Fallsview Stargate Atlantis

Today I am playing the first day of the Fallsview main event. I played a single table satellite yesterday with Hevad Kahn on my left and Michael Bernstein, who is better known as "MJ" on my right. They have an extremely good structure with 30 minute levels and we were 5 handed after 3 hours when I lost two races and was eliminated. Hevad went out right after me and MJ chopped it with a local. I am looking forward to playing today; I always get sort of an excited feeling about a main event. It will be interesting to see how many players participate. There are 3 day ones, and if last year is a guide, the third will be the busiest. It does seem like numbers are down, and I hear that things are slow at Bellagio, but may pick up now that players are back from Europe and Aruba.

During my blog absence I had a great experience which I will tell you about. I was approached to do a guest appearance on Stargate Atlantis for a poker scene. It was filmed at Planet Hollywood about a week ago and was a fascinating experience for me. Todd Brunson and I were the two poker players involved in the scene, along with two of the stars from the Sopranos, "Bobby," Steve Schirripa, who was the mobster who took care of Junior Soprano and was with Tony's sister and "Phil," Frank Vincent, was played the lieutenant of the New York crime family. The president of MGM, Mr. Cohen and two of the regular cast members made up the others. I was told going in it was to be about a 5 minute poker sequence. I figured it would take an hour or two to shoot. What I didn't know was that it had a fight scene and a gun battle in it. During the first rehearsal Frank Vincent asked if it was a two or three day shoot and turned to me and said that it would take at least 12-14 hours to shoot, and we were starting at 5pm.

We began with hair and makeup, they had me wear my own clothes, too bad no alien costume for me. Next, we went to the floor where they were filming and we each got our own "ready room" to hang out in when we were between shots. We did a rehearsal, and then were replaced with stand-ins while they adjusted the cameras and lighting. We then came back for several takes of a wide shot then another break, then a medium shot and a break for food. They feed you every 6 hours. I eat with the stuntmen whom I had been talking with at the breaks, and there was one Australian stunt woman. These were the team that also did the stunt show at Universal Studios in Hollywood. They were full of great stories and were really a great bunch of people who really loved their work.

After the dinner break they shot close ups for the scenes. Then it was time for the stunts. There was a fight scene between the alien and "Bobby," and then a shootout. They used doubles for most of the stunts and it was really amazing to watch. I talked with Bobby about the scene in the Sopranos where he fights Tony. He said they had done their own stunt work for that and it was hard and they both got a little beat up. About half way through the stunts the director, who was a very cool guy, said I was wrapped, which meant I was done. It was 7 am and I was almost disappointed to leave.

I have to say that although I love movies and some TV shows, but I never really saw the attraction to the whole acting thing, until now that is. I found it truly fascinating. The filming of that 5 minute sequence was much tougher than I could have imagined. The skills of the people necessary to pull of such a task seemed almost daunting. The coordination of everyone was great to be a part of, even if only a small part for a small while.

For more information on Roy Winston, you can visit his website: www.oraclepoker.net or send him an email. The contents presented herein on this blog are purely the opinions of Roy Winston, and are not intended to reflect or promote the opinions of any other person, group, or entity. If you like what I write than thanks for reading, and if not well, thanks anyway.