Bet Raise Fold (2013) Online

This is a great movie that shows what it is like to be a poker player in a positive light, following "normal" people who aren't out degening it up, but are quiet, family people who love the game of poker.

It shows the struggles all US poker players have faced these last few years due to the attack on our privileges to play poker by the government.

This isn't a sensationalized made for Hollywood account that picks and chooses some glamorous events or hands, but a view into these players' lives. It is much more like 2 months, 2 million than Rounders or Runner Runner.

You need to watch this if you or someone you love is a poker player, or you are curious as to what a real life grinder's life is like. It is a story told by the players who were immersed in the online poker boom, not an outsider.

Half of this movie is wasted following a couple of wanna-be poker celebrities and their home lives. That would be fine for a different movie, but this was supposed to be about the history of on-line poker.

There are a few tantalizing nuggets - a couple of scenes from the US senate floor, Full Tilt could not be ignored - but the rest is just a muddled collection of interviews, tournament scenes, and very little in the way of actual information.

I would have liked to have seen some hard hitting questions about the software used, the accusations and suspicions of collusion and "juiced" software that creates "action" flops and hand history reports that go beyond statistical anomaly. I would have liked to have heard more in the way of figures - profits for the on-line companies, and profits for the big winners. I would have liked to have heard stories of people who had lost everything. I would have liked to have seen interviews with the big names - Dwan, Ivey, Isildur, Matusow, etc - that win and lose huge dollars online.

Overall not a good documentary, and also not very entertaining.

5/10

This was an interesting subject, but it was made between the Pre Black Friday and Post Black Friday hump. To non poker playing viewers, it was the end of online poker in the United States for a huge percentage of US players (of which much of the online player pool was made up of) This complete devastation of the online world as the movie makers knew it seemed to put them into a tough spot. Formerly they were going to show three versions of online pro's but only one subject was a non US player.

The result is a story that has been told many many times before: Struggling (in life perhaps, not so much at tables) player makes good money from poker that would not be possible otherwise (Ms. Moon). But they show her as seemingly the primary breadwinner of the family that, post Black Friday, flies thousands of miles to continue to make money at poker. (Actually her husband has a full time job, the movie just seems to leave that part out?) The least interesting voice is Martin, a high stakes pro, who seems very successful at poker, but is more interested now in music (according to what I gathered from the documentary) He is interspersed randomly it seems to add some thoughts that in my opinion could have been added by anyone. No real insights from Martin sadly.

The best story line/voice to me was Tony Dunst. A self proclaimed 'climber' who was interested in 'being part of the group' and the cooler the group, the more he would like it. (at least that was how I took his story line) At the end, he is the last one left in a house full of pro poker players post Black Friday, as the online wunderkinds have split for various parts of the world to continue their (poker) lives. Tellingly, for me, he is the lone survivor (living his version of success) of Black Friday.

This movie may be mildly interesting to those who play poker. But to non poker players, there is very little here to add to any other media they have already come across.

The lack of balance of the three viewpoints is jarring to me, I wish they had just picked one of the stories and gone with it. Tony Dunst, having gotten his version of success (he is now a well known media person/pro player) would be who I would have picked out. But some may actually want to see another 'small success with a big heart out of perseverance' story such a Ms. Moon's. Martin's high roller role is explored neither on the tables (mildly interesting) or in lifestyle (vicariously interesting for some, but not me).

It felt like I had seen this documentary before, many times. And sadly, it seemed like it had been done better.