Bad Poker Faces...

One thing I always take note of are the poker hands. Most movie poker hands are absolutely ludicrous hands that only occur 2 or 3 times in a lifetime of pro-poker. Perhaps once every 250,000 hands!!! Royal Flush over Four of a Kind... etc.

This film had a ton of those. But I marginally forgave the film that cliché because there were a lot of con games being played.

The thing that got me angry was the blatant disregard or ignorance that the filmmakers had for the actual rules of poker. This was most notable when the players were allowed to get more money from off of the table DURING the hand!!! LOL And supposedly the other player had to have the cash immediately or he would be forced to fold his hand.

I won't go into too much detail, but that would be like if a football movie had the "good" team down by 9 with one second to go and the final Hail Mary touchdown counted for 10 points. It is just an insane violation of basic rules. In no-limit poker, a player cannot get more cash during a hand and cannot out-bet his opponents remaining chips. If two players are in a hand and one player has $1,000,000 and the other has $1 only... then the million dollar stack can only bet $1. BASIC RULES!!!

There are also betting violations throughout the movie such as pot splashing and string bets. And there is a slow roll after each big hand. The poker scenes are simply awful and unrealistic.

A real poker player cannot watch this film without laughing at all the unintentional jokes and errors.

One would have to be a complete poker novice to enjoy this film at all. But even then, the hyper-stylized direction and melodramatic acting will let you down.

"Shade" is to real poker as "Rocky" is to real boxing.

The best poker film is still "Rounders".

"Shade" has a lot of big names and a cool premise... but it is absolutely no surprise that the film slipped into obscurity with an unheralded straight to video release.

© Written by TC Candler

How We Rated This Film TC Candler - D Richard Propes - C Jacob Hall -

Richard Propes' Comment

Unlike TC, I am not a pro poker player. Thus, I was probably able to relax and enjoy this film a bit more. However, even my lack of a poker background doesn't hide the truth...this film is woefully inadequate when compared to a film such as "Rounders," and the cast, including Stallone and Melanie Griffith, doesn't help matters much.

Jacob Hall's Comment

n/a