POKER AND BONDAGE! A delightful combination and the producers of Casino Royale certainly put the shackles on their actors to get the high drama poker scene looking authentic in the latest James Bond epic. Apparently the playing of Texas Hold’em swept through the cast and crew of the movie like a virus. Michael Wilson, the movie’s producer, personally trained the film’s villain Le Chiffre (smoothly portrayed by Mads Mikkelsen) to play Hold’em, drawing on years of his personal experience and genuine love of the game. All nine of the opposing actor-players facing Bond across the poker table were individually schooled by legendary card expert Thomas Sanbrook. Carefully he demonstrated everything from betting techniques, knuckle juggling chips, how to examine hole cards without revealing them and developing an individual poker characteristic for each of the actor’s on-screen personalities. Director Martin Campbell, who spent no less than three and a half weeks filming the card game, described it as the toughest scene in the film to capture. If you’ve seen any of the huge budget action sequences you’ll begin to grasp the gravity of that statement. “I needed it to be as compelling as any of the more obvious action takes!” Well, it certainly worked. Martin’s parting word of advice to all poker players is “Never play against actors. After all it’s their job to be able to create a credible poker face. And believe me they can. I lost every game I played against Daniel!” This might explain why actors like Ben Affleck and Leonardo Di Caprio are naturally gifted poker players.
A SPECIAL POKER QUESTION Q: Can you explain what a “straddle raise” is please? I keep hearing it being used and I can’t figure out the context where it applies? A: It’s a difficult one to grasp if you’re new to the game. If a player is “under the gun” (sitting just to left of the big blind, whose job it is to open the first round of betting) and decides to post a doubled-up bet before any cards are dealt that would be described as a straddle raise. Effectively the player concerned is committing himself, and anyone else at the table who wants to gamble with him, to a raised pot before he’s even seen his hole cards. This is would normally be seen as a crazy move as you have lousy position and the odds are against you having a strong hand. However, experienced players will often do it at a new table to create the illusion of a “loose” persona. This draws the fish in for the shark to eat later.
