Alligator Blood: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of the High-rolling Whiz-kid who Controlled Online Poker's Billions

by James Leighton

Daniel Tzvetkoff, a 26-year-old Australian, set up an online service to disguise gambling revenues as legal payments. His website made him one of the richest people in Australia almost overnight, but his playboy lifestyle was not to last. Faced with lawsuits from all sides, as well as criminal investigations, he struck up a deal with the FBI in order to save his skin, one which would shake the online poker industry to its core.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 29, 2013

About the author

James Leighton is a British author from Cardiff. Having grown up on a healthy diet of football, Quentin Tarantino, Oasis, and The Beatles, James decided to pursue a career as a writer following qualifying as a lawyer in 2009. Since then James has had four books published, including Amazon bestseller 'Duncan Edwards - The Greatest'. At this moment in time James is focusing on writing non-fiction thrillers for Simon and Schuster, with his next book, 'Alligator Blood', telling the incredible true story of the rise and fall of Daniel Tzvetkoff, a millionaire tech whiz kid who was blamed for the complete collapse of online poker in the USA.

Reviews

[Andrew Tollemache · Rating 4 out of 5]

I first became aware of this book while listening to the Kevin Pollak Chat Show podcast and while it took me a few failed starts to get going on this book, I really liked it. Leighton lays out the behind the scenes tale of how a bunch of the online poker sites got shutdown by the Feds about 3 years ago. If you were like me you heard about how a bunch of big name poker players made off with 10s of millions of dollars while their player/customers got left holding the bag.
Leighton dug deep to expose how it was the payment processing plumbing, whose burgeoning complexity was driven by the US online poker ban. A bunch of Aussies and shady US business types built the infrastructure to make this type of gambling possible. However a toxic mix of poor accounting controls, delusions of grandeur and old school American huxterism led it all to implode.
I have read enough of all these "made it all, lost it all" tales to wonder why no one goes all Walter White and just buries $5-15 million in the desert in case the inevitable happens.
More interesting to me, but sparsely covered is how a slew of other industries like pharmaceuticals used these high risk processors to move hundreds of millions of dollars. Also of interest is how much various shadow banker types were involved with it all

[Al Lock · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book covers payment processing, online poker and payday loans, all in one go. The subject of the book, Daniel Tzvetkoff, created a company that processed online payments with a much higher probability of being paid. Starting out, the primary clients were porn sites, but they eventually added online poker sites, and then, as the demand increased, partnered with payday loan companies in order to try to keep up with the volume. It is no real surprise that some of the people he got involved with turned out to be shysters, and eventually, the entire enterprise fell apart - partly though the unscrupulous behavior of some of those they had partnered with and partly through the interest of the US Department of Justice - resulted in Black Friday, the shutting down of online poker in the USA and the loss of millions of dollars owed players. Well written and interesting.

[Emilio Dalmonte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, well-researched story. Some chapters are thinly related to the main character, but an enjoyable book altogether

[Ellis Shuman · Rating 5 out of 5]

When they make the film version of "Alligator Blood" by James Leighton (Simon & Schuster UK, 2013), it is without a doubt that Leonardo DiCaprio will be cast in the role of Daniel Tzvetkoff, the whiz kid who built a fortune in online payment processing only to subsequently have his empire collapse and his reputation shatter.

"Take a look people," one of Tzvetkoff's business partners declares in the book. "This is what you get when you deliver… Deliver for me and I’ll make you all fucking millionaires!"

That line could have been belted out by DiCaprio's character in the 2013 film "The Wolf of Wall Street". In Leighton's tale of Tzvetkoff's rise and fall, the online processing genius is said to have read and been enthralled by Jordan Belfort's memoir, which led to the hit movie of the same name. "The parallels were obvious," Leighton writes.

Full review here: http://www.titanpoker.com/book-review...

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating story, well told, but obviously uses the ancient literary device of relating conversations that the author thinks would have happened. As such, you can never be sure if the events taking place are true or not. Having said that, it's a real page-turner that I read in one sitting, and very useful background on what happens when activist US Attorneys decide something is illegal when it's not clear it is - many thousands of poker players were hurt badly by the events of Black Friday, some people were forced to desperate measures, and more people were hurt as a result. Oh, and Bill Frist deserves a lot of blame for this too.

[Eddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fast-paced read. Having just finished the book I can't but help think that so much was left out of the book that would have made it a 5 star read instead of a 4. But I guess that's the difference between a biography and an autobiography, for me at least.

I would have liked to know more about the relationship between Daniel and his father and how that panned out. Even more about his relationship with the rest of his family would have been nice, and maybe some more facts about where he is today, type of area he lives in, car he drives, what he does with his time, etc. etc.

But enjoyable read and very informative. Poker of the new age is very much an underlying theme of this book.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

James Leighton is obviously a skill fictional writer, who used his in-action style to whip up the drama in this basically true book surrounding the machinations of Daniel Tzeckoff and the online poker grab-for-cash frenzy. There was a fair bit of background interviews and info on the poker industry and world series title winners. The only criticism is the author is a little biased towards poker, and barely mentioned problem gambling, when frankly (I feel) the world could live without the draws of internet poker. A worthy read whatever side you sit on.

[James Kassel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alligator Blood is a fascinating look into the rise and fall of online poker, told from the peripheral perspective of the technology pioneers in the financial aspect of processing players payments and winnings. The author, James Leighton does an incredible job of telling a true story in a fast paced and exciting way, with combination of humor, energy and superb research. I found the book to be a fun read and Leighton's style engaging.

[Mi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book from the author for free through Firstreads Goodreads and I am very grateful I got a chance to read it.

When I started this book I was genuinely curious, as this is not my usual genre to read. But I have to say I really enjoyed it! It was interesting and had me hooked all the way almost till the end. I can just praise the author and thank him for the opportunity that I could read his excellent work!

I absolutely loved it.

[Anwen Garston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this entertaining. It's an interesting story, but it does read a lot like a cheesy film would play out. Some might like that, but I wasn't impressed with the writing and struggled to stick with it at the start. There are lot of conversations which I don't think anyone could be certain took place especially given the ending - so I'm not sure what the basis for including them are. Still, worth reading especially if you're interested in poker, or want an easy entertaining read.

[Kostas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book from a goodreads giveaway.

I thought it was really entertaining. The world of online poker, the past stories all of it was interesting. It made my adrenaline rise at times, and that is rare for a book. I like it very much.

There was a thing that bummed me a bit. The conversations that I wasn't sure actually happened. Maybe something to look into for the next book.

Definitely recommend this for everyone.

[Charmaine Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Racy, pacy and somewhat over my head. Unfortunately though mans backstabbing ways come to the fore no matter how plentiful and excessive the spoils. Daniel seems like a nice enough talented guy. Quite like the idea that he may have secured his future whilst the predators were determined to destroy him

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book throught a GoodReads giveaway. I didn't know a thing about online poker companies when I started to read this book, but the story of Daniel Tzvetkoff caught my interest right away. The book is very well written. An excellent non-fiction!

[Claude · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do wonder where some of the information in this book came from. How does the author know exactly what the main characters were thinking and doing at certain points?

[Wilde Sky · Rating 2 out of 5]

A man makes a fortune through payment processing but runs into trouble.

This book didn’t grab me.