Rounders (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. A novelization of the film was written by Kevin Canty and released by Hyperion Books. Plot New York City law student and gifted poker player Mike McDermott dreams of winning the World Series of Poker. At an underground Texas hold 'em game run by Russian mobster Teddy "KGB", an overconfident Mike loses his entire $30,000 bankroll in a single hand. Shaken, he promises his girlfriend and fellow student Jo he has quit poker, and concentrates on law schoo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Dahl
John Dahl (born June 15, 1956) is an American film and television director and writer, best known for his work in the neo-noir genre. Early life John Dahl was born and raised in Billings, Montana, the second of four children (his brother is filmmaker Rick Dahl). His father worked as an insurance salesman, and his mother was a homemaker. He graduated from Billings Senior High School in 1974. His interest in film began at the age of seventeen, when he first saw ''A Clockwork Orange'' at a Billings drive-in theater, as told to Robert K. Elder in an interview for '' The Film That Changed My Life''. He first attended the Montana State University, and then transferred to Montana State University'School of Film and Photography where he received a degree in film. While at MSU, Dahl was a student of Bill Pullman. His first feature film at MSU was titled ''The Death Mutants'' made for $12,000. While at Montana State he played guitar in the punk rock band "The Pugs". He also met hi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Poker
Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules in different places. While the earliest known form of the game was played with just 20 cards, today it is usually played with a standard 52-card deck, although in countries where short packs are common, it may be played with 32, 40 or 48 cards.Parlett (2008), pp. 568–570. Thus poker games vary in deck configuration, the number of cards in play, the number Poker dealer, dealt face up or face down and the number Community card poker, shared by all players, but all have rules that involve one or more rounds of Betting in poker, betting. In most modern poker games, the first round of betting begins with one or more of the players making some form of a forced bet (the ''blind (poker), blind'' or ''ante''). In standard poker, each player bets a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bottom Dealing
Bottom dealing or base dealing is a sleight of hand technique in which the bottom card from a deck of playing cards is dealt instead of the top card. It is used by magicians as a type of card illusion, and by card sharps and mechanics, and as a method of cheating in poker or other card games. The deck is typically held in a modified mechanic's grip in the dealer's non-dominant hand. The dealer slides the top card partially off the deck as if to deal it, while the dominant hand instead takes hold of the bottom card. The card is snapped away from the deck while the top card is reset. Unless the dealer is particularly skilled at bottom dealing, the technique produces a slightly different sound from standard dealing, and the second-to-bottom card may be drawn slightly out of place. This is called a "hanger". Bottom dealing and second dealing both have application in performance magic. Bottom dealing and second dealing, pp. 27-31. The Glide, pp. 97-99. Bottom dealing experts incl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New York State Police
The New York State Police (NYSP) is the state police of the U.S. state of New York; it is part of the New York State Executive Department and employs over 5,000 sworn state troopers and 711 non-sworn members. The New York State Police are responsible for patrolling state highways, rural communities, and providing law enforcement services across the state. History Like most U.S. states, New York did not establish a state police force until the early twentieth century. In part this reflected the pattern of settlement across a wide frontier. A number of proposals to create such a force during the early 1900s, but faced considerable opposition from trade union interests. They feared the police would be used against union organizing, as was happening in several other states. Following the 1913 murder of Sam Howell, a construction foreman in Westchester County, and failure of the local police to arrest suspects he had named before his death, the New York State Legislature passed ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Binghamton, New York
Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the confluence of the Susquehanna and Chenango Rivers. Binghamton is the principal city and cultural center of the Binghamton metropolitan area (also known as Greater Binghamton, or historically the Triple Cities, including Endicott and Johnson City), home to a quarter million people. The city's population, according to the 2020 United States census, is 47,969. From the days of the railroad, Binghamton was a transportation crossroads and a manufacturing center, and has been known at different times for the production of cigars, shoes, and computers. IBM was founded nearby, and the flight simulator was invented in the city, leading to a notable concentration of electronics- and defense-oriented firms. This sustained economic prosperity ear ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pimp
Procuring, pimping, or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term "pimp" has often been used for female procurers as well) or a brothel keeper, is an agent for prostitutes who collects part of their earnings. The procurer may receive this money in return for advertising services, physical protection, or for providing and possibly monopolizing a location where the prostitute may solicit clients. Like prostitution, the legality of certain actions of a madam or a pimp vary from one region to the next. Examples of procuring include: * Trafficking a person into a country for the purpose of soliciting sex * Operating a business where prostitution occurs * Transporting a prostitute to the location of their arrangement * Deriving financial gain from the prostitution of another Etymology ''Procurer'' The term ''p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Russian Mafia
