Dan Bilzerian’s The Setup Book Filled w/ Sex, Drugs, and Plenty of Poker

December 21, 2021
Chad Holloway

There ’ s no denying Dan Bilzerian has been a polarize figure, both in poker and in the real number world .
Regarding the latter, the “ King of Instagram ” has made enough of headlines, right or wrong, for blowing damn up, his countless of dalliances with women, and even tossing a pornstar off a roof .
In poker, the GGPoker Ambassador has reportedly won tens of millions, caused a controversy when he called a well-known female player a “ hoe, ” and has been known to rub elbows with some of the biggest names in the game.

For me, Bilzerian has been a interracial bag. I ’ d be lying if I said I, like millions of early men, wasn ’ metric ton fascinated by his life style and adventures, but I ’ m besides not a winnow of some of the things he does ( i.e. the aforesaid “ hoe ” incident ). chiefly, my biggest reservation with Bilzerian was his claims of poker success without much to back it up .
Granted, high-stakes poker games, specially cash games, tend to be shrouded in mystery, but for person to claim they ’ ve won vitamin a much as Bilzerian did, well, how can one verify that ? Did he truly win that a lot or was it just false bravado, another poker player embellishing their results ?
I ’ ve been around the poker worldly concern for more than a decade and feel pretty well-connected, so if I was unaware of even the vestigial details, how true could it be ? That has been my think for a while – I was disbelieving of Bilzerian as a poker player because there were so many unanswered questions .
I was hoping some of those questions might be answered in his newfangled self-published autobiography The Setup, and a lot to my surprise, they were. I obtained a copy of his book, which I assumed would be ghostwritten but was actually penned by the man himself, during the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP), and it made a helluva impression on many levels .

What is The Setup?

The Setup by Dan Bilzerian
The Setup is an inner attend at all things Dan Bilzerian. From his life as a kid to his unprecedented ascend to fame on social media. It ’ s a natural, no-holds-barred look at a man many consider an riddle .
More succinctly, The Setup is Bilzerian ’ second philosophy towards life sentence and women. Love him or hate him, has there ever been person who epitomizes the Austin Powers mantra “ Women want him, men want to be him ” than Bilzerian, at least in this day and senesce of social media ?
Bilzerian guides the reviewer through his life by breaking his book into five parts :

• Childhood
• Military
• Gambling
• Fame
• Finding the Limits of Excess

passim, there are color photos, screengrabs of social media posts, and testimonials from celebrated friends including Steve Aoki, BJ Baldwin, rapper Meek Mill, and state music ace Jake Owen, adenine well as poker players like Dan Fleyshman, Jennifer Tilly, Antonio Esfandiari, Bobby Baldwin, and Mike “The Mouth” Matusow .
The ledger itself is NSFW with both denotative content and images. Don ’ t be shocked when you read about Bilzerian ’ sulfur detailed intimate exploits, varied drug use, and brushes with danger and flush death .

Thoughts on the Book

Dan Bilzerian
Look, I read The Setup looking to validate my agnosticism, specially in regards to his self-proclaimed poker art, but that ’ s not what happened. rather, I ’ ve got to admit I enjoyed the hell out of The Setup. It was common and graphic, yet raw and entertaining.

One might expect Bilzerian to write a book that ’ s basically an ode to his ego, but that ’ s not the impression with which I was left. Bilzerian writes about both the good and bad. certain, he shines a positive lighter on himself often, but he besides puts in tons of stuff that does the face-to-face. I was actually shocked at some of the thrust he shared – shoving drugs up his ass, getting caught masturbate, and losing his virginity to a prostitute are a few that come to mind – but I found his willingness to just put it all out there add authenticity to The Setup .
alternatively of coming off as a self-serving megalomaniac playboy many might expect ( myself included going in ), Bilzerian leads with a common sense of vulnerable genuineness, one demonstrative of a layered person. If what ’ second understand is to be believed, there ’ second more to Bilzerian than what might meet the eyes of his closely 33.3 million followers on Instagram .

“ If what ’ sulfur learn is to be believed, there ’ mho more to Bilzerian than what might meet the eyes of his closely 33.3 million followers on Instagram. ”

Bilzerian loves potent guns and fast cars, but he ’ mho besides got an introvert eccentric side arrant with some of the insecurities you and I might have ourselves. many of his fans see Bilzerian as a god, but he takes it upon himself to show readers that he ’ s equitable a man. By sharing details regarding his childhood struggles, deoxyadenosine monophosphate well as the trials and tribulations he faced in his quest to become a Navy seal, it ’ s hard not to empathize with Bilzerian, at least from the begin .
For me, my favorite separate of the script was when he detailed his gambling adventures. Bilzerian talks about how he discovered the game and his emanation through the ranks. much to my gratification, he talked specifics when it came to his bad wins, tied showing a visualize of a wire transfer confirmation for $ 10.8 million and outing Alec Gores as the ample businessman he ’ south relieved of tens of millions .
speak of which, I ’ ve been tell Gores was upset to discover he was named in the book, which was the catalyst for him challenging Bilzerian to a $ 100,000,000 heads-up match, which PokerNews previously wrote about here. Whether or not that match actually happens remains to be seen, but the history between the two men is clearly highlighted in the book .
I was thoroughly impressed by The Setup. Bilzerian has writing talent and did an excellent job in constructing and organizing the record, which was highly entertain and alleviated any agnosticism I had regarding his history in poker. He laid it all out there for anyone to verify, and that ’ s something I respect .
Dan Bilzerian may not be person you want to get to know better. possibly you are plenty capacity hating him as is or living vicariously through him via Instagram. He ’ vitamin d tell you that ’ s fine if he actually cared. But if you ’ ra concerned in knowing whether or not there ’ south more to him than meets the eye, you might want to give The Setup a judge .
You can get a transcript of The Setup in both balmy cover and hardbacked, arsenic well as an eBook version, at dbthesetup.co .

Neither PokerNews nor the author received any consideration for this review.

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• Check out PokerNews ‘ review of Dan Bilzerian ‘s new book The Setup .