Poker’s Advocate
We are in a dark underground room. Only on, green plaid poker table stands solitary under a dramatic spot light, you want to see every breath and every twitch of the players and have no distractions; this is high stakes poker. Around the table sit five people and a dealer. Dave, our main character is the anonymous type – nothing about him tells you anything. He sits, nervously now we are in one of the higher stakes games. He isn’t too sure how got into the game full of pros, but he’s still playing…stupidly. But he was competitive and couldn’t turn down this game. Luke, sitting next to Dave, can be anyone – he folds at the beginning. Holly, left of Luke, is the high priced casual business woman. She plays these gigs for kicks; yes, high stakes is fun to her and her buckets of dosh. Gary is the cocky type. He knows what he’s doing and wears a cowboy hat just to confuse people (he’s very British). He is the main threat in this game; not a likeable game. Leo is quiet, possibly the red herring threat. There is liquor floating around and the pot is huge.
The titles and credits are shown in a quick montage of card tricks, flicks and flips, on top of chip stacks. Maybe ‘Poker’s Advocate’ could be shown written across the table in a birds eye view shot. Narrator flows over the top.
NARRATOR (DAVE)
Flush. Straight. Full House. Pair…
These have been running through my head for the past forty eight hours. I knew the possibility of getting them; 500/1, 250/1, 700/1… For me…
During the time Dave mentions the possibilities, the camera comes to rest behind his shoulder as he lifts his cards to see what he has. Straight after he says ‘for me’, the camera pulls focus to see the cards on the table. There is no match.
…I got nothing.
The whole scene is shot with revealing extreme close ups of eyes, lips etc. Luke smiles slightly to himself trying to put people off. Dave rubs his forehead with shaky hands. His head has been hurting recently. It’s kicked in again as in normally did when he was stressed. Unknown to Dave, he has a nice fat tumour pressing against his frontal lobe, and it throbs.
NARRATOR
Ugh, my head.
The NARRATOR acts as a typical narrator as well as a thought track for Dave.
GARY
Head trouble? … Wanna back out?
Gary is cocky, a real bastard. And Dave is stubborn, like Marty McDown when called a chicken. Dave is being tempted someone he REALLY doesn’t like. Dave looks up at Gary with a stubborn look, smoothing his face.
DAVE
Course not.
Confidently, Dave taps his finger on the table to stay. Luke, Holly and Leo fold in a quick sequence of tight extreme close ups of expressions and cards. There is a birds eye view shot to establish that only DAVE, GARY and DEALER remain. As it comes to DAVE’s turn, the cuts become slower and more drawn out. You can hear his breathing. DAVE’s hand loiters over his remaining chips; the exact amount he would have to put in to see GARY’s cards and end this game.
NARRATOR
What am I doing?
DAVE looks down at his chips, then rubs his head as there is increasing pain. We see it on his face.
DEVIL appears on DAVE’s right side, coming out of the darkness, peering round DAVE’s shoulder. Her movements are reptilian, dressed in red. DEVIL places DAVE’s hand on the chips and makes eye contact with him to explain. DAVE barely moves his head but his eyes follow her to show he sees her. All other players are oblivious to this exchange.
ANGEL, a blonde baby faced opposite of DEVIL appears on DAVE’s left shoulder. Moving more gracefully, she perches on the edge of the table to look down on DAVE with a disapproving, knowing look; ‘don’t do this’.
Cut to midshot of DAVE where both ANGEL and DEVIL are gone. DAVE makes his decision and moves the chips into play. DAVE has to show his cards – no match. GARY smiles and shows his winning hand, then takes the pot. DAVE is devastated and DEVIL is seen laughing evilly and fading into the darkness having known this outcome all along.
TITLES:
A sequence of card tricks with the credits flowing through them ending with a birds eye view of the table with ‘Poker’s Advocate’ written across it.
