Casino Royale

‘s big poker game between James Bond and Le Chiffre gets a lot wrong, an expert reveals. Released in 2006 and directed by Martin Campbell, the film marks Daniel Craig’s debut movie as 007. Casino Royale follows the iconic British spy as he heads to Montenegro to play Mads Mikkelsen’s private banker in a high-stakes game of poker to prevent the funding of terrorism, with Eva Green, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright, and Giancarlo Giannini also starring.

In a recent video for Insider, four-time World Poker Tour Champion Darren Elias analyzes Bond and Le Chiffre’s high-stakes poker game in Casino Royale, pointing out that the scene gets a lot wrong about the game and the way it is played. In addition to pointing out exaggerations with the hands that both Bond and Le Chiffre play, Elias takes issue with the $115 million amount that is at stake for one hand, which he says pushes the movie into “fantasyland“. Check out his full analysis and lackluster score for the scene out of 10 below:

“Very obvious tell. If a guy is this good at poker that he’s playing for millions of dollars, typically, he wouldn’t have a tell so obvious that a spectator sitting at the bar could see it. The staring element in poker can definitely seem uncomfortable to a civilian or regular person, but it is a part of the game. Some players more than others, especially professionals, will really stare intently at their opponents. And we’re really just trying to gain any information.

“And other players do do it for intimidation factor, maybe to make their their opponents feel uncomfortable. Other players won’t look at you at all. So it really depends on who you’re playing against.

“So a lot to unpack here. Bond has a full house here. Kings full of aces, incredibly strong hand where he would probably put the money in no matter what, regardless of the tell. Whether he knew Le Chiffre was bluffing here or not doesn’t really matter. In poker parlance, we would call this a cooler, where two players have very strong hands, and all of the money is going to go in no matter what, regardless of the skill level of the player. That part makes sense.

“And then also worth noting the Bond villain here when he tables his cards only shows one jack and then spreads the other jack. That that would be a slow roll in poker, which is very bad etiquette, where he’s kind of saying, ‘Oh, I just had a jack here. Oh wait, I actually have four jacks. I had you beat.’ So that’s frowned upon. Very bad etiquette. But from a Bond villain, I guess the shoe fits.

“A lot of plaques going in the middle. The plaques being those plastic markers there. Those are usually used in casinos, and they’re the higher denomination. Usually it goes all the way up to chips to a certain amount. And then if you’re playing super-high stakes, we’ll get a plaque that I think in this game they’re worth $500,000 or $1 million, something like that.

“$115 million for one hand of poker is nuts, by the way. I would say that’s probably an order of magnitude bigger than anything ever played. I would say there’s been a lot of seven-figure cash-game pots in poker, in the history of poker. Maybe a couple eight-figure pots. Over $100 million, this is fantasyland in my eyes, where there’s no nine-figure pots going down in poker today.

“The way the dealer’s manipulating the cards there and putting them into the board, not realistic. A dealer would would never do that. I think it’s more for the movie. They wanted to show how the hands would look.

“Bond comes over the top. So Bond’s hand here, the straight flush, five-seven of spades, something around 3,500-to-one to make. So that is a rarity. And in movies, you’re always going to see these huge hands, these statistical improbabilities.

“And really the unrealistic part comes when everybody has these hands at the same time. Where I can certainly believe someone having a straight flush and someone having a full house. But when you start to add in multiple players, having all of these good hands, it’s like winning the lottery while getting struck by lightning.

“Tipping is very common in poker. It’s a big part of the culture in cash games. I think Bond tipping half a million dollars here after this hand is nuts. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tip like that. I would say if you win a big tournament where you’re winning millions of dollars, there could be a big tip in a scenario like that, because players might tip 1% or 2%, 1.5% percent of the winnings. I think the most I’ve ever tipped is probably $10,000 on a poker tournament.

“OK, I think I’d give Casino Royale three out of 10 on this scene. I do like the setting with the players are dressed, and the whole vibe in there, but the actual poker play itself a bit unrealistic.”

What This Poor Poker Scene Score Means For Casino Royale

How It Fits Into The James Bond Movie’s Legacy

Pierce Brosnan’s run as Bond ended on a bit of a sour note, with Die Another Day (2002) proving successful at the box office but far more divisive critically. One major point of criticism was that the film – and the franchise as a whole – had just become too outlandish. Casino Royale changed this, with Campbell introducing a darker and more gritty tone, which was complemented by Craig’s Bond being rougher, more ruthless, and more intensely physical compared to past incarnations.

The shift for the franchise worked. Casino Royale reviews were glowing from critics, leading to a 94% score on Rotten Tomatoes. The film was a hit with audiences too, with the Popcornmeter score coming in at 90%. This positive reception was reflected in the movie’s box office performance, as Casino Royale grossed an impressive $606 million on a $150 million budget. Inaccuracies in the poker playing, then, didn’t hurt Craig’s debut outing as Bond, as it’s likely that only poker players would have recognized these mistakes anyway.

Our Take On Casino Royale’s Unrealistic Poker

Why It Doesn’t Matter

A movie doesn’t have to be realistic for audiences to buy into it, it just has to feel realistic by the standards of its own story logic. This verisimilitude allows audiences to suspend disbelief, becoming wrapped up in the characters and the story without being taken out of the experience. From the reception to Casino Royale, it’s clear that the movie achieved this, offering up action and thrills while feeling relatively grounded compared to past installments.

Ultimately, many of the inaccuracies in Casino Royale‘s poker scenes are to increase drama and stakes, or to make the game accessible to audience members who aren’t familiar with how it’s played. While the film earning a poor accuracy score doesn’t hurt its reputation as a standout James Bond movie, it remains an interesting exercise to hear from experts about instances where reality is fudged in film for the sake of entertainment.

Source: Insider