Molly's Game Page #6

Mike?

? De partir n'importe o? ?

-Thank you very much.

? Bras dessus, bras dessous ?

-Scotch, please, yeah?

? En chantant des chansons ?

? C'est si bon ?

? De se dire des mots doux ?

? De petits riens du tout ?

? Mais qui en disent long ?

Fellas, can I have your

attention for a moment?

Where's Dean?

I'll be hosting a game in this

suite every Tuesday night.

If you play tonight, you'll be

guaranteed a chair for a year.

If you prefer to play

at the Cobra Lounge,

there'll be no hard feelings.

Let's play.

The game was mine now.

I incorporated and Molly Bloom

Event Planning was born.

I paid taxes and

1099'd my employees.

I never became romantically

or sexually involved

with any of the players.

The game would've fallen apart.

This was back when I was

still making good decisions.

And I went to a lawyer to make

absolutely sure all this was legal.

Are you taking a rake?

No.

Then you're not

breaking the law.

-Can I give you some advice?

-Please.

There's a saying in my business.

Don't break the law when

you're breaking the law.

What do you mean?

No drugs, no prostitutes,

no muscle to collect debts.

Oh, I don't do

anything like that.

But you just said

I wasn't breaking the law.

Keep it that way, because you

don't want to break the law

when you're breaking the law.

Am I breaking the law?

Not really.

We're able to find out

for sure, aren't we?

Laws are written down.

You're not taking a

percentage of the pot?

No.

You're running a square game.

My game had a tricky ecosystem.

These guys could buy anything

but here in this room

you couldn't buy your win.

You couldn't buy me,

you couldn't buy the girls

and you couldn't buy

a seat at the table.

There's nothing as sweet as

a win you have to work for.

And the wins and losses were

compelling and they were real.

Of course it helped that the

players were gambling addicts.

Can I see you for a second?

Jay, you're famous.

You are an international

rock star.

Oh, I wasn't sure you'd noticed.

You can't send

e-mails like that.

Well, it's not a federal

production, okay? I just...

invited you to Cabo

for the weekend.

The next woman you send

an e-mail like that to,

it's not gonna be me. It's

gonna be someone else.

You're playing with fire.

I'm telling you that

I'm in love with you

and you are worried about

me getting blackmailed.

Oh, my--that just makes

me more into you.

Lemon head, they won't

need to blackmail you.

They can get just as

much money from TMZ.

And TMZ will give them

what they really want--

Tell me the truth,

was mine the first

love letter you've

gotten from a player?

It was the seventh.

All digitally transmitted.

You are begging

for your life

to be turned into a

very public hell.

So that's a no on Cabo?

Why don't you just give

your wife and kids a break

and run them

over with a limo?

I love the way

that you talk to me.

Oh, God.

I've had a thought.

-Yeah?

-Raise the stakes.

To what?

50K buy-in. Blinds are 250-500.

-That's a 500 percent hike.

-Yeah.

I don't think it's a good idea.

You guys give me the

room for a second?

Sure.

The players that are

losing 100,000 a week

are gonna be losing

half a million.

And the players are

winning 100,000 a week--

Will have no one

left to play with.

Players are gonna get hurt,

others are gonna get killed and

some will drop out.

It's not sustainable.

We'll lose the game.

Find new players.

He meant find new fish.

I went recruiting again.

First up was Donnie Silverman.

Donnie won the World

Series of Poker last year

and got in touch with me

through one of the players.

Are you f***in' nuts?

Donnie Silverman won

the World Series of Poker.

You can watch it online.

He took 11 hands

at the final table.

But he had the nuts

on eight of them.

And three of those...

three were two-outers with

four players still in the hand.

He ran hot. He doesn't

lock his chips down,

he's reckless,

he gives tons of action,

and he's got

12 million dollars.

You know,

I don't like playing poker.

Why do you play?

I like destroying lives.

Give him a chair.

-The next recruit...

-Good evening, gentlemen.

was Brad Marion, who

everyone called Bad Brad

because he was uniquely

terrible at this game.

If there was a worst

player in the world,

Brad would still

find a way to lose to him.

Sorry, I don't have a chair,

but you're welcome to a drink.

No, I just came to

introduce you to uh, Brad.

All in.

Sorry?

I just wanted to introduce you to

Brad Marion, he wants to play.

Give me his information,

I'll check him out.

No, Derrick's gonna

vouch for him.

"Derrick's gonna vouch for him"

meant Derrick would cover

any losses if Brad didn't pay.

Up to any amount.

-Hi, I'm Molly Bloom.

-Brad Marion.

-Nice to meet you.

-You too.

But he could pay,

and had to

because he embraced the fallacy

of being pot-committed.

I'm all in.

You've invested so much,

you might as well see

it through to the end.

Move it up, $2,000 to call.

Bad Brad had raised

700 million dollars

for a fund that

traded oil futures.

And every week,

he came to the game.

Lost $100,000 and

tipped me $5,000

so he could

play the next week.

Thank you.

He wasn't getting any better.

And the guys were

feasting on him.

Can I get another fifty?

-Can we talk for a second?

-Sure.

Brad, this game might

not be for you.

I know I'm no card shark.

No, you're not.

Here are your losses

after ten weeks.

And you've won...

never.

It's actually a

statistical anomaly.

Yeah, I know.

I like playing with the guys.

I don't have that many friends.

Don't take my seat away.

-I can tip you more.

-No.

Your tips are very generous.

How about I-I give

you some books?

Or even a pro to

give you some lessons.

Yeah, uh, maybe.

Let me think about it.

Okay.

Turned out Bad Brad

knew what he was doing.

He was getting customers.

He'd drop his

100K at the game

and pick up four million

for his hedge fund.

-Tell 'em what's smart this week.

-Not me.

More on that later,

but first...

Harlan Eustice.

Player X said he met Harlan

at the Commerce Casino

and that he'd be

good for the game

but I wasn't seeing

what he was seeing.

He played tight, folding

after the hole cards

64 percent of the time.

It wasn't clear where

his money came from.

He produced backyard

wrestling videos

and other low-rent

productions.

But worst of all, Harlan Eustice

was a good card player.

Why would Player X want someone

at the game who could beat him?

I'd learn the answer to

that one the hard way.

-How was your flight?

-Just fine.

How are you paying for tickets

between L.A. and New York?

I had 2 million points

left on my Amex.

They took the card but

let me keep the points

which I thought

was nice of them.

You had meetings.

Hm?

You had meetings in L.A. about

your book and life rights?

-I did.

-Was there any interest?

A company that owns 4,000

video poker machines

wants to put my face on 'em.

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