No Limit: A Search for the American Dream on the Poker Tournament Trail (2006)

Is high-stakes poker a metaphor for the American Dream? A bi-coastal couple, Susan and Tim, carry their independent film company and four-year-old son on an eight month ride through the ... See full summary »

Directors:

Brian O'Hare, Timothy Rhys

Writer:

Timothy Rhys

Stars:

Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth Jr., Daniel Negreanu

Cast

Credited cast:
Doyle Brunson	...	Himself
Phil Hellmuth Jr.	...	Himself
Daniel Negreanu	...	Himself
Annie Duke	...	Herself
Phil Gordon	...	Himself
David Sklansky	...	Himself
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Bobby Baldwin	...	Himself
Barny Boatman	...	Himself
Ross Boatman	...	Himself
Vince Burgio	...	Himself
Miami John Cernuto	...	Himself
T.J. Cloutier	...	Himself
Doug Dalton	...	Himself
Bonnie Damiano	...	Himself
Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson	...	Himself

Storyline

Is high-stakes poker a metaphor for the American Dream? A bi-coastal couple, Susan and Tim, carry their independent film company and four-year-old son on an eight month ride through the world of tournament poker. Their plan: Play in six high-stakes poker tournaments. Win some money. Document their journey. Save their company. Business and formerly romantic partners, Susan and Tim often disagree. Susan is a self-directed, high energy gambler who has won poker tournaments before. Tim is her sensible but anxious mate and often her unwanted conscience. No Limit takes us through the highs and lows of their quest. Along the way, we get to meet the peculiar players from around the globe who populate the poker world and hear their thoughts on poker's connection to the American dream. They are, by turns, passionate, overwrought, insightful and absurd. None are boring, and many have become superstars in their sport. Primarily, they speak to the virtues of both risk taking and a psychological ...

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Plot Keywords:

poker | tournament | american dream | poker tournament | limit | 

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 October 2006 (USA)

Box Office

Budget:

$450,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Camden Pictures, Got the Nuts LP, Tiger Holdings LLC

Technical Specs

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Great interviews, annoying everything else.

This film contains many interesting clips of interviews with top pro poker players which were great and very professional. I'd have much preferred the movie if was half an hour of those interviews, but instead the producers decided we'd be interested in their failed marriage, rocky business and their attempt at getting lucky at a handful of tournaments to sort their business out which padded the film out to a full 90 minutes of mainly dross. I wasn't interested in their personal situation - why would I be? They were not particularly interesting people and they had little to do with poker, which is what the movie was meant to be about. Most of the movie comprised of a rather annoying sounding woman complain at her bad luck over and over again like a broken record. It was pathetic and pretty lazy film making. A couple of times she did actually explain how she got unlucky, but if they were going to make a lot of the movie about her success and failures at the table, they should've talked a little bit more about her style of play and a few hands in detail. But like the most boring poker blogs on the net, they didn't. To be honest, she seemed to be a very mediocre player at best. Her complete lack of control over her body and facial expression at the table probably gave off all the tells in the world. I noticed she sat next to Ram Vaswani (one of the best tourney players in the world) but she didn't seem to know who he was, so he wasn't interviewed - shame. Notice at one point she complains at her "bad luck" when she was busted out after holding the nut straight on the turn which she said she checked because of the flush draw possibility! The flush then hit, and she must've then called all her chips off. That's an awful play to check on a turn like that and she didn't realise it - she obviously really overrates herself. Still, even with the annoying woman who seems to think it unlucky not to make a heap of money playing $500 buy-in tourneys against better players than herself, it is worth watching (but not paying for).