Previously on "Tilt"...
if you promise to leave me alone,
I'll get you some guys that make Dean and Shurgin look like Boy Scouts.
I'm listening.
Odds are two of us, or all of us,
are gonna wind up playing each other today at some point.
That's cool with me. Finally get to get on each other's shoulders.
I'm out.
No. We need to be planning our next move.
No, we don't have a next move.
if I don't want you in the casino, what makes you think you're welcome here?
- I need to come back. - What's Nickel doing?
He's spinning his wheels.
I played it wrong.
I'm sorry you got snake-bit by Eddie, and if you'd like...
No, no, no, no, no.
He played by the rules. Let him be.
You need to be protected like an asset.
I think maybe you should take a vacation for a couple of weeks.
A good friend of mine's got a ski chalet out in Tahoe.
- You should leave tomorrow after work. - I'd like that.
Skip, I just want to tell you one thing.
I'm gonna take real good care of you, OK?
You know why I've been around for so long? Because I'm a man of my word.
I tell people exactly what I'm gonna do, and then I do it.
No! No...
Nobody ever listens.
General George Patton once said that the test of success
is not what you do when you're on top.
Success is how high you bounce once you hit bottom.
I don't know if Patton ever made it to Vegas, but I think he'd have liked it.
In Vegas, you need to maximize that bounce, 'cause once it gets you down,
this city does everything it can to keep your shoulders pinned to the mat.
Some tournament.
- Think your boy has a shot? - Which one?
- The pretty one we had to beat down. - Oh, he's not my boy.
I don't like pretty boys. I like boys with a little bit of meat on them.
- That so? - Hmm.
It's because of weak-ass boys like him that I got jammed up in the first place.
Stick with me. Who's gonna mess with you?
Yeah? Hmm.
You look like you can handle yourself.
I stay in shape. Medicine ball, weights.
Hmm.
It's obvious.
I hate being with a guy who can't defend me if it came down to it.
Push came to shove?
Exactly.
You want to get a quiet drink somewhere?
Yeah, bitch.
You like it rough, don't you?
I'm gonna pound you like a heavy bag.
- Freeze! FBl! - My God, could you have taken longer?
- You bitch! - Yeah, I know already.
Salvatore Testa. You finally hit the big time.
What the hell are you yapping about? She's the one who brought me in here.
Let's see - murder, murder conspiracy.
You think we have another dozen felony charges?
Murder? Like killing people?
Keep that up, big boy, we'll put you in the corner with a dunce cap on.
You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say...
You OK?
The Feds are not exactly forthcoming about what they got.
They're suspicious about us locals right now.
Contacts at the courthouse?
Zip, nada. All I know is that they snatched Testa.
I can't even tell what the charge is.
What's his makeup, this Testa?
Well, he's Don's boy. They go back a long way.
So did Brutus and Caesar.
All right, give Don a heads-up and stay on it.
All right.
See, we get a call just yesterday, Tahoe police.
Some coyotes got into a shallow grave, Sally.
This is who they were snacking on.
Didn't they call him "Skippy"?
Hm, Sal?
You're not surprised, are you? That's the Everest retirement plan.
They're all gone. Gone for good.
So, here's the choice, Salvatore.
Do you want to be John Gotti or Sammy the Bull?
Downtown Las Vegas, the Colorado Casino,
where for the past 35 years,
the World Championship of Poker has been decided.
The buy-in is 10,000 bucks, 2,000 players vying for the top prize.
Well, you're looking at it - $5 million.
This is where the going really gets tough.
The competitors have been playing all day.
We're down to the very best of the best,
all the way from 2300 to just ten.
And now that we're down to ten players,
the two remaining tables will play hand by hand.
When one player is eliminated,
the nine remaining players will make up our final table.
Not all of these players are famous right now,
but with a booming popularity of this event, they will be very soon.
Make it 60,000.
Take Clark Marcellin. He's emerged as really one of the sharpest young players
I've seen in a long time.
He does play with a certain, uh...
I'm not sure what the word is, but it's a good word.
