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As with any hobby that captures the imagination of the public, poker has been immortalized on large and small screens of late. A plethora of films, both fictional and non-, are presently in the works. Tilt beat them all to the punch.
An ESPN original, Tilt is the fictional story of three young gun poker players, led by Eddie Towne (Played by Eddie Cibrian), trying to gain revenge on Don “The Matador” Everest (Michael Madsen), the crooked king of the poker mountain. Glossy and obtuse, the show has value as light entertainment, though you won’t learn much in terms of strategy from watching it. It gets points for its duplication of World Series of Poker broadcasts.
With Norman Chad and Lon McEachern doing the commentary, the series climaxes at a fictional 2005 World Series of Poker where, after guest star David Williams gets knocked out in third, the two main characters go heads up. Not too surprisingly, Towne takes the win, seemingly gaining his revenge on the Matador (There’s an aspect of the ending I’m not going to give away here). This is the hand he does it on.
Finding himself sitting on AdKd, the Matador raises $1 million of a presumed $24 million in chips (the first prize awarded is $5M, the same amount Greg Raymer won in 2004). Towne pauses for a moment, and after a little encouragement from Everest, calls with pocket sixes. The beauty of scripting poker fiction is the ability to produce the perfect flop, and Tilt doesn’t disappoint, with A-K-6 giving Towne three of a kind to Everest’s top two pair. Towne checks to trap and Everest quickly does the same.
The turn comes 9d and Towne bets out for $4M, double the pot. It’s an overbet that would often scare potential callers away, but Everest’s hand is too strong and the plot requires he play on. With a smile, Matador announces “It’s not enough, I’m all in”, a strange proclamation considering the size of the bet. Towne considers the possibility Matador slow played his aces, conveniently remembers the man’s book said not to slow play aces.
“Got you sitting on Ace-King” Eddie responds.
“Maybe”
“…which means there’s only four cards in the deck that can help you. I’ll take those odds, I call.”
They turn the cards over, and the 2c on the river confirms it: Eddie Towne is the new champion, a fact made sweeter by Matador’s fall. What comes next is a genuine surprise that makes the ending worth the wait. Tilt set the television standard for poker drama. It has yet to be overcome.
