Exclusive review of the new Bet Raise Fold movie
Barry Carter shares his thoughts on Bet Raise Fold, the new documentary about the story of online poker, which is released today.
There have been three major poker documentaries since Black Friday. I enjoyed both All In: The Poker Movie and Drawing Dead very much, in part because I had low expectations and was surprised they were so good.
The same low expectations were not had for Bet Raise Fold - this is a poker movie I think everyone in the poker community is looking forward to and expects to be good, and in that respect it has a hell of a lot of pressure on it.
The real story of online poker
Unlike any documentary before it, this movie focused almost exclusively on the story of online poker. Previous documentaries tended to cover the whole story of poker and in many cases neglected the pivotal online elements of the modern history of the game.
This does not happen in Bet Raise Fold, which is told exclusively from the perspective of online players after the Moneymaker boom.
Thankfully this is done in a very respectful and intelligent way. It could easily have gone too far in the direction of the 'balla' image of online players, but instead highlights just how intelligent and talented the online generation are. It follows three very likeable and intelligent heroes, as well as interviewing some of the finest minds in the game.
The deepest nuances of the online game
In fact the best thing by far about this movie was how well it showcases just how complex and deep online poker is, and that it is by no means an easy button clicking game. It pulls no punches showing the nuances of the game, epitomised in a brilliant scene where we see many of the best young minds in the game discussing hands they played.
Lots of documentaries try to show a balanced view of the game - for example they show a big winner and a big loser to highlight the mixed fortunes of poker.
Bet Raise Fold is unashamedly biased in favour of the winning online player, and I have no problem with that because the online generation has always been vastly misrepresented in movies like this previously. It's nice to redress that balance.
The only real criticism I have of this one-sided representation of the online generation is that it is perhaps a little bit too knowing. The non poker playing audience, although I am sure will enjoy this for the most part, will experience some knowledge gaps along the way.
The serious poker players will love it because, for the first time in these movies, nothing gets dumbed down.
Beautiful nostalgia
Those of us that have been around poker for a long time will certainly enjoy this movie from a nostalgic viewpoint. The entire movie is very slickly produced and that is accompanied by some fantastic reminders of what poker was like in the glory days before the UIGEA and Black Friday.
In fact, this side of the movie made me sad (in a good way) because it reminded me how raw the industry once was and how much money there was to be made, both as a player and industry professional, during the 'glory days' of 2003-2006.
Other than the superb representation of the skill of online poker and the trip down memory lane, perhaps the most striking thing about this movie is the story of Danielle Moon-Anderson, an up and coming professional poker player who was supporting her young family.
Poker is usually going to involve young men with no major responsibilities, but Danielle's story is the one most people will emotionally invest in and she certainly is the star of the movie, with perhaps the biggest link to the non-playing audience. I won't spoil it for you, but when I mention that she played predominantly on Full Tilt in the US you can guess the direction her story takes.
Notable omissions
There are some notable omissions from this telling of the story of online poker, though I do understand why they were left out. Bet Raise Fold has a running time of 100 minutes; if everything in online poker was covered the movie would have been at least three hours long.
The growth of online poker outside of the US went largely unmentioned, which I noticed as a European working for a mostly European website.
This is nothing new - pretty much all poker documentaries ignore this significant side of the game and perhaps that just means there is room for a documentary on poker in Europe waiting to be made by someone.
Another potential criticism is that this documentary was too heavily focused on professional online players. We didn't really hear in detail from any recreational online poker players, only the pros. I don't think the serious poker player market will care about that, but the non-poker playing market would have probably enjoyed it.
As I mentioned already, you can't cover everything and I understand completely why these elements did not make it into the final cut. The one omission I do think was a big mistake, however, was the Absolute Poker/UB superuser scandals. I honestly think these stories were the most significant online poker stories of all time after the boom, UIGEA and Black Friday, and was surprised to see them left out.
Don't let my criticisms about what made the cutting room floor sway you from watching this movie. Bet Raise Fold is about as accurate and entertaining a retelling of the story of online poker as you are likely to get in 100 minutes. It is exactly what the poker community were hoping for and they will not be disappointed.