He knows what he's doing.
Raise.
Once again wasting no time, Marcellin raising out of the small blind.
I call.
It doesn't look like Norgren scared anyone away with his wager.
Everybody's called.
- It's a big hand. - Mm-hmm.
He's been playing big all day.
Think that fat guy up there is with Everest?
- The one in the hat? - Mm-hmm.
Definitely.
David Williams has a decent edge here holding the pocket tens.
Norgren wants to see some face cards fall on the flop,
and Marcellin probably in a little trouble here with an 18% chance to win.
You gotta admire the way he's hammered away
all tournament long. He looks like a man blessed with skill and luck.
Let's take a look at the flop now.
Wow! That luck factor is shining on Marcellin.
He flops a set, and that puts him at a real lofty 87 percent.
Ah, and he's gonna slow-play it. Marcellin checks.
250.
David Williams doesn't check. He bets out at it.
He likes that his pocket pair is higher than anything he sees on the board.
I'm all in.
This is gonna make David Williams think a little.
He needs to decide if Clark has what he's representing, which is at least a big pair.
And Clark's tougher to read than a Russian novel. Good luck.
David Williams right now replaying the whole hand in his head,
trying to figure out exactly where Clark's heading with his actions.
I been watching you, man, ever since you hit the circuit.
I like your style. I think you underestimated me, though.
- We'll soon see. - Yeah.
Your mom always travels with you?
She never makes you nervous?
She's my lucky charm.
I call.
It's showtime as the players turn their cards.
David Williams is not happy.
He probably put Clark on a couple of high cards
and didn't expect to see a set of nines.
There's the turn card, six of hearts. No help at all to David Williams.
Simply put, David Williams can only be saved with a ten.
Talk about a long shot.
Marcellin now up to being a 95 percent favorite, with just one card to come.
And now the river card. Oh, it's another ten!
Three tens for Williams, and Marcellin is gone.
That is no-limit Texas Hold 'Em.
And then some, Norman. But Clark Marcellin has established himself
as a force to be reckoned with.
And that takes us down to the final table.
Nine players trying to win the $5 million prize.
Join us for all the exciting final action right here on ESPN.
We'll be back in a moment.
What's going on?
They snatched up Testa.
Who's "they"? Martians?
The Feds, apparently.
Well, let's hedge our bets.
Go visit the mother, go visit the sister. Find the little kids and pat them on the head.
Got it.
Be nice this time. I might have something else for you to do.
You got it.
Excuse me.
My friend, you have got a bad beat story for the ages now.
Yeah, who you telling?
- That's terrible. - Yeah, right.
Like anybody's gonna listen after I just cashed in $ 200,000 for tenth place, right?
- You did? - Just... I wanted more, man.
The Feds are closing in fast. You think you can help make sure not too fast?
I'm telling you, if they get a hold of Everest before we get a shot at him,
I don't know if I'll ever be able to sleep again.
You know what? Y'all just play some cards.
I'm gonna go tie up those FBl people, all right?
I think Seymour must be smiling somewhere.
Yeah. But making the final table's not enough.
- We need to talk about that. - It's going down clean.
You just said we haven't won anything yet.
I'm not taking an inside track on this guy.
if the objective all along was to win, and he's still got two horses in there,
he'll stop at nothing, so why should we?
You want to know why?
Because this whole ordeal - Seymour, everything -
it just proves one thing - that we're not him.
We gotta be better.
We're not teammates anymore. We're officially opponents.
Good luck.
- You, too. - Thank you.
Does this mean I'm gonna be on Court TV?
Wish there was a way I could thank you officially.
Please. Taking down Don Everest is all the thanks I need.
- But I can't let you in on the arrest. - Fine. But our deal still stands?
Absolutely, our deal stands.
Thank you.
Kwan?
There's a Clark Marcellin here to see you.
- You wanna send him in? - Sure.
You're having a hell of a run.
Yeah, it feels pretty good, like I can't be stopped.
- You worried about Testa? - Sal?
