Given the influence of Rounders, it’s amazing how one of its main themes is often ignored and abused by the very players it introduced to the game. The other part of us wants to win the lottery, get lucky, have the big score and never work again, because – damn it – we deserve it and should get it just for showing up. One side of us wants to be the best and slowly build up as our skill level lifts us up above the competition. If we’re honest, while most of us wouldn’t cheat, within all of us there’s a competing desire. One is playing a game of skill the other is involved in the endless pursuit of “the edge”, even if that means cheating, lying and stealing. Mike and Worm are “the acceptable poker player” and “the unacceptable poker player”, respectively. The film explores the duality of many people who play poker for a living. A ridiculous number of current professional poker players under 35 cite Rounders as the thing that convinced them that a) poker was the coolest thing on the planet, and b) they should give up their dreams of being a middle manager / solicitor / actuary and become a professional poker player.

Rounders is a film with an influence beyond its box office gross (it actually did horribly on its release, although it’s subsequently done well in non cinema forms). Rounders 2 will be slightly worse but I’m still there on opening day. So, enjoy Rounders because you won’t be getting a better poker film anytime soon. It’s all very fascinating but it’s tough to make it into a compelling film that competes with a big fuck-off car chase. That’s the main reason poker has struggled to produce a mainstream TV show – you have to be “into” poker to understand what the players are feeling emotionally on the inside. The big decisions, the sweats, the inner torment and control of your emotions – all of it is extremely hard to dramatise or show convincingly on screen. I’m not sure you could make a better poker movie because the drama of poker is all internal. “Yes, yes I want to take my $30k from its secret hiding places and sneak out on Gretchen Mol, probably after doing her – actually, definitely after that – and have some real fun putting it on the line playing high stakes. Heck, the first two minutes are porn for anyone who’s remotely interested in the game. It’s become a source of fun among poker geeks these days to criticise the film’s poker scenes, which is a little like having a supermodel arrive at your door and then criticising her choice of underwear.

I mean, I’ve watched it before but only about 23 times so it was due a revisit.

Its a skill game rounders poker