Billion Dollar Hollywood Heist Lib/E: The A-List Kingpin and the Poker Ring That Brought Down Tinseltown

"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.

Houston Curtis has lived a successful double life as both a producer and card mechanic for nearly thirty years. His credits include executive producing gambling related shows such as The Ultimate Blackjack Tour on CBS and pioneering the poker instructional DVD genre with titles featuring poker champs Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke. Barred from the Las Vegas Golden Nugget for "excessive winning" at Blackjack, Houston is one of the world's most successful card mechanics and sleight-of-hand artists of the modern era. Curtis won the 2004 Legends of Poker championship before cofounding the elite Hollywood poker ring that inspired Aaron Sorkin's Academy Award-nominated film Molly's Game.

Dylan Howard is an investigative reporter who has edited numerous magazines, including US Weekly, the National Enquirer, Star, In Touch, and Life & Style. Described by the New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin as "the king of Hollywood scoops," Howard has uncovered gripping scandals, solved true crime cases, exposed financial crimes and even murder, bringing these egregious crimes to light through his award-winning reporting. Named Entertainment Journalist of the Year at the National Entertainment Journalist Awards, Howard is also the author of Diana: Case Solved, Aaron Hernandez's Killing Fields, and The Last Charles Manson Tapes.

Joe Barrett, an actor and Audie Award and Earphones Award-winning narrator, has appeared both on and off Broadway as well as in hundreds of radio and television commercials.