Oh, heck, no. He's as solid as a rock.
So apparently, a body turned up in Tahoe, one of our employees.
Ski accident or an avalanche, perhaps?
Word is homicide. Sloppy job of burying the body.
- Sloppy, you say? - Coyotes, apparently.
Scavengers. Much maligned.
But they are survivors. They know how to seize an opportunity.
I have little tolerance for sloth, so I'll be monitoring the situation.
- Go play cards. - Oh, I will, because that's what I do.
I'm a card player. What does that make you, huh? Armchair general?
I don't like the direction of your tone, Don.
I don't know. Maybe the pressure's getting to me. Who knows?
No, Don, you are where you are because you're oblivious to the pressure.
You're playing well, Eddie.
Moving in when you need to, taking charge of the table.
You made a great fold yesterday when the board paired.
Oh, you know how to watch the game.
I guess those take-your-daughter- to-work days paid off.
I guess they did.
- Dee. - I know. I'm like a regular stalker.
But I wanted to wish you good luck and say goodbye.
Goodbye?
What I said about the two of us, it's true for me. I gotta get out of this place.
Yeah, I guess he does cast a long shadow.
Yeah, well, maybe I have a way you could shorten that up a little.
How's that?
I got a tell on him that nobody else knows, and I wanna give it to you.
Call it a goodbye present?
Yeah, that's... that's good. That's really good.
- So he's got you playing the picador? - Picador?
The picador. The guys that ride into the bullring and start stabbing the bull,
just to distract him, soften him up for the kill.
What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Are you going to tell me to watch for your father twitching his nose
or... arranging his chips a certain way or something,
something that tells me he's bluffing, and I go all-in when I see it?
And guess what.
He's actually got the nuts.
No, thanks, Dee.
Working together could be a lot more expensive this time.
- When's the last time you won a bracelet? - Back in the days of your old pal Seymour.
Oh, you mean before you were a has-been.
You got balls, I'll say that.
Unlike your friend here.
He seems pretty steamed. You think we got him on tilt?
No, I don't.
Hey. Um...
I got some important information. You might say it's kind of vital.
This has been a tough round, with four top-notch players making quick exits.
That is the nature of the beast.
Good game.
We have Miami dancing on the edge.
She's still been a joy to watch, though.
Just what the game needs - smart, attractive, with real poker smarts.
Smart and attractive ain't gonna give her any more chips.
She's the short stack of the five players left.
Check.
Matador setting a trap with a made straight,
hoping Miami's gonna move in on the pot.
- What a tangled web. - Check.
This could be a very expensive hand for somebody.
Now the turn card. It's a king. Action on Eddie Towne now.
1.4.
That's a very meaningful play, Edward.
I'm gonna step out of your way because I think I know exactly what you've got,
and what I've got is worse than it was before.
That's a great laydown. A lot of players can't get away
from a hand like that even when they know they're beat.
Well, I got more than a little here.
I guess that brings me all-in.
Miami needs to pair the board on the river.
She has nine outs to win, or an ace would give her a split pot.
Damn.
Oh, that card means we're gonna lose Miami.
She finishes this championship in fifth place.
First time I ever busted somebody and didn't like the feeling.
I did bust you, right?
You outplayed me, that hand.
You win this thing.
Can I just grab you for a moment?
- Yeah. - Right over here.
Miami, that was a great historic run.
You're the first woman ever to make the final table. You must be satisfied.
Well, winning's the only real satisfaction in poker.
Still, it was real hard to lay down the hand. I thought I had him beat.
We'll take a short break here from the World Poker Championships,
and we'll be back to the Colorado Casino in a moment.
Come in.
Captain, there's some people here from FBl and Corruption Squad.
I asked them if they had an appointment.
They said they wanted to talk to you about your father-in-law.
- Is that so? - I thought it was strange,
him being dead and all.
It's fine, son. It's probably just some mix-up.
I'll see them in room one in a minute. I just want to drain the python real quick.
Hey, folks. Captain's just finishing up a call. He'll be right in.
