After “Die Another Day” was released back in 2002, Eon Productions have decided that they need to reboot the whole Bond franchise for the second time. While reasons were never revealed, we can see that they’ve managed to do it properly. Surely, there were a lot of skeptics after Daniel Craig was cast as a legendary 007 agent.

But, in the end, we can see that his role was done brilliantly no matter what’s your perspective on it. Furthermore, a new start for the James Bond franchise was marked by Le Chiffre, a villain brilliantly portrayed by a Danish power-house actor Mads Mikkelsen. Also, “Casino Royale” featured a lot of great actors like Eva Green, as a new Bond girl, Jeffrey Wright, and an exceptional Judi Dench as M. Surely, it is surely one of the Bond movies.

The reason being it features a plethora of great scenes. Of course, one of the most popular ones is a casino scene where Daniel Craig plays against Mads Mikkelsen and a couple of other players. In this day and age, we can see there are a lot of discussions about it. The most important is, is this scene realistic? That’s why we are here today. We would like to break it down and see what can we learn about it. Without further ado, let’s get started.

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What Did the Director Say About it?

There were a lot of interviews done through the years about this topic, and we can see that even Martin Campbell addressed this question. In an interview he gave to Polygon, he stated that there’s a scene when James Bond tips the poker dealer. If you take a close look at it, you will see that the number of chips he tipped him with a half a million dollars.

While this is not what people expected as an answer, it is surely fun to see Daniel Craig giving this much money to someone, right? After all, this wasn’t Bond’s money. If you’ve watched the movie, you will see that the money he entered the tournament with was provided by the British government, which surely adds a whole new level of meaning to the scene.

He doesn’t care much about them, that’s for certain. At the same time, it is a widely different portrait of James Bond, who in previous movies was a fighter against communism. After all, this is something that was completely different from what we were used to seeing from this character. Daniel Craig brought a whole new trait to it.

How Realistic it Really is?

What kind of poker they’re playing? Well, without a doubt, it is a No-Limit Texas Hold’em. In the source material, we can see that this was not the case. Instead, they were playing a game similar to baccarat. Why was this changed? At the time when the book was written, Chemin de Fer was the highest one alongside Roulette. In “Casino Royale” they’ve decided to go with this approach.

To make a scene as authentic as it can be, the director decided to invite a professional, Mr. Sanbrook. He taught all the actors about how they should handle the chips, how to look down on the cards, and how to display a poker face. As we can see, he did a wonderful job and the scene looks pretty great if you ask us.

How About the Game Itself?

In the scene, Daniel Craig’s character looks at the board the cards displayed. The player next to him decides that he wants to go all-in, the next one calls, and Mads Mikkelsen’s character raises. When that happens, James Bond is thinking really hard about his next move. Ultimately, he decides to go all-in, and others follow him. The first player, who decided to go all-in, didn’t have something compete with.

The next one has a pair of eights. However, Le Chiffre has a full house, with A and 6. Thankfully, our hero comes with 7-5 spades and has an unbeatable hand. At this moment, around $115 million in chips is pushed towards him. While we cannot object that the scene was highly entertaining, it needs to be said that it is far from realistic. Just think about these numbers and you will certainly agree with us.

A Normal Pot Size?

It needs to be said that these numbers are not realistic, no matter what’s your perspective. For example, if you take a look at online poker, you will see that they are impossible. Also, when you take a look at the biggest pot ever, you will see that it was around $600,000, which is far less than the one depicted in the movie. Also, if you take a look at some other examples, you will see that they are practically nothing when compared to the scene in “Casino Royale”.

The team behind the movie, along with Mr. Sanbrook have done an excellent job at making the game realistic. However, they forgot about the money. Nevertheless, it is surely one of the greatest scenes in the history of Bond movies. Therefore, this is surely no the place where you should learn about this game. Watch some of many high-quality documentaries and you will be able to understand them, without a doubt.

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The Verdict

As you can see, we are talking about a scene that’s only partly realistic. The way actors have behaved was done brilliantly. Besides that, there’s not too much to it. In case you would like to take a look at how these games should be done, be sure to check some more credible sources. That way, you will be able to see right through the online casinos that are not doing it properly.

According to Efirbet, there are some credible websites you can participate in and feel completely safe from all the dangers. Be sure to check it out. When it comes to the scene, sure it will entertain you, but you cannot lot learn a lot about the game of poker, that’s for certain.