Card Player – A documentary about infamous defunct poker site Ultimate Bet will be released on Oct. 22.
The film, ultimatebeat, is from Doublehead Pictures and is directed by Scott Bell, who for years has been researching the insider fraud at the former poker site.
Here’s a brief synopsis, according to a press release issued Monday:
“The story tracks an intersection of old school hustlers and technology during the ‘poker boom’. After successfully launching a popular site, a group of insiders used software access to defraud players over a period of years without detection. When discovered, they went to great lengths to cover-up the crimes in order to repay less than the amount stolen.
“Nobody was ever investigated, arrested, indicted or prosecuted for the crimes. The subtext is how a small group of players crowdsourced an online investigation to force the site into repaying far more than they intended, if not fully.”
Bell worked with other poker players, utilizing Kickstarter, to fund the project.
The film will be released via Video on Demand format. Details on how to purchase and download the film will be available on the Oct. 22. Physical DVD formats and other forms of distribution are being considered for future release.
There are two private screenings schedule in Las Vegas this week.
The online poker site fell into hot water with the federal government as part of the Black Friday indictments in April 2011. It never cashed out Americans. But long before that, ownership was accused of cheating its customers via “super-using.”
Some of the game’s most recognizable pros, such as Phil Hellmuth, Annie Duke, Prahlad Friedman and Joe Sebok, once endorsed the site.
