I am in a wonderful movie called The Grand. We filmed in Vegas, had a blast, but my thoughts are concerned with poker and not cinema. Television has ruined the home game. Where once we played Omaha high-low, various games of stud, also split pots, and a variety of fun games with NO wild cards, the home game is limited to Texas hold-'em, high only, with an enormous increase in stakes. Everybody's dick is getting bigger, and the bloodlust to take someone down includes the hope of greatly increasing your fortune.
Now, poker was always a great way for guys (alright, and girls) to have a good time together. The goal was to make some money, but good times were key. Hold-'em makes one want to win, win, win in ways that the former games never made you feel. Conversation is not as free or friendly as it was and the stakes can make you more nervous because the consequences have multiplied. Once you've increased the stakes, that toothpaste cannot be put back into the tube. Hold-'em should only be played at clubs, anonymous, where you can be serious and serious about winning. I like to play quantity of hands not quality of hands at my home game. Someone help me get the Crest back in.
Gambling on the other hand has become too easy and convenient. Vegas was a destination point. Now gambling is on the ship on the way home, it is on the outskirts of town, right smack in the middle of your own back-yard compared to Vegas. Let people work hard to get to a place to lose their money. But poker halls should be more plentiful, because that recreation is a game of great skill and luck, versus just luck. And casinos, which are ways of making a quick buck the easy way, should not be the norm. Like I said, you should have to work very hard to find a place to lose your money. Well I have preached enough. For a liberal, I sound very conservative. I'll bet anyone------ Gore in 2008.
The Grand also stars Cheryl Hines, Ray Romano and Woody Harrelson. It will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 27, 2007.
