Drawing Dead: The Highs and Lows of Online Poker (2013)

• 80%
• 2013
• Documentary
• Mike Weeks

Michael Korpi Jr. had it all. Straight A's, star athlete, talented musician, but his weakness for online poker derailed his life. Now he's walking across the country with his two dogs Blackjack and Buddy, in an effort to raise awareness for problem gambling. Dusty Schmidt was once known as one of the top amateur golfers in southern California before a heart attack at age 23 took him off the golf course, and put him in front of a computer screen. Four million dollars later, he is regarded as one of the world's best online poker players. Poker was once a blue collar game played in smoke filled back rooms over green felt tables, until a chubby accountant from Tennessee shocked the world by turning a $39 buy in on an online poker site, into a $2.5 million dollar first prize at the 2003 World Series of Poker. Over the next few years the entire world learned the game of No Limit Texas Hold 'Em. If you watched the poker boom on TV like the rest of us, it seemed like everyone was getting rich. Some were, but the fundamental rule of any game involving chance: in order for one to win, another must lose. The truth behind the hype is that there is a dark side to this game, one that you won't see on ESPN. From the Poker Boom of 2003 to "Black Friday", April 15th 2011, when the US Department of Justice shut down online poker, Drawing Dead follows the lives of two players, Michael and Dusty, as they deal with the highs and the lows of America's future favorite pastime, online poker.