Rounders 20 years! (1 Viewer)

Tham6165

Tham6165

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The movie was released 20 years ago today. Wow has time flown by. There isn't a home game that doesn't go by without out a quote being thrown around.
Do you guys think there will ever be a movie that captures the underground scene and poker as a lifestyle better than this movie?
 
I love Rounders. It's one of my favorite movies, and I've watched it countless times. You say a line from that movie, and I immediately know the whole context it came from. But the more times I've watched it, the more I've realized that our intrepid hero Mr McDermott is a bit of a piece of shit.

Yeah, I know, in the end he insists on beating the games straight-up and eschews Worm's tactics. But over the course of the movie, it's made pretty clear that he has no real moral qualms with cheating and will readily participate in it. His point in beating the games straight-up to pay back Gramma seems more like an ego thing than doing what's right.

And I mean, okay, gambooooool, but let's be blunt here. Mike borrows $10K from his law professor to go gamble with. When he successfully gambles it up to have enough to pay back his debt, he continues gambling with it anyway, to try to catch back up on all his previous losses so he can run off to Vegas. This is classic compulsive gambler behavior. The only real difference is that Mike gets lucky and doesn't lose his shirt again.

Think about watching this movie as someone who doesn't play poker. It would just reinforce whatever stereotypes you have about gamblers being irresponsible and involved in all kinds of dangerous, shady stuff.

So yeah, I do hope someone releases another cult-hit poker movie, but I will say they'd be hard-pressed to make anything that matches up to Rounders in terms of the general mood, the jargon, all of it. Like I said, I love the movie. The filmmakers did a fantastic job, right down to the nagging girlfriend who just doesn't get it. I suppose it's true that there's something morally ambiguous about the whole hustler-type lifestyle, and underground poker can be a shady world. They capture that well, but I feel like they also depict a hero who espouses some of the worst elements of poker culture.
 
Don't forget the trust fund game at the beginning... No issues with with cheating, even if he wasn't actively participating, he was complicit.

And we don't get to Steinbrenner until the 3rd year of law school.
 
I liked the movie. I think its one of the better "poker" movies that I've seen. As a "great" movie I disagree. At best I think its meh. I've seen it twice. I don't need to watch it again.
 
WedgeRock said:
Don't forget the trust fund game at the beginning... No issues with with cheating, even if he wasn't actively participating, he was complicit.

And we don't get to Steinbrenner until the 3rd year of law school.
Click to expand...

Being the guy who knowingly accepts and plays the cards the mechanic deals to you? That's active participation. From the narration, he makes it clear that he and Worm regularly cheated people like this. This was their thing.

I guess that's the one thing they could have done better: have Mike emerge as a new man. I know he breaks away from Worm toward the end, but there's really nothing to show that he has a problem with cheating beyond the possibility of getting caught. He's the same guy who blew his whole roll trying to beat KGB at the beginning, and who cheated innocent home-game players without compunction. He just learned how to beat KGB and realized he didn't belong in law school.

A sequel could be an interesting way to play it out. We could see Mike's character develop into that new man after he gets out of the underground scene. I really hope they put that out (and call it something other than Rounders 2).
 
WedgeRock said:
Rounders 2 should show Worm's story on the road. I don't need to see anymore of Mikey McD's redemption. Show me the dumpster fire that is Worm.
Click to expand...

Don't see why we can't have both. Mike's out strolling the streets of Las Vegas, and he comes across Worm running a Three Card Monte table / trying to pickpocket tourists / making awkward passes at strippers.
 
Jimulacrum said:
Being the guy who knowingly accepts and plays the cards the mechanic deals to you? That's active participation. From the narration, he makes it clear that he and Worm regularly cheated people like this. This was their thing.

I guess that's the one thing they could have done better: have Mike emerge as a new man. I know he breaks away from Worm toward the end, but there's really nothing to show that he has a problem with cheating beyond the possibility of getting caught. He's the same guy who blew his whole roll trying to beat KGB at the beginning, and who cheated innocent home-game players without compunction. He just learned how to beat KGB and realized he didn't belong in law school.

