Dealer’s Choice
Jonathan Raab
In 1995 Patrick Marber’s play Dealer’s Choice opened in London to critical acclaim. Among the cast in the original production was Ross Boatman, a British TV actor who is now a professional poker player and a member of the famous Hendon Mob, who are sponsored by Full Tilt Poker.
Since its mid-nineties debut, the play reached audiences all over the world, but has now returned to the West End in London with Boatman once again a member of the cast.
The play is based on a home game that takes place in the basement of a London restaurant every Sunday night, once the eatery has closed for business.
The regulars in the game are the staff of the restaurant- Mugsy, the happy go lucky head waiter who dreams of opening his own establishment; Sweeney, the divorced father of one who is a big loser in the game; Frankie, who fancies himself as a shark and longs to move to Las Vegas to eke out a living as a professional player; Stephen, the proprietor of the restaurant who is a meticulous record keeper; and his son Carl, a compulsive gambler who has lost everything he has in life several times over. On the night in question, they are a man short, so they are joined at the poker table by Ash, an acquaintance of Carl. But there is more to Ash than meets the eye; he is a professional player in disguise and his presence at this game changes the usual dynamic between the players.
The first half of the play is the build up to the game, dabbling with themes of parenthood, aspiration, and anticipation, and focuseslargely on the tensions between these five colleagues with insights into their own personal circumstances. The second half is the game itself, in which the themes that were introduced earlier are built upon while hopes are dashed and dreams fizzle out.
The poker scenes are lively and recognizable to anyone who has played in a home game. As the game is dealer’s choice, hands of Omaha, hold’em and stud are interspersed with the odd novelty game involving ridiculous wild card rules. The game itself serves to develop the characters further, increases tensions and ultimately strips each character bare, exposing their flaws and weaknesses as individuals. It is often said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, but through this well scripted journey the very essence of each character’s individuality is magnificently exposed to the audience.
Ross Boatman played wannabe card sharp Frankie in the original production but in this version he takes on the role of Sweeney. Ross spends half of his life acting and the other half as a pro poker player, but he has had to give up the competitive side of his life until April in order to play this role. After suffering a horrendous run of luck in this fictional game, his character breaks down, singing a melancholy verse to himself to calm his frustrations by chanting “haven’t seen a card all night” repeatedly.
The play runs until the end of March at Trafalgar Studios, by which time Ross will not have seen a card all night for five months. When he makes his return to the real life poker table in April at the WPT championship at the Bellagio, he will be hoping that Sweeney’s bad run of cards will have deserted him. It’s an excellent production, which is well acted and thought provoking for any poker player. If you’re visiting London over the next three months and can’t find a game to get into, it’s the next best thing.
Filed under: Poker News