Poker King

THERE’S a bad joke about the Chinese. They say if you put two Chinese together, they will either start to gamble or open up a coffee shop. So it’s not surprising that for decades, Hong Kong has been producing intermittently movies that focus on gambling or gamblers.
Poker King is not a movie that will knock those mahjong tiles off the table but it’s entertaining. Louis Koo is not exactly the type of guy one would like to see as a gambler.
However, lately he has been hogging the cinema limelight so he’s box-office material. Chow Yun-Fatt in God of Gamblers (1989) was immensely better than Koo. That’s my biased opinion.
Anyway, the poker that’s being played on screen is not the usual five-card stud poker but one that pedestrians like most of us are unfamiliar with.
The name of the game is called Texas Hold ‘Em Poker. It certainly looks interesting and exciting in cinema. But what normally holds a story like this together are the actors who play out their acting skills to the hilt.
Uno Cheuk (Lau Ching Wan) was a two-bit crook who made it to become the big kahuna at a Macau Casino. The owner who also happened to be his mentor has passed away, leaving him in charge.
This is however one proviso. Uno can only claim his place at the helm of the casino if the owner’s son Jack Chang (Louis Koo) proves inept to be the CEO.
So Jack is hustled back from Canada to meet Uno. As it turns out, Jack seems to be mentally challenged who is only good at winning online poker games.
That makes Uno’s life much easier. Now all he has to do is to make sure Jack doesn’t embark on a winning streak or turn out to be a chip off the old block.
On a scale of one to 10, this show rates a six. The performance of most of the actors is passable. Only Lau Ching Wan stands out. He’s the man holding all the cards in this movie.
Lau almost never fails to deliver when he takes on a role, any role. The others including Louis Koo are average. Koo doesn’t have that glint of mischievousness in his eyes like Ah Fatt-kor (Chow Yun Fatt) as the main player.
My bet is Poker King is not going to win any Golden Horse Award. However, it may just score at the cinemas. That’s not a given but the odds are on its side. A fifty-fifty chance. The Chinese call it “Tai Sai” (big and small)
Nonetheless, not all is lost at the poker table. There’s a dose of love that adds a touch of spice to the story and some sexiness thrown in for good measure.
The three cute girls who make the filmS palatable are Stephy Tang who plays Jack’s girlfriend, Smiley, Josie Ho is Ms Fong (a rival casino owner), and poker-faced Jo Kuk (Uno Cheuk’s personal assistant).
Naturally, all bets are off when it comes to the final poker tournament which is what the movie is all about. It’s Jack versus Uno for the Poker King title.
The sequential order of subplots leading to the grand finale won’t cause irregular heart rhythm for anyone but it has a certain expectancy that comes with this type of Hong Kong movie.
Poker King is slightly more than 120 minutes long but it’s not up there with the likes of Slumdog Millionaire. Bollywood can thumb its nose at Kowloon in this instance.
Still, cinema goers of Chinese origin probably won’t mind so much. Anything that reminds them of something that’s even remotely about gambling holds a certain attraction.
Like all those who make a beeline every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday for the betting outlets, Poker King will lure them to the cinema like an irresistible siren call.
Place all your bets on the table, ladies and gentlemen and watch the fun. In the end, don’t forget, this is a comedy show. So no refunds, please.