Molly's Poker Game (NYC)

Extracted Attributes

• Location

  New York City, USA

• Typical Players

  Wealthy New Yorkers, sports and business celebrities, European playboys, Russian mobsters

• Illegal Activity

  Raking the game (taking a percentage of the pot)

• Primary Organizer

  Molly Bloom

• Legal Consequences

  FBI investigation, prosecution by Southern District of New York, asset forfeiture

• Film Adaptation Location

  The Grande Penthouse Suite at The Plaza, New York City (as depicted in the movie)

• Associated Organized Crime

  Russian mob from Brighton Beach, Italian mob

• Inspiration for Atmosphere

  Monaco, James Bond movies

Timeline

• Molly Bloom moves to New York City with the ambition to build an even bigger high-stakes poker game, inspired by Monaco and James Bond movies, after her LA game was taken from her. (Source: related_documents)

  unknown

• The New York game expands, leading to involvement with the Russian mob from Brighton Beach. (Source: related_documents)

  unknown

• Molly Bloom experiences a violent shakedown by the Italian mob, who threatened her family in Colorado. (Source: related_documents)

  unknown

• Molly Bloom makes the illegal decision to begin "raking the game" (taking a percentage of the pot) to cover potential losses, making the operation an illegal gambling business. (Source: related_documents)

  unknown

• An FBI investigation and raid are initiated due to the illegal raking of the game. (Source: related_documents)

  unknown

• Molly Bloom is prosecuted by the Southern District of New York. (Source: related_documents)

  unknown

• The government seizes Molly Bloom's life savings through asset forfeiture. (Source: related_documents)

  unknown

Natasha Lyonne

Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein ( lee-OHN; born April 4, 1979) is an American actress, director, comedian, producer, writer, and tech executive. Lyonne started her career as a child actress before expanding her career taking on mature roles in film and television, for which she was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards, and named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine in 2023. Lyonne started her career as a child actress making her first uncredited appearance in Heartburn (1986), a recurring role in Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986), and a supporting role in Dennis the Menace (1993). She transitioned to taking on teen roles in several independent films such as Everyone Says I Love You (1996), Slums of Beverly Hills (1998), But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), and Party Monster (2003), as well as the American Pie film series (1999–2012). She found a career resurgence and Emmy Award-nominations for her performances as Nicky Nichols in the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black (2013–2019), co-created, wrote, directed, and executive produced the Netflix series Russian Doll (2019–2022), and starred in the Peacock series Poker Face (2023–present) and the Netflix film His Three Daughters (2024). In 2025, she publicly revealed herself as the co-founder of the artificial intelligence film studio Asteria, founded with her boyfriend Bryn Mooser in 2022 with the intent to create animated feature films with AI tools using responsibly sourced data.

Web Search Results

• Molly's Game - Wikipedia

  Molly moves to New York City to begin a new underground poker game. After reaching out to many wealthy New Yorkers, Molly finds enough players for several weekly games. Despite continuous success, she fears being unable to cover her losses when players cannot pay. Her dealer convinces her to begin taking a percentage "Rake (poker)") of large pots "Pot (poker)"), recouping her potential losses but making her game an illegal gambling operation. [...] Molly's Game is a 2017 American biographical film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin (in his directorial debut), based on the 2014 memoir by Molly Bloom "Molly Bloom (author)"), who makes reference to Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov's association with running an illegal gambling ring and "a sophisticated Russian organized crime money-laundering network that operated out of unit 63A in Trump Tower in New York." It stars Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris [...] Molly, having contacts through years of running the game, creates her own poker games. She rents a hotel penthouse and hires a staff. Additionally, she contacts club and casino employees to spread the word about her games. Player X, along with many others, leaves Dean's games to play at Molly's. Increasingly successful, as Molly gains more money, she is pressured by Player X to raise the stakes. Harlan Eustice, a skilled, conservative and successful player, joins Molly's game.

• Set Decor / Film Decor Features: MOLLY'S GAME

  Chastain] has moved to NYC and stepped up the game... Screen image ©2017 STX Image 24 The Plaza, NY… “Aaron scripted the location of Molly’s NY Game to be The Grande Penthouse Suite at The Plaza, a Saudi Arabian version of a British men’s club...” —SRW Image 25 The Plaza, NY… Molly [Jessica Chastain] signals her dealer... Photo by Michael Gibson ©2017 STX Image 26 The Plaza, NY… “The Plaza’s custom poker table was designed with two maple pedestal bases, brown leather rail with brass studs, a [...] 2007-2010 No fool, _Molly_ moves to Manhattan to avoid stepping on West Coast toes. She attracts a new group of sports and business celebrities, European playboys and Russian mobsters… The money flows, beautiful clothes, penthouse apartments, cocaine…the _Game’s_ not run completely legally any more. Aaron scripted the location of _Molly’s NY Game_ to be the _Grande Penthouse Suite_ at _The Plaza_, a Saudi Arabian version of a British men’s club, reflecting the tastes of its present owners and [...] She was made famous by tabloid headlines and morning TV talk shows proclaiming her “The Princess of Poker” for having run very high-stakes poker games on both the East and West coasts. Molly’s story is also about a driven over-achiever who at 16 was third in US Women’s Moguls and later entered into the Olympic Trials for the XIX Olympic Winter Games, which were to be held in Salt Lake City in 2002. She was an elite athlete on her way to Harvard Law school when injuries forced her to make other

• Review and Summary: Molly's Game (2017) - Ashley Hajimirsadeghi

  She confronts him, and he decides to leave the games. The others join him and Molly decides to move her games to New York City with a fresh pool of players. There, she enlists some of the wealthiest New Yorkers to play her games, as well as Russian mafia members, but then she, along with her dealer, decide to cut down on the losses by taking a percentage of the big pots. [...] Molly decides to move to LA after that for some soul searching instead of going to law school. She gets a job as a waitress at a club in order to survive, but when she befriends real estate developer Dean, she becomes his manager and runs his underground poker games. [...] A lot of big, influential figures attend these games, and Molly realizes that she’s making a ton of money in tips because these people are loaded. Despite originally not knowing how to play poker, she learns to play the table to maximize her own profit, and then she befriends a man named Player X, who is a film star.

• Molly's Game (2017) - User reviews - IMDb

  where to show up in the process. She also has a game set up in NYC and runs them both at the same time. [...] Nothing comes close to the rush of winning, at least according to those who have succeeded where others have failed. Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain) managed to become a millionaire with a dose of luck, will and endless street smarts. The former professional skier ran high stakes poker-games in Los Angeles and New York and found herself in the middle of a federal investigation, where she was accused of colluding with organized crime. [...] And the poker scenes are very good. Fast paced, boisterous, and featuring Molly's constant observations, they hold your attention and flesh out the minor characters without stealing the focus from the larger narrative. Watching this movie makes you feel like you almost know something about poker. A complete novice will learn just enough to keep track of the game while still being duly impressed with its speed and complexity.

• Molly's Game Film Locations - [www.onthesetofnewyork.com]

  | The true story of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), a beautiful, young, Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally, unbeknown to her, the Russian mob. Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba), who learned there was much more to Molly than the