Can I get you a pop, bottle of water?
I was hoping to catch you, honey, not this damn machine. I...
I just wanted to say that I love you.
And I'm so sorry.
I'm sorry.
Your source is solid?
All right, well, keep digging around for more.
- Testa flipped. - Oh, Sal. Not Sal.
You got some choices. You can hit the road.
I'm staying right here. I'm winning.
OK.
I'll arrange it so that you can surrender downtown.
They'll be no dog and pony show for the cameras.
I'll have your bail package all arranged and you'll have the best legal team in the state.
My own private dream team, huh?
All I ever wanted to do was play cards.
Back when I started out,
you had to be as tough in the alley as you were at the table.
I look around now at all these kids,
the soft ones and the pretty ones and the computer freaks...
They wouldn't even be able to hold on to their lunch money back in my day.
You'll weather this.
I noticed a lack of the word "we" in that surrender speech you made.
Well, my sources mentioned that there was a case against you.
What I did say was everything's gonna be fine.
Time to play the good soldier, eh?
I've made an awful lot of money for this place,
and I've solved a hell of a lot of problems.
It'd be nice if you remembered that if I start to get lonely.
Don, we're more than brothers, you and I.
And you... we... we will beat this case.
Look, it just boils down to Testa and a jury of our peers.
And the day it's over, you got your piece of this hotel.
Silence is golden, yeah?
Now, get yourseif together and go on out there and win that bracelet.
I got five minutes until heads-up. Did you do what I asked?
- Yeah. What the hell's going on? - I'm gonna get arrested.
- You're kidding me. - Uh-uh.
They're gonna say I killed someone.
You're not a killer.
Listen, baby, you're all I got.
And believe me, when I say that you're all I've got...
I mean you're all I got.
I gotta go. I put all my assets in your name.
That's a list. The accounts, the real estate, the club.
Everything. You control it now.
- Everything? - Yeah.
Before the break,
there was a real feeling-out session going on with our final four.
I noticed that. A lot like a first round of a heavyweight title fight,
a lot of probing.
Well, I think that the heavy punching is about to begin.
I'll raise. 300,000.
The Matador opens the action with his pocket eights.
Now over to Billy Cadinski. He's got pocket queens.
Reraise, Donny. A million straight.
And why not?
Pocket queen's a monster hand, particularly at a short-handed table.
Action now on Eddie Towne. Eddie's got a king.
He's got ace king suited in clubs.
In this hand, those are cards
that might get Eddie Towne in a lot of trouble.
I'll raise whatever you got left.
So Eddie Towne is gonna try to put Cadinski all in.
Action on Don Everest.
- And he's gonna be a spectator. - And well he should.
With the action behind him, he was smart to get out of way.
I don't know how Cadinski can't go all in here with the pocket queens.
And he will call. So it'll be Cadinski and Eddie Towne,
Billy Cadinski's tournament life at stake.
Basically a coin flip as we go to the flop.
The ace king suited against the pocket queens.
And now the flop.
Seven, ace, four! Eddie Towne pairs the ace.
Ah, jeez.
You know, Cadinski might be mumbling until Labor Day.
Cadinski nearing the end of his tournament,
possibly turn card seven of diamonds, no help.
No help, indeed. Now Cadinski will need a queen and a queen only.
River card's a six! And that's gonna do it. Cadinski is gone.
And now we're down to just three.
David Williams, Eddie Towne and Don "The Matador" Everest will do battle
for the World Championship of Poker.
Fast Eddie Towne.
Heartrending scene with blondie.
Noble warriors and all.
- You ready to lose? - Those are big words from a little man.
Little man?
You bring all these horses to the final table and you still can't put me away.
Well, maybe you should go back to work for me again.
Nah, the medical benefits sucked.
Yeah. I guess maybe they did.
I tell you what - I get the bracelet, you get haif the winnings.
Now, that wouldn't even be cheating.
Deals like that are made at the final tables all the time, and you know it.
That's right.
So give me three-quarters.
- Yeah, that could work. - Ah.
