Jay Rosenkrantz, who plays online by the name of “Pr1nnyraid” (among others) and is also a well respected poker writer, wrote on his blog that he and another player will be collaborating on a documentary that will focus on online poker. Rosenkrantz will be joined by CardRunners instructor Taylor Caby in the endeavor which, according to Rosenkrantz, is tentatively set to be called “BOOM: The Incredible True Story of Online Poker.” Along with Ryan Firpo, who has already contributed “From Busto to Robusto” to the poker documentary world, the trio will delve deep into the history of online poker.
According to Rosenkrantz’s blog, “(Our goal is) to use key events to chronicle the evolution of online poker and examine its impact on the lives of a handful of online poker players from around the world.” Describing the online poker scene as a “subculture,” the team will examine the wealth of poker-related sites, such as Two Plus Two and poker training sites, to help tell the online poker story. Rosenkrantz also wants to delve into a little-mentioned area of the online poker world, the “psychological implications of the online poker lifestyle and the themes that have made poker so popular throughout time.”
Rosenkrantz admits that the documentary will be a tremendously ambitious project. “It’s going to be a film about the pursuit of true freedom through the highs and lows of professional gambling, and the rare opportunity awarded to a generation of poker players: the opportunity to actually achieve it.” Rosenkrantz wrote. “We are not simply looking to recount the memes that we all know and love and make photo shops of (those) – we are aiming to really capture the spirit of the past years, the climate of today, and shed some light on where we see things going, what it all means and why it might be relevant to a wide audience of people.”
Poker documentaries have fared much better than their dramatic cinematic counterparts. The documentary produced by Red Line Films, “One Of A Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stu Ungar,” was shown on ESPN back in 2008. The well received production, focusing on the life of three-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Event winner Stu Ungar, featured commentary from many in the poker community, including World Poker Tour (WPT) announcer Mike Sexton and Steve Zolotow.
Going back to the mid 2000s, two other documentaries brought the live poker world to the masses. In 2006, “No Limit: A Search For The American Dream On The Poker Tournament Trail” focused on a couple’s pursuit of poker fame and riches over a year’s span and featured the WSOP as the backdrop. Back in 2005, the documentary “Poker Bustouts” featured the stories of players who continued to pursue their careers in the Las Vegas poker community, battling through depleted bankrolls and personal issues.
“BOOM” is the first documentary that will examine the history of the online game and its effects on poker’s history overall. The effort is being financed by several high-stakes online poker players, although Rosenkrantz didn’t mention his backers by name. Rosenkrantz indicated in his blog that the project will be entering pre-production soon and, if the online community feels they have a story worthy of inclusion, to contact him through a variety of methods.
