Straight Flush

The True Story of Six College Friends Who Dealt Their Way to a Billion-Dollar Online Poker Empire--and How It All Came Crashing Down . . .

Description

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Accidental Billionaires and Bringing Down the House—the sources for the film The Social Network and 21—comes the larger-than-life rags-to-riches tale of a group of University of Montana frat brothers who turned a weekly poker game in the basement of a local dive bar into AbsolutePoker.com, one of the largest online companies in the world. 

Based on extensive insider interviews and participation, Straight Flush tells of the company’s initial operations in the exotic jungle paradise of Costa Rica—where its founders embraced an outrageous lifestyle of girls, parties, and money—and of the gray area of U.S. and international law in which they created an industry. Soon, the U.S. Department of Justice was gunning for them… Should they fold—or double down and ride their hot hand? Impossible to put down, Straight Flush is an exclusive, never-before-seen look behind the headlines of one of the wildest business stories of the past decade.

About the author(s)

Ben Mezrich graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 1991. He has published twelve books, including the New York Times bestsellers The Accidental Billionaires, which was adapted into the Academy Award-winning film The Social Network, and Bringing Down the House, which has sold more than 1.5 million copies in twelve languages and became the basis for the Kevin Spacey movie 21. Mezrich has also published the national bestsellers Sex on the Moon, Ugly Americans, Rigged, and Busting Vegas. He lives in Boston.

Reviews

“The reigning cowboy of creative nonfiction.” — The Oregonian

“A breakneck retelling of how a bunch of closely knit fraternity brothers built an online poker empire. … Fast-paced and wild.” — Kirkus Reviews

“A near-perfect specimen of pulp nonfiction.” — New York Times

The action is nonstop. ... Mezrich follows [the] friends from their University of Montana frat house to Costa Rica and Canada as the young entrepreneurs’ extravagant lifestyle of booze, fast cars, and hot women spirals into death threats, auto accidents, 24-hour bodyguards, and federal indictments.” — Booklist

“Engrossing. ... I can’t wait for the movie.” — Boston Globe

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