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A little over a month ago, I received a tweet about a new “poker comedy” that was coming out on DVD called “Hitting the Nuts.”

It had won Best Feature Film at the Derby City Film Festival earlier this year and won the Audience Choice Award at the Cincinnati Film Festival last year.

It was $14.98 on the site with a release date of April 15th. I decided to buy the DVD and take a gamble.

The best poker comedy of all-time?

The DVD arrived on April 18th via US Mail, so they already had brownie points for actually delivering on time. This movie is the “true story” of the Scott County Series of Poker, a yearly underground poker tournament held every year in Indiana. It is set up in a “mockumentary” style similar to “The Grand.”

I won’t lie. The first thought when I looked over the case was “this is probably going to be crap.”

The movie was written, directed  and produced by Joe Boyd. He even played one of the characters, Ezekiel Yoder. Had I not seen the previews before this, I might have went into this with a negative view. Fortunately, I had seen the previews, so I was looking forward to checking it out.

Here are your base characters:

Ezekiel Yoder - An Amish farmer that has lost everything once his cows turned homosexual. He found poker when looking for a get-rich-quick book. To say this guy is a newbie to the game is an understatement. He is actually a newbie to life in general.

Carol Marshall - A late-40s-to-early-50s redhead waitress who likes to “flit” around with the guys. An experienced poker player who uses her “womanly assets” to help her with her game.

Dean Livy – The “two-time” champion of the big poker event. Technically this guy lost the last year, but the champ died and he inherited the trophy by default. Mix Phil Hellmuth with that creepy guy that still lives with his mom in the basement with a 40-year-old virgin, and you have this guy.

William Argo and Jill Fields – They run the local funeral home and run the tournament. They are apparently a couple and common-law married. Their relationship is … interesting to say the least.

Josh and Dirty Rivers – Josh is under-aged, but his dad wants him to be a poker champion. Dirty is almost your stereotypical good ol’ boy and Josh seems to have a good head on his shoulders. Dirty constantly embarrasses Josh … and himself.

Rev. Thomas Masterson – A pastor who lets his wife … I mean the Lord … no, I mean his wife direct his path. A former poker player that is trying to sneak his way into the event.

Mayor Gary Stetson – The mayor of the town who everyone is trying to hide the game from. This guy isn’t as stupid as people think.

The first 40 minutes of the movie is spent building up the characters, giving you their back story, and showing events leading up to the tournament. The first time I watched this, I found this part of the movie a bit long, but I think that was due to the fact that I wanted to get to the tournament.

Without giving too much away, I will tell you that the Dean Livy and Ezekiel Yoder characters all but stole the show for me from the beginning.

Livy has this type of personality that both creeps you out, and then later you want to just punch him in the face. Yoder has both an innocence and a wisdom about him. As a poker player, I wanted to see him bust out first to be honest just to be brutally realistic.

“The Incident”

Also, I swear that they took Carol Marshall out of the old TV show Alice. I wanted her one time to say “Kiss my grits.”

We finally get to the tournament and they did a great job of setting this up to look like a cheesy local event. It actually reminded me of the local bar tournaments we used to have in a city near me. (Except they have dealers who are normally firemen.)

The poker tournament kicks off after “an incident,” but I will make you watch the movie to find out what I am talking about. As the tournament progresses, a sub-story begins to develop for each player.

Ezekiel finds out that he can actually play this game and finally has something that he can feel pride in again. Dirty and Josh bond in a way that is unexpected, but also great. Dean proves that he is just as much an ass as he always is, but something happens during the event that will change his life forever.

The Mayor proves to the town he isn’t as stupid as they think he is. The Reverend proves that even the best of us are flawed. As far as Will and Jill are concerned, let’s just say that everything isn’t as peachy as it appears to be.

I’m not going to go into who makes the final table or who wins as you need to watch that for yourselves. Suffice it to say that everyone involved in the event has their lives impacted in a meaningful way that carries on to the follow-up six months later.

Poker Brings People Together

The best story revolves around Ezekiel. He probably takes the most out of the experience. His understanding of the world grows, and in the end he uses the game to bring his family closer together.

There were a couple of things that I will point out that serious players will notice. The very first hand of the tournament, after the “cat woman” calls the all-in of another player, the board changes.

It was a full five-card board when she called, but when she shows her cards the board is now only four cards and the cards have all changed. She is also told that she wins right there. Obvious error to most card players.

Next, there is a blatant instance of chip dumping at the final table. While it is done to further the story, in the real poker world that would get both players kicked out of the tournament and prize money forfeited.

Yes, both of these are a bit nit picky, but so are many poker players.

Overall, this was one of the better poker movies I have seen in a while. It didn’t glamorize the game or even its players. In addition, it told several stories and told them well.

It was a bit over the top at times, but so is our game. The town, its people, and even the game was totally believable and had you not known this was a “mockumentary,” you might think it was a true story.

I would recommend that anyone that hasn’t already done so to go online and purchase a copy of this DVD. Their site is www.hittingthenuts.com.