Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist

The A-List Kingpin and the Poker Ring that Brought Down Tinseltown (The Front Page Detectives Series)

De: Dylan Howard, Houston Curtis

Narrado por: Joe Barrett, Stefan Rudnicki

"Right out of the gate, the entire game was designed to empty the pockets of those rich, celeb-loving LA suckers." (Houston Curtis)

Leonardo DiCaprio. Alex Rodriguez. Tobey Maguire. Affleck. Damon. Cassavetes.

What do these people have in common? Not just fame and fortune; all these men are also alumni of the ultra-exclusive, high-stakes poker ring that inspired Aaron Sorkin's Oscar-nominated film, Molly’s Game.

But Houston Curtis, the card shark who cofounded the game with Tobey Maguire, knows that Sorkin's is the whitewashed version. In Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist, Curtis goes all-in, revealing the true story behind the game. From its origins with Maguire to staking DiCaprio's first game, installing Molly Bloom, avoiding the hookers and blow down the hall, and weathering the FBI investigation that left Curtis with a lien on his house - this is the no-holds-barred account of the world’s most exclusive Texas hold ’em game from the man who started it - with all the names and salacious details that Molly's Game left out.

With the insider appeal of Rounders, more A-listers than Ocean's 11, and the excitement of The Sting, Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist is the untold, insider’s story that makes Molly's Game look tame.

©2020 Dylan Howard and Houston Curtis (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

Incredibly Fascinating Story!

Great story about the details behind Molly’s Game and how poker was able to tie together so many different people.

Solid Story

It was a great account to really fill in the blanks from Molly’s game. He detailed who the actual players were vs. everyone just guessing. He also gives the ultimate insider view of what him and Tobey McGuire were really up to. A good lesson in here is you better think about all the angles before you put your money at risk in a home game. Hell possible cheating can happen at a casino on Live Tv just imagine what happens at an unregulated game with hustlers, card sharps, and degenerates. He addresses most of that, but like all hustlers I think he holds some back here and sugarcoats it in spots to not portray himself as a villain. He does protect Tobey and is pretty kind to him.

Different Perspective

Curtis definitely has a different perspective on the famous Hollywood poker game than Molly.

His version of most of the events are probably true, but rather than say that he bashes Molly whenever he gets a chance. Most of what he says doesn't necessarily conflict with Molly's story. And those that do are details that probably don't matter all that much. Honestly, it's a little off-putting.

I guess everyone wants to be the hero of their own story (keep an eye out for my story about the software engineer that almost single handedly saved a struggling firm with his coding prowess).

For me, I think it would've been a much better listen without his obvious vitriol for Molly.

You reap what you sow

Was a good interesting listen but it was a bit hard knowing I somehow contributed to profits for the man behind Backyard Brawls and Ghetto Brawls. Seems he liked judging others by chose not to turn that mirror on himself.

Good it’s free

Really disliked the ongoing name-dropping or place/dropping without enough context to make sense of the point. Lots of details, which obscure actual plot. Did not enjoy. Sorry.

What a story!!!

In case you didn’t know, the book is about the other side of the story, which we’ve previously seen in the famous book and film, called “Molly’s Game”. Curtis claims that the story is quite different than what we’ve seen in the film. Actually, having watched the film twice, and read (actually listened on the audible platform) this book, Curtis’ story is much more interesting, partly due to the fact that Curtis gave full details of the personalities. In my view, this can be a major life saving story to take into account by those, who is considering a full career in poker, which is a fastinating game, but also includes some dark elements of gambling and its entourage. Of course, Curtis’ story naturally includes his own “hustler” elements that bring itself some devilish character into the story, and that by itself paints a “not-so-innocent” picture to begin with. In that picture, the unavoidable question one asks himself is that is Houston Curtis an evil or a bad person? Perhaps he may not be a full scale gambling criminal or a mobster, but he is definitely hanging around the edge of the circle, within which many things were happening. On the other hand, he himself is one of the master designers of a poker hustle together with Toby McGuire (aka Spiderman). In that hustle, there was a well articulated plan of using celebrities to attrack rich entourage of people for high stakes poker game. Curtis and McGuire arrange everything, Molly to run the operation, and a dealer. Curtis claims no tricks during the games, but solid poker skills to run over those rich folks and win hundreds of thousands of dollars in each night, and share the loot. Once greed takes over, things start to change from bad to worse. Curtis’ story tumbles down all the way into a deep tradegy of all kinds from loosing his wealth, health and getting into prison. Perhaps, some people may interpret all these series of events as the natural cause of one’s dealing with the devilish energy. Perhaps some may say “if you deal with the devil, that’s what happens eventually”. And, the center of the story is one of the most fascinating games, called No-Limit Texas Hold’em poker. I also believe that the game itself is a microcosm of a real life. For me, who is a small stake, amateur recreational player, there is always a line between a brilliant mind game and a deep gambling. In this game, the decisions you make swing between the two sides. The more your decisions are based on the “gamble” element, the more you get sucked into a different energy field. Can you play it purely on the mind game side? Perhaps you can, but doesn’t the life itself include some “gambling” elements? It surely does. So, it is your choice to extend your game towards which side you prefer, and those who extends towards gamling side sometimes win excessively and sometimes loose big time. Curtis’ story begins with his cardsharp skills. He makes into the California and attains a very good level of success in business and in life, marries a beautiful woman, and even attains a good success in poker within his hustle. Had he kept the success in the modest hobby level, perhaps he may have enjoyed the life much more. Instead, he extended his presence deeper into the hustle without any safety cushion, which his partner definitey has. As they say, the life we live is in the end the natural results of our preferences. His preference was to depend on a
heavy risk card draw, which didnt come. I felt deeply for him as I listened his story on the audible platform. The book deserves a film version, and I am sure it attains a much wider success than Molly’s game. Perhaps, if that time comes, Curtis’ redemption is realised. I wish him all the best, and thank him for sharing this amazing story.

Very good book

I like Molly's movie in thought this was a great book. May even be better than the movie.

A second perspective of the Molly's Game tale.

I greatly enjoyed "Molly's Game", the book and the movie, so when I saw that more of the story was available from another perspective, I got it. While it only covers the portion of her story that Houston Curtis was involved in, the early games, it sheds more light on the story,

a cautionary tale.

voice actir us perfect for this story. Lots of lessons in here about gambling, liife and health. Houston leads perfectly by negatuve example.

Very entertaining

I am a poker player, and I know many of the characters described in the book. Many poker stories are too exaggerated or boring, but this book really got me interested the whole time. I have heard enough stories from some of the characters to know that the truth couldn’t be too far from what was told. Curtis not only captivated the readers, but he really painted a clear picture of what the poker scene was like.