A new gambling series is heading to HBO. It will tell the story of real-life “advantage player” Gina Fiore, who has made a living beating casinos for more than 25 years.
The series is based on Fiore’s upcoming memoir, Advantage Player: A Memoir of Blackjack, Backrooms, and Beginnings. The series begins in October. The book and the series will detail her blackjack card-counting operations around the world.
Fiore also mastered more advanced techniques, such as hole carding and edge sorting, the same technique employed by poker pro Phil Ivery to win millions at the baccarat tables in the UK and Atlantic City.
‘Too Extraordinary To Be True’
The HBO drama will star Riley Keough, who also serves as an executive producer. Will Graham wrote and executive-produced the series. Both previously teamed up on Prime Video’s limited series, “Daisy Jones & the Six.”
Keough offered some insight on Fiore’s book.
“Gina Fiore has lived a life that seems too extraordinary to be true,” she said. “Her journey is as gripping as any screenplay because every impossible twist actually happened. Her story is unforgettable – and “Advantage Player” is one you won’t soon forget.”
Landmark Supreme Court Case
Fiore grew up in a family that was barely able to make ends meet, continuously facing evictions and debt collectors, and moving from motel to motel. After dropping out of college, her mother taught her to deal blackjack, but she became fascinated by some players who seemed to use techniques to get an edge on the house
That led to teaching herself to count cards, Fiore began using her new skills to eventually win millions of dollars. She was also part of a landmark 2014 Supreme Court case regarding civil forfeiture after she had some winnings confiscated in Georgia.
“We were traveling from Las Vegas to Atlantic City to Puerto Rico and back to Las Vegas,” Fiore said in an interview with Blackjack Apprenticeship in 2023. “When we left Puerto Rico, we had $100,00 on us, and TSA saw it while we were leaving and they said you might get stopped when you get to your destination.
“We actually got stopped at our layover in Atlanta by DEA agents. They surrounded us and they took every dollar we had because they said it was drug money and it’s a freeroll for them. It wasn’t drug money.”
Fiore explained the situation and showed officers trip logs of her gambling activity. Despite her attorney sending information to back up her claims, she didn’t immediately get the cash back. Authorities eventually returned her money after months of back-and-forth wrangling. She won the case at the Supreme Court.
Other Gambling Projects In The Works
Beyond her blackjack adventures, Fiore has also played high-stakes poker and was reportedly a high-stakes sports bettor at times. She is also involved with the Abated platform, a technological resource for sports handicappers.
HBO has not announced a specific release date. The series joins other Hollywood projects focusing on casinos and gambling. In May, a new dark comedy film featuring female poker players was announced.
In December, Netflix announced that the creators behind Rounders are teaming up with Martin Scorsese on a new series about the modern world of Las Vegas casinos. Titled “The Roman,” the series will feature Oscar Isaac, who also starred in the poker film The Card Counter in 2021.
In 2019, the producers of the film Crazy Rich Asians said they’d be bringing the story of Ivey’s edge-sorting partner, Cheung Yin “Kelly” Sun, to the big screen.
