While it may seem like it was eons ago, the explosion of the game of poker – driven by the flood of players to the online version of the game – was only a few short years ago. A new book that has recently hit the shelves not only looks at that halcyon time but also tells the stories of those who made their name first online and, now, on the live poker scene.
“Ship It Holla Ballas” by Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback (available in all bookstores and through Amazon.com, $25.99 U. S., $29.99 Canadian) is the story of the days when it seemed online poker was invincible. The players that Grotenstein and Reback focus on are only identified by their online poker handles through the entirety of the tome, but those men have gone on to become some of the best young players in the game. There ‘Good2cu’ (Andrew Robl, the recent winner of the $100,000 Aussie Millions Challenge), ‘durrrr’ (Tom Dwan, high stakes master) and a host of other recognizable names; in essence, “Ship It Holla Ballas” is their story.
The book takes a look at the timeframe between 2001 and 2009, a period where these gentlemen – some barely out of high school, some still there – ruled the online poker world. It starts with the story of ‘Irieguy,’ a physician serving out his enlistment with the U. S. Army who avoids a stint in Iraq by a coin flip with a fellow Army doctor. ‘Irieguy’ was led to online poker even earlier than 2001 (1998, to be exact) by his father, and the duo would often talk over a couple thousand miles while playing on Planet Poker.
‘Irieguy’ begins to put together a strong Sit and Go game, honed through discussion on the Two Plus Two forums, and begins to reach out to others in that community. Before getting too deep into 2+2, Grotenstein and Reback recap the history of 2+2 and its creators, Mason Malmuth and David Sklansky, and demonstrates the impact that seminal forum had on online poker in particular and poker as a whole. After that bit of setup, the book begins to take off as the different online wunderkinds work their way into the world of poker.
In many cases, the players that Grotenstein and Reback write about are, basically, kids, who find community through the forums and through playing poker. Along the way, they become so adept at the game that they begin to practically print money, with some of them racking up enough cash to purchase homes, takes trips to play in European poker events (where the age of legality is only eighteen) and indulge in the “finer things” in life – gaudy watches, fast cars, alcohol and their forays into meeting the opposite sex (normally in strip clubs) – before they could legally enter a casino in the United States.
The stories that are unveiled in “Ship It Holla Ballas” aren’t anything that anyone who has been around the game for the last decade hasn’t already heard. The stories are all true, even the one I personally enjoyed (a 2006 “shark swimming” incident at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure), but there was a small problem with that.
In his excellent biography on “Titanic” Thompson (another outstanding book, by the way), author Kevin Cook regaled in the stories of one of the legendary poker players and grifters of the 20th century. Cook went a bit overboard, however, in the constant telling of Thompson’s skills (be they legitimate or set up by Thompson). You’d like to learn more about Thompson the man in Cook’s book, rather than the number (and who) he conned along the way.
This happens as well in “Ship It Holla Ballas” in its recounting of the exploits of these men. Stories of prop bets paid off with bricks of cash or, in the case of an online transfer, with a click of a mouse (and just as quickly lost in another bet) can get a bit tiresome after a while. At a certain point, you’d like to know more about the guys who are making all this money rather than the ways they can literally burn it.
This isn’t to say that Grotenstein and Reback have done a bad job, nor have their subjects remained in their adolescence. Grotenstein and Reback keep the pace of the book moving through many of the pinnacle moments of online poker history (the signing of the UIGEA, “Black Friday,” the UB/Absolute scandal and other smaller online events), its effect on these gentlemen and even how their subjects seemingly “grow up” as the years pass by. While once concerned with attracting attention for their “balla” antics, the men in the book now look to be the best in whatever they do, be that poker or something else.
You’re not going to find any strategic advice in “Ship It Holla Ballas,” but what you will find is an accurate look at the online poker world, from its meteoric rise at the start of the 21st century to its breathtaking plunge only eleven years into said century. You’ll also find the stories of some of the best players in the game today, how they got their starts in the game and how, in some cases, the game of poker provided them with their outlet in life. There isn’t another book that touches on those subjects as completely as “Ship It Holla Ballas” and Grotenstein and Reback have certainly written a book that continues the history of the game of poker admirably.
