from the POV of the characters themselves, in as true a fashion as my research- which involves hundreds of hours of interviews with the people themselves; thousands of pages of court documents; and whatever else i can find- allows. The only agenda I have is to tell this true story in an entertaining, enjoyable fashion; people who read my books understand what they are getting into. Some like the way I write my nonfiction, others don't; that's the nature of the beast.

Straight Flush is not a book focused on the AP cheating scandal, or the UB cheating scandal; that book may very well still be written, and there are plenty of competent journalists who seem to be very interested in writing that story. Straight Flush is the story of the rise of AP from an idea formed by a group of frat brothers, and the crash of AP due to the DOJ's takedown of the industry. It's about young men who turned a simple idea into a million dollar a day business; how they navigated the wild west atmosphere of Costa Rica; how they took risks and often got into trouble; and how it all fell apart, through the hypocrisy of UIGEA and what i see as a ridiculous, unfair legal action by the DOJ. My hope is that this book helps in the fight to make online poker legal, while telling a thrilling story about a group of complex individuals; these guys aren't saints by any stretch of the imagination- nor are they apparitions of evil. They are a group of friends who tried to do something cool, got caught up in a world of fast money, exotic thrills, and yes, temptations; it is indeed a story that involves greed, risky decisions, danger, and in the end, a big fall.

Both the AP cheating scandal and the UB cheating scandals are in the narrative; within the ten year timeline of the story, they are not the central focus, nor do i believe they should be; certainly, there are those who disagree with the way those scenes are written, and I look forward to reading other accounts of those events.

The truth is, the vast majority of people who lost money on Black Friday did not lose money because of cheating, or because of Scott Tom; IMO, they lost money because the DOJ shut the business down, froze assets; shady processors vanished with millions of dollars, many millions more were used to pay off employees because of costa rican laws, and millions more went to lawyers for legal defense. If Black Friday had not occured, players would not have lost that money. Unfortunately, the company didn't have a big enough war chest to pay off its accounts, and many people were devastated. All of that is presented in the book.

In any event, I appreciate the discourse, am fascinated by much of the research that those on this blog have done into the cheating scandals and the storyline, and look forward to continuing the debate about online gambling, as the story works its way farther and farther into the mainstream.

Best
Ben Mezrich

Dear Ben,

The truth is not a "scene".

Sincerely,
Haley Hintze

Depends on the medium; in a book or movie, you are indeed translating a true event into a scene. Not sure what you would rather call it.

i do appreciate Ben stepping in and almost got through the whole post......we get it Ben, we get the story you try to tell, albeit based on what you think is a "thriller". Just realize that AP as a failed entity and your boys' actions, at least in part, may have prompted UIGEA to seem necessary.

No need to even get into the fact that you are ****ing crazy to think Tom and Co. had nothing to do with Superusing when they most likely controlled this brilliant idea until they couldn't steal anymore...just like their $1m a day unoriginal online poker concept.

Fair enough.

But can't you tell that tale without writing that Scott Tom is innocent with respect to the AP cheating? Don't you still have the frat boys, the simple idea, Costa Rica, the parties, the millions/day, the UIGEA, et al., but at least acknowledge that they stole?

There is a difference between translating a true event into a scene and calling lies a "true story" -- about as true as that non-loyal "Loyal" bank you wrote about.

You crossed that line about 12 books ago; this just happens to be the very worst and most blatant of the batch. You are a fraud and a liar, sir, and all your "incredible" window dressing doesn't change that.

I want to add that I've enjoyed your books. I haven't taken them as gospel because there are certain elements that haven't rung true with me. But they've still been entertaining reads.

What I don't understand is if the AP cheating scandal wasn't what the book was about, and was only a footnote in the story you wanted to tell, why twist those facts?

