Synopses & Reviews
To be a kid in 2006 meant growing up with the Internet. A group of smart, resourceful teens used it to master the game of poker. Taking advantage of online pokers lightning-fast pace and lackluster efforts at age verification, they earned, in just a few months, the kind of professional gambling experience that used to take a lifetime.
The Ship It Holla Ballas were the most successful cards crew to come out of this new world order. With handles like Good2cu, Apathy, and Raptor, they communicated through message boards and online chats, comparing hands, sharing advice, and working together to develop new strategies. Emerging from dorm rooms and basements in places like Fort Worth, Texas; Okemos, Michigan; and Toronto, Canada, they joined up in Vegas, parked themselves in a mansion, and stuck it to the poker establishment—winning tens of millions of dollars before most of them were old enough to set foot inside a casino. Along the way, they did what any red-blooded teenagers with mountains of cash and no responsibilities would do: partied like rock stars, transforming themselves from Internet nerds with zero life skills into legends.
This is the twisted and incredible true story of the rise and fall of Internet poker, seen through the eyes of its most unlikely stars: teenage college dropouts, united by social media, who bluffed their way to the top of the game.
Review
“In Ship It Holla Ballas!, Grotenstein and Reback share the lives and games of the incredibly young, ridiculously successful superstars of the Online Poker Era. The authors handle the fast pace, shadowy lives, and multiple players and locations with the skill and dexterity of Good2cu, Raptor, or durrrr 20-tabling.”
—Michael Craig, New York Times bestselling author of The Professor, The Banker, and the Suicide King
"The loud narcissism and adolescent degeneracy of these talented 'ballas' ain't pretty, but the testosterroneous world of high-stakes online poker in America before Black Friday, in all its doomed glory, steadily throbs in Grotenstein and Reback's swift prose."
—James McManus, New York Times bestselling author of Positively Fifth Street
"An infectious tale, told with the speed of a rocket sled, Ship It Holla Ballas! puts us in with a gang of under-age poker geniuses as they turn Las Vegas on its ear, making off with the gelt as well as the girls." —Bruce Porter, New York Times bestselling author of Blow
Synopsis
To be a teenager in 2006 meant having grown up with the Internet. The dot-com bubble had come and gone, leaving in its wake a still maturing medium whose immense powers were not yet fully understood. It wasn't long before smart, resourceful young men used it to master the game of poker. They took advantage of online pokers lightning-fast pace and lackluster efforts at age verification to gain, in just a few months, the kind of experience that used to take a lifetime.
Ship It Holla Ballas! is the story of the top crew to come out of this new world order. With handles like Good2cu, Apathy, and Raptor, they communicated through message boards and online chats, comparing hands, trading tips, developing previously unknown skills. They soon crushed the competition. Emerging from their dorm rooms and basements in places like Fort Worth, Texas, Okema, Michigan, and Toronto, Canada, they joined up in Vegas and parked themselves in a mansion, making millions by sticking it to the poker establishment. Along the way, they did what any red-blooded teenage boy with piles of cash and no responsibility would do: They partied like rock stars, transforming themselves from nerds with zero life skills into legends. Eventually, however, all parties end.
Synopsis
Who were the Ship It Holla Ballas?
Arguably the most successful poker crew of all time, they took advantage of the online poker boom to win tens of millions of dollars before most of them were old enough to set foot inside a casino. Then they did what any red-blooded teenagers with mountains of cash and no responsibilities would do: They partied like rock stars, transforming themselves from Internet nerds with zero life skills into legends, at least in their own minds.
In Ship It Holla Ballas!, Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback trace the rise and fall of Internet poker through the eyes of its most unlikely stars: A group of teenage college dropouts, united by social media, who bluffed their way to the top of the game.
About the Author
JONATHAN GROTENSTEIN is a former professional poker player and the author or co-author of eight books. His first book, Poker: The Real Deal (with Phil Gordon), remains one of the bestselling poker books of all-time.
STORMS REBACK is a former professional poker player and the co-author of two books, including All In: The (Almost) Entirely True Story of the World Series of Poker (with Jonathan Grotenstein).