''Poker King'' () is a 2009

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

co-written and directed by Chan Hing-Kai and Janet Chun and starring

Louis Koo Louis Koo Tin-lok ( zh, t=古天樂; born 21 October 1970) is a Hong Kong people, Hong Kong actor, singer and film producer. He began his professional career as an actor in local television series, winning TVB's Best Actor award in 1999 and 2001 ...

and

Sean Lau Sean Lau Ching-wan (born 16 February 1964) is a Hong Kong actor who has acted in both films and television series. He won Best Actor in the 2007 and 2015 Hong Kong Film Awards and in the 2000 and 2007 Golden Bauhinia Awards. Career Lau was born ...

Plot

People say one's fate has been pre-determined from the start like the cards in a Texas Hold’em game. Uno (

Lau Ching Wan Sean Lau Ching-wan (born 16 February 1964) is a Hong Kong actor who has acted in both films and television series. He won Best Actor in the 2007 and 2015 Hong Kong Film Awards and in the 2000 and 2007 Golden Bauhinia Awards. Career Lau was born ...

), a small-time crook turned casino magnate, and Jack, the scion of a powerful gaming clan lead very different lives until fate brought them together in a poker duel of a lifetime. The setting is Macau, Las Vegas of the Orient, where the buzz in town is that Uno has snared the operations of the venerable Sun Casinos from its deceased owner. In a bid to clear his name, he has the sole heir Jack (

) brought back from Canada where he spent the last few years in hiding. Jack, an inept businessman and a socially awkward young man, spent his days playing online poker. When it became clear that he has neither the instinct nor the skills to take over, Uno invokes the owner's will and takes charge of Jack's family business. Disillusioned and depressed, Jack runs into Smiley ( Stephy Tang), a simple girl with a seemingly unstoppable good fortune. Together the pair conquers the poker rooms in Macau. Jack played in Uno's arch rival Ms. Fong's (

Josie Ho Josephine "Josie" Ho Chiu-yi (; born 26 December 1974) is a singer and actress from Hong Kong. She is the daughter of the Macao casino magnate Stanley Ho. Acting career She has played many roles, including portraying the parts of prostitutes, whic ...

) casino and met her. He requested to represent her casino in the ultimate Poker King tournament to beat Uno. As Jack issues a personal challenge to Uno, it becomes clear that it isn't only bragging rights at stake, but also the throne to the gambling empire that Jack's father had built. In the Poker King Tournament, Jack and Uno reached the final round along with Uno's henchmen. To build up Uno's playing chips, all the henchmen purposely lost to Uno leaving Jack to face Uno as the last two players. In the last game, Jack and Uno had the same set of cards but of different suits. The last card dealt out gave Jack the victory and he also reclaimed back his father's casino. It was revealed via several flashbacks, Uno built up the casino with Jack's father and the casino was to be passed down to Jack. However, if Jack is incapable, Uno will inherit the casino. However, Uno added a condition that he will only inherit the casino if Jack remains a good-for-nothing. Jack also revealed that he was also a competent poker player all along under the tutelage of a master poker player but feigned weakness to assess Uno's competence at managing the casino. With renewed respect for each other, they became friends and Uno was eventually rehired by Jack as the casino group's CEO while Jack will travel around the world with his teacher and participate in various poker tournament.

Cast

as Jack Cheung *

as Uno *

as Ms. Fong * Stephy Tang as Smiley *

Cherrie Ying Cherrie Ying Choi-yi (born 20 June 1983), better known as Ting Yim-yi or Ting Man, is a Taiwan-born Hong Kong actress. She moved to New York City at a young age, and later to Hong Kong. Her nickname is "Dingding" (丁丁), and she is often credit ...

as Season * Kama Lo as Lucky *

Jo Kuk Jo Koo Cho-lam (谷祖琳; born 16 May 1977), sometimes credited as Jo Koo is a Hong Kong actress and singer. Personal life In 2010, Koo married businessman Andrew Lau Wing-hang (劉穎恆), whom she met while studying in Australia. The couple h ...

as Joan *

Wong You-Nam Wong You Nam (黄又南) is a Hong Kong actor. Filmography *'' Just One Look'' (2002) *'' The Mummy, Aged 19'' (2002) *'' Anna in Kungfuland'' (2003) *'' Star Runner'' (2003) *'' A.V.'' (2005) *'' Hooked on You'' (2007) *'' Linger'' (2008) *'' La ...

as Ho *

Lam Suet Lam Suet (; born 1964), or Lin Xue, is a Hong Kong film actor. Life and career Lam was born in Tianjin, and came to Hong Kong as a youth in 1979 to receive inheritance money left by his grandfather. Soon after, all the money had been squander ...

as Annoying gambler *

Jacky Heung Jacky Heung Cho () is a Hong Kong actor. He is the elder son of film producer/presenter Charles Heung and his wife Tiffany Chen Tiffany Chen Ming-Yin (born January 15, 1959) is a Hong Kong administrative film producer, agent and investor. ...

as David Lin * Cheung Siu-Fai as Fei *

Joe Cheung Joe Cheung Tung-cho () is a Hong Kong director, producer, scriptwriter and actor. Filmography As director * '' The Incredible Kung Fu Master'' (1979) * '' Killer Wears White'' (1980) * '' Dan bo dan'' (1981) * ''Pom Pom'' (1984) * '' Feng liu z ...

as Fernado

Professional players

Some notable professional poker players including David Rheem, Nam Le, Liz Lieu, James Sudworth, Michael Marvanek, Christer Andersson, Winfred Yu and Johnny Chan appeared in the film.

Release

Poker King was released in Hong Kong on 22 October 2009. The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

and

VCD Video CD (abbreviated as VCD, and also known as Compact Disc Digital Video) is a home video format and the first format for distributing films on standard optical discs. The format was widely adopted in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the ...

on 18 December 2009 and Blu-ray Disc on 5 January 2010. Releases include a Blu-ray edition with bonus DVD containing making of and interviews with poker champions Winfred Yu and Johnny Chan; DVD + Playing Cards edition; and a Special Edition DVD with a lenticular cover instead of the regular DVD case, a deck of playing cards, and a notebook.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 1471236, Pou hark wong *
Poker King
' at the

Hong Kong Movie Database The Hong Kong Movie Database (HKMDB) is a bilingual (English and Chinese) website started in 1995 by Hong Kong resident Ryan Law to provide a repository for information about movies originating from Hong Kong and the people who created them. T ...

*
Poker King
' at the Hong Kong Cinemagic 2009 films 2009 comedy films 2000s Cantonese-language films China Star Entertainment Group films Hong Kong comedy films Films set in Macau Poker films 2000s Hong Kong films