Roger Ebert on Poker

[MaxPower]

From Roger Ebert's review of Welcome to Mooseport

I knew a very good poker player who always lost money at bachelor parties. He'd turn a profit in Vegas, but down in the basement with the beer and the cigar smoke he invariably got cleaned out. The reason, he explained, was that the jerks he was playing against didn't know how to play poker. They bet on every hand. They raised when they should have folded. You couldn't tell when they were bluffing because they knew so little they were always bluffing.

Uh, I guess he wasn't that great of poker player. I wonder if he is talking about Gene Siskel. I know Siskel used to play some poker.

[mosch]

Gotta love people who can't adjust their game to changing conditions. or who don't understand that they need to do so.

I'm guessing that the aforementioned poker player would complain that they're constantly getting sucked out at 0.5/1, were they forced to play it.

[StevieG]

I enjoy Ebert's reviews. He comes across as a sincere guy who walks into every movie wanting to enjoy it, as opposed to some snob who wants to show off what he learned from film school and score points off pop culture.

But I do not always agree with him, and he does not seem to get poker. Take Ebert's review of Rounders (http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/ebert_reviews/1998/09/091102.html), for example, where he sees all the players as degenerate losers.

[andyfox]

All the character were degenerate losers, weren't they?

[Phat Mack]

Nah. Who was the girlfiend in the little black dress? I thought she emoted a certain spiritual beauty when she was sitting on the arm of Damon's sofa.