Mike Weeks, an avid poker player in Oregon, had put together the documentary Drawing Dead, which is garnering some national attention, including making its premiere in Denton, Texas, at the Thin Line Documentary Film Festival on Feb. 15.
This film covers a brief history of online poker as well as the stories of two online poker players who had extremely different results. The original motivation for his film was to show a broader picture of the online poker world than he had seen on TV and in other films. To this end, Weeks found two online players from Portland on both ends of the poker spectrum.
First was Michael Korpi Jr., who began a walk across the country after being kicked out of college for using his roommate’s credit card to fund his online poker addiction. Weeks also profiles Dusty Schmidt, an online poker pro and author who has won more than $4 million over the past five years.
Originally, Drawing Dead was a short Weeks made as a class project, which he posted on YouTube and screened at a local theater on April 16, 2011. Being released the day after Black Friday ended up being a fortunate coincidence for the filmmaker. The short on YouTube gained international press for its newsworthiness, which led him to start a Kickstarter campaign to fund the full-length movie.
For more info, follow Weeks on Twitter @DrawingDeadDoc and on facebook.com/drawingdeadpokerd oc.
CHINOOK WINDS: The PacWest Poker Classic has been moved to Feb. 9-18, but will still be held at the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln, Ore. See the ad on Page 61 in our February issue for details.
— Philip Dobrikin is Ante Up’s Pacific Northwest Ambassador. Email him at anteupphil@gmail.com.
