Poker News

It only shows how well marketing works. Burt has the draw still, but a movie needs massive marketing to make 'big' dollars.

I think that both of these movies will do better on DVD than at the theaters. How many players actually saw Rounders at the theater? We're too busy playing to go see a show.

Deal is almost unwatchable from a players point of view. There's a scene where Reynolds is flexing his poker knowledge by allowing the kid to pick out any player in a poker room so Burt can predict what cards the player's holding based on observed tells. Miraculously, the players turn over their cards within seconds of hearing Burt's predictions.

I haven't seen either but I'll probably fork out the $4 to rent the DVD.

One poker-themed movie did sell: the remake of James Bond 007 Casino Royale.

Poker as a TV product is in a "show me" phase as far as the executives at major advertising agencies are concerned, i.e. "show me" that televised poker can recapture the young viewers before the sports-targeted sponsors (beer, soft drinks, mobile phones, fast food and casual dining restaurants, etc.) will come back.

Are they kidding? 1) I never knew this movie existed until it hit the movie sites on the internet, I never saw one commercial for it (I would have went to see it) 2) Whoever wrote the movie knew absolutely nothing about, nor understood the game of poker (it was painfully obvious), And obviously nothing about writing movies (It just sucked) They stated obvious Amature rules of the game and then showed the kid breaking those rules over and over and getting lucky and winning anyway. They showed no examples of GOOD poker play being rewarded and NOTHING in an Advanced Players intrest. Im sorry but even Rounders was way to short, It didnt have the time to show the Patience and Persistence that it takes to be a good poker player. 3) What kind of frickn name is "Deal", its sounds like a bad Drug Dealer movie! A GREAT poker movie is going to be like "The Stand", 6 hours long (atleast, And I would watch it from the edge of my seat). Because the "thing about poker" is that, You could be catching the greatest cards of your life and still get sucked out on over and over until your broke in less than 10 hands, Or the opposite, You could be playing an absolute crappy game and just keep catching the flop Over and Over, to put great players out thinking theyre ......ah whats the use. Until a Barry Greenstein or Phil Gordan write a script, we'll probably never see a realistic poker movie. Its going to take a poker pro that knows how to write to make a good poker movie. Not a writer that goes to a casino for a weekend making crib notes on a subject that would take a scroll from here to the moon the even begin to get a gest of. Sorry everyone, Im disgusted.
Nod-

Speaking as an aspiring script-writer, I would see the problem not being with the setting, ie. poker, but with the script. You can write a decent story about anything and once the script hits, all else will fall into place.

They should just make a sequel or prequel of Rounders. Or a spin-off. Teddy KGB as a young hustler? A better movie about stuey ungars life based on the book One of a Kind woulndt be bad either. I thought that was supposed to come out soon? Or young hotshot online players like the founding memebers of cardrunners!

I'd be more likely to go see a movie about Stu Ungar but I'm just an old fart so maybe that's it.