"That could work. "
Somehow, I think I'd end up in a shallow grave in the desert.
Well, I guess maybe you just don't realize how much that bracelet means to me.
So win it, then.
I don't need any help to take you down, Eddie.
When I first got here, you know, the Matador,
he was that guy that everybody wanted to be associated with, right?
It was like you wanted to be that hotshot card player.
So I started playing in these off-site games that he set up, and...
- Clark, where's this going? - No, look...
I'm just saying it's not easy talking about this.
To be honest with you, um...
do you think you can get, like, a guy agent in here?
- A guy? - Yeah, you know, not a woman.
It's just that some of this stuff is a little personal.
You know... I'd feel a lot more comfortable with, you know, a male agent in the room.
So at this point, I'm just running on instinct here.
So your instincts told you to flee the Feds and run here to me?
No, no, at first, I thought, just play it cool,
but then I started running through all the little bits of business
that Testa and I have been involved in. It's a damn litany.
It's the word of a lowlife against a highly decorated police officer.
- You know what they do to cops in prison? - You just calm the hell down!
Yeah?
You assured me that he could surrender tomorrow.
You wanna make a spectacle of my casino on national television?
Somebody's gonna pay for this.
You get out of here before I find myself on that prison bus with you.
Go to that place in Utah and stay put.
You got me covered?
Yeah, I got you covered.
Yeah, I need the number of the Vegas Metro Police.
Check.
Williams is gonna sit on his aces.
One million.
Matador comes out with his kings, with one cool million.
- I'm all-in. - Williams puts it all in!
It's his check-raise trap. One of his specialties.
- Call. - And Matador is gonna call.
David Williams has got him right where he wants him, Lon.
Now the cards are flipped. Everybody knows what's going on.
The two aces for David Williams, two kings for Don Everest.
David Williams' tournament life is at stake here.
Now the turn card comes. It's a queen. No help to Matador.
Good for Williams. Now the Matador can only knock him out
with a king on the river.
And the river card. Oh, it's a king!
A king eliminates David Williams!
You get that close to the title, and that's the way you go?
Do the poker world a favor and beat this guy's ass.
Yeah, that's the game plan.
The poker boom has hit Vegas so hard,
it seems as if everyone in town is either playing the tournament,
watching the tournament, or betting on the outcome of the tournament.
The sports books have never before seen so much action,
and there's what they're playing for - the money.
$5 million dollars and the bracelet that makes them world champion.
No, no, no, no, no. Nah.
What is this? What, you couldn't get a brother?
We're locked and loaded here, so can't the rest of this wait?
No, hey.
How complete of a case do you want? You let me know.
You've been stalling me, haven't you, Clark?
if this little charade costs me Don Everest, you're taking his place.
The first person I'm gonna call is the dean of your old college.
That's right, Clark. I do my homework,
so you can drop your ghetto-fabulous routine.
Just making sure that you kept your part of the bargain.
All you had to do was ask.
Let's roll.
This is as good a head-to-head as I can remember.
Oh, no lie. It has been a roller-coaster affair.
Eddie Towne has increased his chip lead just slightly,
but at any moment, you can go boom or bust.
All right, the action continues now. Matador with the hole cards.
He peeks at ace, king of diamonds.
Over to Eddie Towne, who's looking at pocket sixes.
Matador will be first to act.
- One million. - Whoa! A nice chunk of change.
General Patton had a favorite saying.
It was an old French proverb that translated into English as.:
"Audacity, audacity. Always audacity. "
You still with us there, boy wonder?
I call.
This could be a big hand, Lon, depending on what falls.
All right, now here comes the flop. Oh, and it's huge for both!
Matador gets top two pair, Eddie Towne with a set of sixes.
- Check. - Check.
Ah, but look at this. Both players have checked.
And now the turn card. No help to either player.
Four million.
It's not enough. I'm all-in.
Of course, Eddie Towne doesn't know he's sitting pretty.
You know, his set of sixes now put him at almost ten-to-one
to go home with the bracelet.
Did you slow-play paired aces or kings?