The Russian mafia ( or ), also known as Bratva ( ; ) less as Obshchak (Общак) or Brigades (Бригады) , is a collective of various organized crime related elements originating or/and operating in Russia. In December 2009, Timur Lakhonin, the head of the National Central Bureau of Interpol within Russia, stated that "Certainly, there is crime involving our former compatriots abroad, but there is no data suggesting that an organized structure of criminal groups comprising former Russians exists abroad" on the topic of international Russian criminal gangs. In August 2010, Alain Bauer, a criminologist from France, said that the Russian mafia "is one of the best structured criminal organizations in Europe, with a quasi-military operation" in their international activities. The Russian mafia, according to Mark Galeotti, an expert in modern Russia, is a highly organized and global criminal network that emerged and expanded significantly after the collapse of the Sovi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Texas Hold 'em
Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is the most popular variant of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five Community card poker, community cards are dealt face up in three stages. The stages consist of a series of three cards ("the flop"), later an additional single card ("the turn" or "fourth street"), and a final card ("the river" or "fifth street"). Each player seeks the best List of poker hands, five-card poker hand from any combination of the seven cards: the five community cards and their two hole cards. Players have Betting in poker, betting options to check, call, raise, or fold. Rounds of betting take place before the flop is dealt and after each subsequent deal. The player who has the best hand and has not folded by the end of all betting rounds wins all of the money bet for the hand, known as the pot. In certain situations, a "split pot" or "tie" can occur when two player ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World Series Of Poker
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a series of poker tournaments held annually in Paradise, Nevada, and since 2004, sponsored by Eldorado Resorts, Caesars Entertainment. It dates its origins to 1970, when Benny Binion invited seven of the best-known poker players to the Binion's Gambling Hall and Hotel, Horseshoe Casino for a single tournament, with a set start and stop time, and a winner determined by a secret ballot of the seven players. As of 2020, the WSOP consists of 101 events, with most List of poker variants, major poker variants featured. However, in recent years, over half of the events have been variants of Texas hold 'em. Events traditionally take place during one day or over several consecutive days during the series in June and July. However, starting in 2008, November Nine, the Main Event final table was delayed until November. The 2012 and 2016 Main Event final tables commenced in October because of the 2012 United States presidential election, United States pre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hachette Books
Hachette Books, formerly Hyperion Books, is a general-interest book imprint of the Perseus Books Group, which is a division of Hachette (publisher), Hachette Book Group and ultimately a part of Lagardère Group. Established in 1990, Hachette publishes general-interest fiction and non-fiction books for adults. A former subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, it was originally named after Hyperion Avenue, the location of Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Studios prior to 1939. Hachette took over a 1,000 book backlist when Hyperion was purchased from Disney in 2013 with 250 bestseller, bestselling novels, including Mitch Albom’s ''The Five People You Meet in Heaven''. History Hyperion Books Hyperion Books was founded in 1990 from scratch with no backlist under Disney's then-C.E.O. Michael Eisner and Robert S. Miller.Getlin, JoshHyperion founder exits April 04, 2008. Los Angeles Times. Accessed July 3, 2013. Hyperion's strategy was to not purchase backlists, but to go aft ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kevin Canty (author)
Kevin Canty (born January 17, 1953) is an American novelist and short story writer. He is a faculty member in the English department at the University of Montana at Missoula, where he currently resides. Canty received his master's degree in English from the University of Florida in 1990. He received his M.F.A. in creative writing from the University of Arizona in 1993. Personal life Kevin Canty is the brother of the musicians Brendan Canty Brendan John Canty (born March 9, 1966) is an American musician, composer, producer and filmmaker, best known as the drummer for the band Fugazi (band), Fugazi. In 2007, ''Stylus Magazine'' ranked Canty at No. 29 on the list of "50 Greatest R ... and James Canty. Bibliography Novels *''Into the Great Wide Open'' (1997) *''Rounders'' (1998) *''Nine Below Zero'' (1999) *''Winslow in Love'' (2005) *''Everything'' (2010) *''The Underworld'' (2017) Short fiction •''Happy Endings'' Collections *''A Stranger in This World'' (1994) ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Novelization
A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of home video, but continue to find commercial success as part of marketing campaigns for major films. They are often written by accomplished writers based on an early draft of the film's script and on a tight deadline. History and purpose Novelizations of films began to be produced in the 1910s and 1920s for silent films such as '' Les Vampires'' (1915–16) and '' London After Midnight'' (1927). One of the first films with spoken dialogue to be novelized was '' King Kong'' (1933). Film novelizations were especially profitable during the 1970s before home video became available, as they were then the only way to re-experience popular movies other than television airing or a rerelease in theaters. The novelizations of '' Star Wars'' (1977 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |