Limit Your Mistakes
In poker or films it pays to know your opponent
By Tim Wassberg
Kirk Acevedo knows how important craft is. Whether it’s at the poker table or on a film set, it is all about knowing your sparring partner or your opponent. With great turns in popular shows like “The Walking Dead” and “Fringe” as well as the heralded HBO productions “Band Of Brothers” and “Oz”, Acevedo continues his trajectory with his role as Carver in the highly anticipated summer movie “Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes”. The former LAPC Champion and winner of numerous poker tournaments sat down with Casino Player to talk about maintaining a mindset, evolution, the importance of losing and going for the win.
Casino Player: What does it take to get into the vision of a world like “Apes”?
Kirk Acevedo: Well making something like this sometimes is like an out-of-body experience. It’s crazy. I mean extreme. We, as people, go through moods. I mean you hang out with your buddy and he’s talking to people, and you kind of feed off that energy. You go off the other person’s energy. But in film or TV you don’t want that. You want an opera. You want an orchestra where you have trombones… clarinets. You need all these sounds playing, all the different notes.
CP: You seem to think of your craft musically. Does that translate across the board with other interests like poker?
KA: Well I tend to be visual but I am very much about audio. If I don’t believe it in my ears, I don’t believe it. It’s the same thing with poker. People are looking for a tell—looking for a twitch, an eye shiver… something. That doesn’t work for me. Tells tend to be more about betting patterns, different positions… blah, blah, blah. But when you hear someone talk, you can definitely pick up tells. That is why I stick to the fact that players shouldn’t talk.
CP: Could you talk about how you interpret the tone and energy of a room, scene or gaming table?
KA: Well if you go into a table read for a scene, the question becomes “Do I have to act now?” or “Do they want me to read well?” Because there is a big difference. For instance, I did a play read with Al Pacino one time with all these other actors. And we’re trying to feel it out like “Do we act?” I mean Al Pacino’s in the room. So you’re going off the big man. And when the big man just tends to whisper, and barely says any of his lines audibly at all then you’re like “I know where I have to go” and you’re just happy to be in the room. And, for me, with poker, it is the same thing. Everyone has their own style, their own process, [their own way] to win tournaments or win cash at a table. Some people are tight/aggressive. Some are not. It’s what works for each and every individual. I just love playing with people that are better than me. There is something great about the fact that you can only get better.
CP: You mentioned Pacino being quiet in real life. Robert De Niro is much the same way. But then you have someone like Dustin Hoffman who is very outgoing outside his actor persona. Can you talk about personality and reading people both on set and at the tables?
KA: Basically if you want to suss someone out and find a commonality to be able to work with them, you have to find something familiar between you because it is all about trust. That would be kind of a juxtaposition coming towards poker. There really is no trust in the game whereas in acting it is all about trust because you have to share a scene with someone. You have to open yourself up to judgment and trust the people [around you] because the more you’re in, the more you are able to open up. Whereas in poker that is not the case because you can’t really. It’s hard because, in poker, you have obvious signs. These people are very slick. There are rehearsed tells. Yada yada yada. There will be a guy who shows an obvious hand but he is being very chatty. Then he will do the same thing if he has no hand. So you see that he could do something different every time.
CP: I saw that you won a tournament, went and shot “Apes” for six months, and then came back and did another tournament. Is there a certain psychology or state of mind you need to be in to occupy each head space?
KA: For film, I have to do the homework. It is a really about homework. I have to sit down and read the script, figure out my part, find out the tone of my character within the story and then try to come up with something different. In poker, it can’t be the same choices as an actor. One actor can play it angry. Another actor can play it where he cries. This actor, maybe it’s Daniel Day Lewis, he starts laughing. That’s interesting. That’s life. When you’re young and your mom hits you, sometimes you laugh. That’s a natural response. And in poker, for me, I can’t play angry. I cannot play angry because it just does not work. Because with poker, at times, you have to capitulate… sometimes you have to fold the best hand. Like I was playing this one guy. He had been on the table for a long time. He had a big stack and he was in position sitting to my right. Finally I just come over the top. And all I had was a 7 and 8. And so he calls. He had ace-jack and the flop is ace, 10, 3. He checks. I bet out. The turn comes to 7. He bets out. I come over the top, all in. (pause) He takes like 10 fucking minutes this guy. Every ounce of my being is holding off. This is a bold motherfucker. He takes 10 minutes and put up a road block. 9, 8… then he goes “Call”. I hit an 8 on the river, right there. And the thing is, for me, I wouldn’t have called with his hand the way it happened. I would assume I’m beat. Because, at the end of the day, all you have is an ace with a jack kicker. And there were just so many hands where I played that. It was just blind versus blind.
CP: How many times did you need to lose in poker before you really knew how to win?
KA: You mean consistently? Wow. I think for me I can honestly say the past two years, I am a winning poker player and I am up. Like up big. But is it based off of something I have done? Because… listen… there are variables. There’s shit that happens. You could call six bluffs and just run back… and you’re not doing anything wrong. But there is luck when you are playing poker. I mean you wish you could take “luck” out of it. It’s a small percentage—but there is luck involved. If you’re in a three or five day tournament, you’ve got to come from behind a couple of times. You’re never going to be ahead. The only thing you can do is limit your mistakes. That is all I can do. Just limit my mistakes.
