New Documentary “Bet Raise Fold” Re-tells Black Friday Story
“Bet Raise Fold,” a new online poker documentary, examines the lives of characters such as “dmoongirl” and “Bond 18” with a major focus on how they coped after the devastating events of Black Friday, when the US federal government pulled down the shutters of major US friendly online poker rooms.
The leading characters of “Bet Raise Fold” are a Minnesota Mom, a pickup artist in his twenties, and a chess enthusiast. All three make a living playing online poker. Danielle Moon-Anderson plays under the moniker “dmoongirl,” Tony Dunst plays as “Bond18,” and Martin Bradstreet plays under the user name “AlexieMartov.” The documentary “Bet Raise Fold,” which is feature length and produced independently, deals with the stories of their lives and how they earn money playing poker online.
The documentary shows that these three online poker players share in common powerful decision-making abilities. Jay Rosenkrantz, the producer of this documentary, said: “Poker teaches you to really evaluate on the fly and to really have faith in your decision and take all the info you have in this moment and make the best decision possible and move on.” Rosenkrantz got a film and TV degree from the University of Boston, after which he migrated to New York and won $1 million in high-stakes poker games before he became 24 years of age.
Pointing out that all three poker players are young, he said: “Young people have less responsibility, so they have less fear of ‘what happens if I go broke.’”
Making a living playing online poker worked well for many US poker players, including the lead characters of “Bet Raise Fold,” till the US federal government cracked down on PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, and Absolute Poker on April 15, 2011. The online poker gaming community in the US refers to this day as Black Friday, the day on which the feds seized the domain names of major US friendly online poker rooms.
On Black Friday, the feds not only ruined the lives of professional poker players, but also seized assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars, most of which was money players had won. Many professional poker players are still waiting for a refund.
“Bet Raise Fold” deals with the drama and conflict of Black Friday. Rosenkrantz said: “We were the ones with the cameras rolling when Black Friday happened. We were able to capture that drama from a personal perspective to make the movie that more powerful, more compelling story.”
Most media reports of Black Friday focused on how the online poker rooms in question had violated US online gambling laws, especially the Unlawful Internet Gambling Act of 2006. None of them spoke of the difficulties faced by players who made a living playing poker online.
Rosenkrantz said, “We felt this intense personal responsibility to getting this right, to giving poker players a voice. I came of age myself in this world so I felt this responsibility to really tell the story right because we felt no one else could do it or have chance to do it.”
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