Bet Raise Fold - The Story of Online Poker Released
The movie Bet Raise Fold - The Story of Online Poker was released this week, premiering at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas. Some of the big names of the game showed up including online superstar Tom Dwan, as well as the World Series of Poker director Ty Stewart and president of the World Poker Tour Adam Pliska. Of course, it wouldn't have been a premier without the 3 ceators of the movie, Taylor Caby, Ryan Firpo and Jay Rosenkrantz. It's the real story of online poker, it's not a Hollywood version of events, and it's about as good a home run as you're likely to get.
The film itself does paint a very good picture of the story of online poker, the rise of the game, it's massive boost post Chris Moneymaker and how it was affected by the passing of the UIGEA law. Without ruining the film for those yet to see it, it focuses on 3 players, and how their lives changed due to the game, and it really is a film which poker players will enjoy due to the fact that the terminology and the interviews do not in any way dumb things down. Non poker players may find some dialogue hard to follow but not so hard that it will spoil the enjoyment of the film. One thing about the film is that it is very well made and it would have been quite easy to do things, shall we say, on the cheap, but that's not the case with Bet Raise Fold..it is a very professional production.
The 3 main characters are Tony Dunst, Martin Bradstreet and Danielle Anderson, and although all 3 come across so well during the film, it is Anderson that throws out the story that most non poker players will be slightly more interested in. Danielle Anderson is in no way shape or form the typical online poker player, again...not going to ruin the film, but her story and the reasons she played poker were different than to most other players. It's a great film, paints a great picture, and maybe the only omission that should have been included was the whole Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet scandal, which changed the online game forever in many peoples eyes. However, well worth a watch.