In your book, you say never slow-play either hand
'cause they're hard to get off of.
You could be ignoring your own advice, but...
I don't think you are.
I got you sitting on ace king.
Maybe.
Which means there's only four cards in the deck that can help you.
I'll take those odds. I call.
Oh, man! We could have ourselves a first-time champion.
Only an ace or a king will save the Matador now.
Newcomer Eddie Towne has just won
his first World Championship of Poker
and a grand prize of $5 million.
Second-place money to the tune of $3.5 million
goes to Don "The Matador" Everest.
- You know what the best part of this is? - What?
I get to be a part of the worst day of your life.
Oh!
You know what the funny thing about this town is?
Even when you lose, you can still find a way to win.
500 grand.
- 500 large. - On Eddie Towne to win.
Eddie Towne to win.
250 grand, Eddie Towne to win.
- Donovan Everest? - Yeah?
- You're under arrest. - No kidding.
- I thought you were here to play cards. - Come on.
And there is what every poker player is in it for -
the coveted gold bracelet being presented to our new champion, Eddie Towne.
Lon, I did not have Eddie Towne in my office pool,
but as it turns out, he was the biggest shark in this pool.
What a performance.
My lawyers are gonna be waiting for me with bail.
That's nice to hear.
It's time for you to use the little boys' room.
- I don't think I have to go. - It's a long ride. Here.
You'll need those.
All right.
No one goes in.
We made a deal.
She got to arrest you, but I got five minutes before you went in.
This is not a decision you'll regret, sir.
Well, I'm not one who deals in regret, Bart.
I deal in absolutes. You either succeed or you fail,
so consider yourself... privileged.
Oh, I do, sir.
Can you believe this guy? Even when you beat him, you can't beat him.
Yeah, but you did. You won.
- Heads up. I will still take you out. - Why don't you come to Europe, then?
You can have your shot next week at the Grand Monaco.
Nah, man. Vegas suits me to the ground. I'm good.
What about you, Miami?
No. I don't like going places where I don't speak the language.
Plus, with Matador wrapped up, this town's mine.
Nickel says he's going down on murder charges.
Yeah, we'll see how long he stays down.
Here's to Seymour.
- To Seymour. - Yeah.
- Come on, Crackle, here. - I can't drink more.
- One more. - No, no, no. No.
- Come on. - OK. For Seymour.
- Seymour. - Seymour.
Well, I'm gone.
- Europe awaits. - You ever been?
In the army, but this should be a little different.
I hope the hell so.
- You were a dog soldier. Who knew? - There's a lot you don't know, honey.
- Take care. - Yeah. You, too.
Come give me a hand. I got a lot of bags.
Honey? Kids?
- Daddy! - Hey!
I'm home! Oh!
It was his moment.
Next year, it'll be mine.
You're gonna have to go through me. You know that.
Hey, guys? Eddie wanted you to have these.
You know, just in case you got the gumption to leave Vegas.
Damn. Got some weight to it.
Oh...
- That son of a bitch. - Holy...
Hi.
Wow! I guess he wanted all of us to be even.
- Eddie gave me 500,000 too. - I'll be damned.
- Party time. - Oh, Jesus!
All right, all right. All right, all right.
Donovan Everest is an icon in this community. He's a local treasure.
Mr. Everest represents the very best of the independent spirit that defines Las Vegas.
Now, these charges spring from a place of ill will.
They shall be proven to be utter fraud.
The state's case consists of the testimony of a convicted felon,
a two-time loser headed for strike three and life in a cage.
I am confident Mr. Everest will be vindicated. Thank you.
Vegas is, at bottom, an illusion.
It was build on the crazy dreams of madmen and mobsters,
conjured out of the pitiless desert,
a monument to the dark side of human desire.
If you listen close enough to the desert winds that blow through town,
you could hear the ghosts of those Vegas pioneers.
And in their whispers, they make one thing clear -
Vegas is still a place where most of us come to lose.
Testa. Testa, come on.
Time for the grand jury.
Testa.