Interview with Tom Everett Scott
Hey all,
I'm sure most of you know who Tom Everett Scott is, but just in case you don't, here's a primer: He's been in the films Boiler Room, That Thing You Do, and An American Werewolf in Paris. He made the final table at a WPT event last year and he is starring in a new show, Saved, premiering at 10 p.m. June 12 on TNT. In the show, he plays a young ambulance-driving paramedic, kind of a slacker, whose family wants him to go to medical school. The pilot episode begins with a shot of him playing poker, and a theme of the show is that he's a borderline gambling addict. In the first episode, he tells his father he only exhibits three of the 10 signs of gambling addiction, "but I'm working on it."
Our intrepid tbt* reporter Jay Cridlin recently interviewed him, and this excerpt talks about his poker life. I thought it might make for interesting reading. Thanks Jay!
TBT: The first episode of Saved kicks off with you at a poker table, and a running theme is that you’re a borderline gambling addict. But in real life, you’re kind of a poker stud, right?
TES: (laughs) Um...
TBT: I’m expecting you to say, “Yes, I’m a poker stud.”
TES: You are? Ah ... I’m an all right player.
TBT: Well, you made the final table of a WPT event last year, right?
TES: Yeah. That was like a real dream come true to play with the pros.
TBT: How do they view you when you sit down at the table?
TES: I think it was pretty much a novelty. It was kind of funny and interesting that there was an actor that made it all the way to the final table. They were cool guys, though. I had a good time.
TBT: Is it intimidating for them to sit down with somebody who’s been in movies, or do they think it’s gonna be like shooting fish in a barrel?
TES: You know, I think the common rule in poker amongst really good players is that when a newbie sits down at the table, you gotta beware. Because people who don’t know what they’re doing can win a lot of money from you if you try to play them like they do know what they’re doing. You know what I mean? It’s a loose cannon. Not like I played like a loose cannon, but I think they thought, “Geez, I don’t know what to think.” Early on in the tournament, I just figured that if I played aggressively with some of these guys, they might believe I have a good hand, because I’m a civilian. So I think that I won a couple of pots just because I represented a strong hand.
TBT: Do you play with other actors in your spare time?
TES: I play all the time. I love poker. I’ve been playing for years in New York at a weekly Wednesday night game. And all my friends will tell you that I’m a very mediocre to poor player.
TBT: Who’s the best celebrity non-poker-pro that you’ve sat at a table with?
TES: Ah, everybody has their night. Every dog has their day. We’re all pretenders.
TBT: On the Boiler Room set, did you take Ben Affleck’s money?
TES: I never worked with Ben, or even met him. We never had days together.
Hmmm, I think that's a yes! Hope you enjoyed that. We're thinking about having a Celebrities in Poker show someday but it's proving difficult to line up someone like Gabe Kaplan or James Woods. We'll see.
Christopher Cosenza is co-host of the longest running poker podcast on the planet, Ante Up! He started playing poker seriously in 2003 and his favorite players are Phil Ivey and Kenna James, though he tends to act like Phil Hellmuth if you make a bad play against him.
Scott Long, Ante Up!'s other co-host, is the author of the monthly Bet on It column in tbt*. He began gambling way too young (don't tell the fuzz!) and in the seventh grade, named his state "Gambleland" for a school project (State Animal? Loan shark, of course).
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Posted by: Decker | March 31, 2007 at 06:07 PM