Plus Butch Reynolds in new poker movie "DEAL" and... are YOU made of the right stuff to be a winner?
BEWARE BEING OUT-KICKED! Short-handed lower limit games between two or three players are often won or lost on the basis of the kicker card supporting an Ace or a King. It’s an odd fact but given the choice of hole cards Eight-Nine or an Ace- Nine a lot of experienced players would sooner call an early raiser with Eight-Nine. In other words they prefer the outright gamble of possibly drawing to a straight with their Eight-Nine than their chances of dominating play with a weak kicker card supporting their Ace in a contest that’s usually won by a high card with a strong kicker. Ace-King (the “Big Slick”) being the most powerful example. Of course this play of drawing to a straight isn’t carried on beyond the flop if it fails to deliver at least two extra cards to the run. Gambling at a low limit as far as the flop is one thing. Keeping your fingers crossed and hoping for the turn and the river to bring your straight home if you only land one extra card at the flop is not so cool.
AUTHENTIC CASTING Aging Hollywood icon Burt Reynolds sports exactly the gnarled and lived-in features that perfectly suit the poker professional at the centre of the new movie “Deal”. Location work is well underway in what’s left of New Orleans after Mother Nature “dealt” Jazz City a dire hand few surviving inhabitants will ever forget. Interestingly, top real life professionals Phil “The Unabomber” Laak, he of the hideous “hoody”, and Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier, both add considerable authenticity with their appearances. The same real life stardom is imposed on “The Devilfish” himself as Dave Ulliott recently turned up at Cannes to promote the film “Pokerface” in which he appears, naturally, as himself. (“Pokerface” is a serious film and has nothing to do with the recent TV quiz show of the same name presented by the short-stacked Ant and Dec). Both of the new movies look to be on track to successfully tap into the huge upsurge of interest in all things poker.
MADE OF THE RIGHT STUFF Imagine you’re thirty seven years old and you believe in yourself as a poker player but you’re four hundred and fifty dollars short of the one thousand and fifty dollar buy-in for the tournament you’ve set your heart on winning. You don’t go wining cap in hand to a relative for the money because your online tag is FlopSpanker and you’re made of the right stuff. You jump into a game of Omaha and ten hours later you emerge with the extra four hundred and fifty dollars you need to make up your buy-in. Oh, yes, I nearly forgot: If your real name is Richard Redmond you go on to win the $260,000 winner’s prize for the tournament you fought so hard to enter. How did our hero celebrate? He took his dog Dolly out for a walk and a wee in the local park. Poker - Tte new rock n roll.
