2013 Thin Line Film Fest - Drawing Dead

Filmmaker Mike Weeks in attendance.

Michael Korpi Jr. had it all. Straight A's, star athlete, talented musician, but his weakness for online poker derailed his life.

Dusty Schmidt was once known as one of the top amateur golfers in southern California before a heart attack at age 23 took him off the golf course, and put him in front of a computer screen. Four million dollars later, he is regarded as one of the world's best online poker players.

Poker was once a blue collar game played in smokey back rooms over beer soaked green felt tables, until a chubby accountant from Tennessee shocked the world by turning a $39 buy in on an online poker site, into a $2.5 million dollar first prize at the 2003 World Series of Poker.

Over the next few years the entire world learned the game of No Limit Texas Hold 'Em.

If you watched the poker boom on TV like the rest of us, it seemed like everyone was getting rich. Some were, but the fundamental rule of any game involving chance: in order for one to win, another must lose. The truth behind the hype is that there is a dark side to this game, one that you won't see on ESPN. Drawing Dead follows the lives of two players, Michael and Dusty, as they deal with the highs and the lows of America's future favorite pastime, online poker.

Film Details

Duration: 77 mins
Director/Producer: Mike Weeks

Information from the festival website