A sequel could be an interesting way to play it out. We could see Mike's character develop into that new man after he gets out of the underground scene. I really hope they put that out (and call it something other than Rounders 2).
Click to expand...
Mike runs up his roll in vegas and heads to LA to play in Molly's game. I'd love to get a cinematic rendition of that degen world that was sorely lacking from her movie.
 
My favourite line:

I have what's known as "the wheel", it's got earthy tones, the smooth draw to win me the high and the low.
 
CraigT78 said:
The most accurate statement ITT. Our group was talking about this our last game. How much shit some guys catch for a $50 poker night is unreal.
Click to expand...

To play devil's advocate, I will say that I kinda see where it's coming from.

When you look at literally the entire rest of the gambling landscape, what do you see? Guys lighting their money on fire. The ones who get more and more into it, they burn even more money. They chase that big win they "know" is coming, day in and day out, or screw it, they don't even understand why they do it anymore. They just can't stop.

I get how poker can be different. You get it too. A solid portion of poker players do. But some guy's wife who never plays cards? She doesn't see the limited, social aspect or even the profitability, if he's a good player. She just sees blackjack, roulette, slot machines. She sees her husband throwing away their family's future. Even if he's a long-term winning player, she can't really trust it because she's expecting secrets, lies, and other addict behavior.

Still, that's gotta be extremely frustrating, to not be able to get through to the person closest to you like that. And the more it seems important to you, the more it looks like you're just a compulsive gambler.
 
Jimulacrum said:
... the nagging girlfriend who just doesn't get it....
Click to expand...

I had one of those. To alleviate her concerns, I taught her how the game is played (and my approach to strategy) so that she could see the difference between poker and other forms of gambling. Not only did it eliminate her concerns, she became a poker fan. She has probably even become a better tournament player than me because she has no fear at the table.

Oh yeah, she is now my wife.
 
Actually, we rarely play against each other. I mostly play cash games and she mostly plays tournaments.
 
I just saw this movie twice, my favorite character has got to be KGB, Malkovich is excellent as a villain.
 
BGinGA said:
I am SO glad/lucky that my gal also enjoys playing. (y) :thumbsup:

She even understands chips. And is thankful that I don't collect washing machines. :D
Click to expand...
Hey I collect washing machines! What's wrong with that!? So I have this one I picked up.....
 
Love the movie! Also, it’s refreshing to see nice asm chips used. I can understand Movie budgets not wanting to spend on premium chips, most people wouldn’t notice anyway.
PCF should start a chips rental business!
 
Jimulacrum said:
To play devil's advocate, I will say that I kinda see where it's coming from.

When you look at literally the entire rest of the gambling landscape, what do you see? Guys lighting their money on fire. The ones who get more and more into it, they burn even more money. They chase that big win they "know" is coming, day in and day out, or screw it, they don't even understand why they do it anymore. They just can't stop.

I get how poker can be different. You get it too. A solid portion of poker players do. But some guy's wife who never plays cards? She doesn't see the limited, social aspect or even the profitability, if he's a good player. She just sees blackjack, roulette, slot machines. She sees her husband throwing away their family's future. Even if he's a long-term winning player, she can't really trust it because she's expecting secrets, lies, and other addict behavior.

Still, that's gotta be extremely frustrating, to not be able to get through to the person closest to you like that. And the more it seems important to you, the more it looks like you're just a compulsive gambler.
Click to expand...

Interesting comments. I always think of poker as just a boys night out - social and fun with some competition thrown in to spice it up.

I tend to think of poker players as getting a bad wrap and just being normal guys.

Then you see the other side of it - the current Eli Elezra mess is everything the average person is afraid of - big name players welching on debts, multi-accounting online, stories of pros setting up mechanics to cheat rich players, degenerate players going broke, threats of violence

You can see why people outside the game might have a different viewpoint.
 

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