I think she might have you there, Ben...just sayin'

Suggestion: Create a new edition with an "Update" appendix in which you detail all the cheating allegations and evidence. This gets you back onside with the poker community and you can show your face at WSOP 2014

First of all, thank you for joining the thread... welcome to 2+2.

Yes, most people lost more money on Black Friday than from any of the superuser scandals. However, the Black Friday losses still came as the result of dishonest practices, including those by individuals such as Scott Tom. Had Absolute Poker -- and as we later learned, Full Tilt -- conducted its business on the up-and-up, the shortfalls to players would have been considerably less. PokerStars went through the same seizures as AP, UB and Full Tilt. And yet players had little to no difficulty in getting their money back.

My concerns, based on the reviews in this thread and responses from the poker community in general, is that your book has made AP and its owners to be merely the victims of the DOJ. In fact, AP and UB were crooked long before the DOJ put up its first splash screen on April 15, 2011.

Spanish, to accuse a person of cheating, theft or fraud in the real world (and evidently not simply on a blog), you need concrete evidence that would hold up in a court room. After interviewing multiple parties that were actually there, I felt the narrative as i wrote it was plausible and true. Others may disagree, and i welcome their research and pov.

Haley, you are a very talented investigative journalist, and i've found your research to be fascinating in some areas, but your belligerence is not constructive, and makes it hard to have a rational discussion with you. I think you are absolutely wrong about the money on the plane; other than that, i am not in a position to judge your research, but i look forward to reading your book.

Best, Ben

Wilbury, fair enough; however i would argue this was a company running in a prohibition-like setting. The UIGEA forced them to operate via shady processors and offshore banks. Poker Stars was better run and had far more money when it all crashed down. If the industry had been legal and regulated, none of this would have happened.

Ben, if the money wasn't on the plane -- despite every major Costa Rican news outlet reporting that it was -- then why did you feel it imperative to falsify your book's timeline by putting the accident AFTER the public discovery of the cheating?

That's 100% on you. Scott Tom could not have traveled backwards in time seven weeks to get on that plane and fly off to Antigua in a noble gesture of removing himself from AP operations. When you allow yourself to understand that, you begin to understand why the cheating became so frantic, with the POTRIPPER tourney occurring immediately after Scott Tom's return from Antigua.

I find it hard to have rational discussions with people who serve as the mouthpiece of lies for personal profit.

This is just wrong and and proves even further what a fraud (or uninformed at best) you are. People did NOT lose their money from black-friday because of the DOJ. This is a boldfaced LIE. People lost money because the owners had STOLEN ALL THE MONEY and when the DOJ intervened the curtain was pulled up.

Consider this Ben: Poker Stars was shut down just like AP/UB and Full Tilt were. Why did people get their money from Poker Stars? Because they had the money still. Why did people not get paid from Full Tilt or AP/UB? Because the owners of those had stolen it already.

IF AP/UB had not stolen the player funds BEFORE black-friday we would have gotton our money just like we did from Poker Stars.

The owners of AP/UB were scumbag thieves WAY before the UIEGA was even passed.

If you claim it is the DOJ fault you are a liar, and further proves why the poker community should hate you. Your book is inaccurate (and poorly written by the excerpts you posted .. especially the "conversations" that took place between people. Not sure if you know but when people meet at parties they don't speak like this: "I am ___, I did ___ when I was younger and now I do ____ and I studied at ___, and my aspirations are ____". You even admit that you don't have transcripts of these conversations and are applying literally license to construct them. I guess, I just call that making **** up.

Ben - glad you are here to give your side, it makes the thread much more interesting. Not saying I believe you, on the contrary I think you knowingly took liberties in the name of dramatic license. And I think you went too far.

Oh really Ben, you interviewed some of the thieves who stole our money ... and what a surprise, they claimed they didn't steal our money...

If you interview almost everyone in prison they will also tell you it was someone else.

He's just riding the trend without adding anymore useful info.

