» Your Whole Life Can Become A Fucking Grind
I haven’t really watched Rounders in years. Not since I got good at poker and not since I took a screenwriting class. Most poker movies really suck, but I just gotta say: Rounders is fantastic, and Matt Damon knows his craft.
The opening sequence, where he describes the game while playing with KGB, is exceptionally well-done — the look on Damon’s face when he gets felted is just perfect. He conveys the gut-wrenching shock exactly, like a case of the dry heaves combined with the worst kind of public humiliation. If good fiction is a mirror this is one I’ve looked into before.
Just realized that I’ve read all those books and seen all those tapes at the start. The “one big bet per hour” rule for pros is spot-on too (online pokergod is two, really fucking stellar is four, and world-class is eight).
The power of filmic illusions is that they trick you into thinking they contain life lessons — all good stories do. A semi-pro player I greatly respect once told me that I should stop fucking around at low limits, take some shit job and do it poorly, and then take a shot at playing for some real cash. Two local pros have independently told me I’m good enough to do the same. With one or two small differences that’s essentially what Damon does in the movie. This shit resonates deep.
One thing some guys do is head up to Whitehorse or Ft. Mac and play on payday — anywhere blue collar and high-paying is apparently a pretty good living. Toronto, Richmond, and Niagara, are the other big Canadian poker towns. Waterloo for online — are there cardrooms there? I played with Greg “FBT” Mueller (the hockey guy turned pro card player) at the Rock. On some podcast he mentioned that $10/$20 at the Rock, when they have it, plays like $100/$200 in Vegas. USD200 per hour for playing cards is a decent living.
Canadians have something of a reputation, like the Scandinavians, for being terrifying opponents. Must be the socialized medicine.
Niagara.
It occurred to me that maybe you were being clever and spelling it as it’s pronounced. But then you would have written Toronto as something like Tronno.
Waterloo? I was surprised to see that on the list. According to The Globe and Mail, I should not have been. Waterloo a hotbed for poker prodigies.
Don
15 Aug 09 at 6:58 am
Corrected, thanks. I missed the little red line the first time around
I might come out East and take a shot there. The West Coast doesn’t have big legal stakes often enough. I’d have to grind, say, $2/$5 at the Rock with $500 buy-ins for years to roll up enough to hit Vegas. But who knows. The poker community has always been about illegal cardrooms, and online is always there.
I hear $10/$20 online is one of the most exceptionally well-played games in existence, but it depends on who you ask. Durrrr says it plays the same as $1/$2, but he’s fast on his way to becoming the best in the world.
Jack
15 Aug 09 at 9:57 am
In that story I highly doubt Timex’s little sister’s bite at the end. She’s probably just remembering the crazy fucking hands that hit their miracle card to stack him, and how they teased him afterward.
“Ohhhh, Aces no good! I hit my inside straight, Mr. Big Poker Man!”
She’s probably suffering under a common form of psychosis: Poker isn’t about collecting chips, it’s about collecting EV.
Good poker players need two things: A feel for statistics and a feel for people. The latter seems to come from emotionally abusive situations during your formative years. “I have to guess what this person is thinking or they are going to fuck me up.” The little sister razzing him in a national newspaper seems to indicate a propensity for that in the Timex household.
No “I’m glad to have a millionaire older brother to help with the mortgage”, no “he’s a decent sort”, no “I’m proud but I just want him to be happy”, just “back at home he’s still a loser.”
Whoa there, buddy. Nobody ever said families would be emotionally supportive. Expecting that is clearly causing you distress. You should stop.
Jack
15 Aug 09 at 10:17 am