Rounders (1998 film)

''Rounders'' is a 1998 American drama film about the underground world of high-stakes poker, directed by John Dahl and starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton. The story follows two friends who need to win at high-stakes poker to quickly pay off a large debt. The term ''rounder'' refers to a person traveling around from city to city seeking high-stakes card games.

''Rounders'' opened to mixed reviews and was moderately successful at the box office. Following the poker boom in the early 2000s, the film became a cult hit.

Plot

New York City law student and gifted poker player Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) dreams of winning the World Series of Poker. At an underground Texas hold 'em game run by Russian mobster Teddy "KGB" (John Malkovich), an overconfident Mike loses his entire $30,000 bankroll in a single hand. Shaken, he promises his girlfriend and fellow student Jo (Gretchen Mol) he has quit poker, and concentrates on law school. His mentor Joey Knish (John Turturro) offers to stake him to rebuild his bankroll but Mike declines, and instead accepts a part-time job to make ends meet.

Several months pass and Mike stays true to his promise until his childhood friend Lester "Worm" Murphy (Edward Norton) is released from prison. While Mike is an honest player, Worm is a hustler and unapologetic cheat. To help Worm pay off a debt, Mike sets him up with games across town and reluctantly sits in on a game, interfering with his studies and his relationship with Jo. Mike allows Worm to play on his credit at the Chesterfield Club; however, after a profitable session, he takes the profit and a loan, beginning a tab in Mike's name. Worm runs into Grama (Michael Rispoli), a dangerous pimp, who has bought Worm’s debt – Worm now owes $25,000 directly to Grama, who is working for KGB. Grama takes Worm’s $10,000 he left the Chesterfield with, threatening him to pay the rest. As Mike returns to his poker lifestyle and friends, Jo ends their relationship.

Mike learns from Petra (Famke Janssen) at the Chesterfield that Worm has now racked up a $7,000 debt in Mike’s name. In Atlantic City, Worm tells Mike about his debt to Grama but withholds that he is working for KGB. Mike proposes to Grama that Worm pay weekly installments; Grama considers the offer but also mocks Worm for his inability to pay him. Worm responds by insulting Grama and as the two nearly come to blows; Mike defuses the situation by agreeing to vouch for Worm and an angry Grama gives them five days to pay the remaining $15,000. Mike decides to help Worm win the money by playing in several games in and around the city.

On a winning streak, Mike earns $7,200 in three days, but still needs to double it in forty-eight hours. Worm directs Mike to an out-of-town game hosted by New York state troopers, where he wins almost the full $15,000 before Worm unexpectedly joins the game. The troopers catch Worm base-dealing to help Mike; they are beaten up and relieved of their entire bankroll. Worm finally confesses that Grama is working for KGB. With their lives in danger Worm decides to flee, but Mike returns to the city, cutting ties with Worm.

Mike asks Grama for more time, to no avail. He asks Knish for the money but is refused out of principle. During the conversation with Knish, Mike reveals his motivation for taking the ill-fated risk at KGB's club (citing beating poker legend Johnny Chan at a single hand in Atlantic City), and why he thinks he can compete and possibly win the World Series of Poker. Knish stays firm. Desperate, Mike asks his law school professor Petrovsky (Martin Landau), who loans him $10,000. Mike challenges KGB to a second heads-up no-limit Texas hold'em game for the remaining debt, with winner-take-all stakes, which KGB accepts. Mike beats KGB in the first session, winning $20,000. KGB offers to let Mike’s winnings "ride" and continue the game, but Mike – with enough to pay off most of his debts – declines. As he is about to leave, KGB taunts Mike that he is paying him with the money that he lost to KGB from their previous game. Mike changes his mind and decides to continue playing.

Mike doubles the blinds at the risk of losing everything to KGB again, and possibly his life. As the night wears on, he spots KGB's tell and folds, deducing that KGB has a better hand. Irate at the missed chance to win it all, KGB begins to play on "tilt". In the final hand, Mike baits a boastful KGB into going all-in and defeats him with a nut straight. KGB throws a tantrum at having been lured into a mistake. Despite Grama’s urging, KGB, rattled, calls off his goons and admits that Mike won fairly, allowing him to leave with his winnings.

With over $60,000, Mike settles Worm’s $15,000 debt to Grama, the Chesterfield’s $6,000 credit, Petrovsky’s $10,000 loan, and restores his original bankroll of "three stacks of high society." He drops out of law school, says goodbye to Jo, and leaves New York for Las Vegas to play in the World Series of Poker.

Cast

* Matt Damon as Mike McDermott
* Edward Norton as Lester "Worm" Murphy
* John Malkovich as Teddy "KGB"
* John Turturro as Joey Knish†
* Famke Janssen as Petra
* Murphy Guyer as Sergeant Detweiler
* Michael Rispoli as Grama
* Martin Landau as Judge Abe Petrovsky
* Gretchen Mol as Jo
* Bill Yeagle as Russian Thug
* Melina Kanakaredes as Barbara
* Josh Mostel as Zagosh
* Tom Aldredge as Judge Marinacci
* Michael Lombard as District Attorney Shields
* Lenny Clarke as Savino
* Chris Messina as Higgins
* Goran Višnjić as Maurice
* David Zayas as Trooper Osborne
* Johnny Chan as Himself
* Bill Camp as Eisenberg
* Josh Pais as Weitz
* Adam LeFevre as Sean Frye

† Turturro's character was based on underground poker player Joel "Bagels" Rosenberg

Production

Principal photography for ''Rounders'' began in December 1997; it took place mostly in New York City. Exceptions include the law school scenes (filmed at Rutgers School of Law-Newark) and the State Trooper poker game and parking lot scenes (filmed at the B.P.O Elks Lodge in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey

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