White I totally understand all the hate (having $$ tied up on UB myself), I think this is actually a unique opportunity for Ben and Haley to discuss some of the intricacies of UB/Absolute in an open forum.

Ben, I appreciate you being able to take criticism and try and have a constructive conversation with the poker community regarding UB/Absolute, and hope you can stick around and provide some insight into it.

Haley, I beg you to put aside your anger and have a decent back and forth with Ben, if not for your book, then for journalism as a whole. I have read all your Just Conjecturin posts, and your refute of his book, and urge you not to miss the opportunity in front of you. (Might even give you some more info for your book) You're by far the most qualified person here in regards to the scandal, and I'd love to read more of your take after all this over and your book comes out.

Ben,

How do you not understand that the company's cheating and unethical practices pre-dates any involvement by the DOJ and more than likely UIGEA (timeline please Haley)? Your argument seems to be that its ok to screw people over if somebody puts a hurdle or roadblock in your way that turns your million-dollar-a-day business into a $250k-a-day business. Guess what, hundreds of online poker sites had to deal with UIGEA and later Black Friday, and only AP/UB and to a lesser extent FTP (that we know of) decided that cheating and flat-out stealing money was the answer to the problem.

By writing the "story" in the manner you have you've turned them into something they are not... fallen heroes. They aren't Achilles or some other flawed protagonist, they are the villains in the tale.

Your book reminds me of a book report my brother did on Babe Ruth; very detailed throughout his Red Sox years and finished off with "he was also a hitter", apparently he only made it to Chapter 2... You glossed over and omitted major details that make the rest of your book useless fluff and irrelevant

None of what? Is your argument really that if the UIGEA hadn't been enacted that somehow these people made up of zero moral fiber that were running the place wouldn't have stolen MORE money?

Your excuseorama for these scumbags is impressive.

Here's the bottom line. You glorified and made thieves look like good guys by purposely leaving out facts to the contrary. They aren't good guys, and if you had any interest in the truth you would have told the whole story. Interestingly enough, the real story is more interesting than yours.

Pretty sure you don't care, though. What you will likely do is find more real world stories and make works of fiction out of them again, with no regard for the fallout that comes from the exposure from the sales you generate.

Ben -

You didn't have money stolen by these operators. This is where the outrage is coming from. To opine that this was a DOJ thing and these guys were scapegoats just blatantly misses on all conceivable levels, and not to mention insulting to those who were cheated by these men.

I get that by just admitting that, and conceding its point, would disrupt the version found in your book (and by its going to print too late for retractions), but that is why you are getting heat.

Just by your comments here and elsewhere, it seems to me that you only took one version of the story, put into your archetypal structure, made the timeline fit your narrative, and called it good. By doing so though you didn't account for those here that would be ripped off by your narrative (and by the frat boys who initially perpetuated that narrative and crime).

While the story of ideas, turned to riches, turned to greed, turned to vice, turned to losing everything, makes a good VH1 special (and you can spin this yarn quite well also), this is the subject where people know the truth.

These guys had the means to steal money - something in the poker community is very sensitive about, and with good reason. The reason why Haley is appropriately angry with you is that you haven't listened or even acknowledged the possibility that you might have missed some of the important details of this particular story. Their greed caused them to cheat. The DOJ business was just icing on the cake.

These guys were never held accountable for their actions due to the unregulated environment of online poker, which is why we need it to be regulated for every jurisdiction. If you had something valuable that you had stolen from you, and the theif(ves) were still in the public eye and never held responsible for their actions, and no one listened to you, I'll wager (giving you odds), that you would be downright angry. Even more so if someone from the outside your experience believed the theif's(ves') version of events, published a book, and profited from it.

If you can't see that...then I don't know what else to write...

ES

^^^^^^^^ SF this. eat it mezrich. i only wish the general public wasn't so unbelievably dumb that your books wouldn't sell anymore. unfortunately plenty of dumb people are going to enjoy these terrible books that are filled with downright lies.