Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The woman who ran stars’ $100m poker ring.. lost everything and won again
WHEN it came to organising poker games for Hollywood’s high-rollers, Molly Bloom left nothing to chance.
Her gatherings attracted A-list actors such as Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, along with many others.
Molly knew what her famous, and not-so-famous, clients expected of a night at the table.
For a decade the champagne flowed, served by stunning models, while masseuses and even acupuncturists were on standby.
For some guests – though not her famous clientele – Molly saw to it there were high-end prostitutes on hand, as well as cocaine.
And with the pot often reaching £3million, a security guard armed with an assault rifle ensured players could relax in safety.
It cost £200,000 to buy in to a game and Molly was soon earning £100,000 a night in tips.
She flew in private jets, rubbed shoulders with the heads of Hollywood studios and was courted by handsome leading men.
SQUEEZED
Then after being squeezed out, and later falling foul of mobsters and the FBI, Molly found herself on a losing streak. But there was one more card to play – Molly had a story to tell. And telling it has put her back at the top of her game.
Her glamorous rise and fall has been immortalised by actress Jessica Chastain, 40, in movie Molly’s Game, due to hit cinemas on New Year’s Day.
Yet Jessica admits she totally misjudged 39-year-old Molly before they met.
She said: “I spent a lot of time getting spray tans and false lashes and nails to create the look of Molly.
“Then I met her and found her to be a little quiet and withdrawn, not at all somebody wanting to be the centre of attention.
“The way she presented herself was very different from her personality. She was very guarded, very vulnerable and hurt.”
Molly’s story started when she moved to Los Angeles from her native Colorado. The daughter of a professor, she had been an Olympic-class skier but quit due to injury.
In LA she found work as a cocktail waitress at the Viper
Room on Sunset Strip – Johnny Depp’s club, where actor River Phoenix had died of a drug overdose at 23. Her boss asked her to organise a poker game for pals including DiCaprio, Maguire and Affleck. From there, she began running her own games.
Gamblers met at luxury mansions, a Beverly Hills hotel and in apartments at Trump Tower.
Molly arranged food from players’ favourite restaurants, and saw to it their every whim was catered for. But she began to lose
control of all she had built up when one of the players muscled in.
Molly moved to the East Coast to start afresh with a clientele of Wall Street bankers. But her games were targeted by crime bosses from Russia and Eastern Europe.
She started taking money from the pot for what is known as a “rake” – insuring against losses when players refuse to pay debts.
After an FBI raid she admitted being a key figure in an illegal $100million gambling ring.
Molly was fined £100,000 and got 200 hours’ community service. She said: “The money got to me. It was
greed.”
Others saw a tale of sex and money, I was seeing someone with a quiet integrity AARON SORKIN ON WHY HE WANTED TO PUT MOLLY’S STORY ON BIG SCREEN
Aaron Sorkin is the Hollywood hitmaker who wrote US TV drama The West Wing and won an Oscar for The Social Network, the story of Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.
When a friend asked him to meet Molly, he agreed – as a favour.
“I thought I was going to meet a woman who was cashing in,” he said. “That’s not something I like.”
But within 10 minutes, Sorkin wanted to write Molly’s story for the big screen. Two years of meetings followed. Sorkin said: “Others saw a story of glamour and decadence, sex and money.
“I was seeing someone with a quiet integrity that is rare today, especially in popular culture.” But he was worried about the stars Molly named – some he had worked with, others were his friends. She calls Affleck the perfect gentleman and hints DiCaprio only joined to be sociable.
But she labels Spiderman star Maguire “the worst tipper, biggest winner and absolute worst loser”.
In the £25million movie he is replaced by an unnamed character, while Idris Elba plays a fictional lawyer defending Bloom.
Molly, a consultant on the film, now wants to mentor women to stay away from poker. Jessica said: “I felt embarrassed I’d judged her – we’re quick to vilify women.
“I had a lot of empathy as I got to know her. She put on this persona to do what she felt she had to.”