Poker Movies

"Maverick" with Mel Gibson

I reall enjoyed LUCKY YOU with Eric Bannah and Robert Duball. to great actors. i loved the whole theme as well as seeing lots of my favorite players in it. great movie, grea cast, should have won 10 oscars.

On Cablevision where I live on channel 353 (The Western Channel), I watch the original series Maverick with a young James Garner. Hes a drifter/Gambler. They show some play by play hands in most episodes. Fun stuff.

Nice list. I have quite a few of those, but there are a couple I've never heard of. I know this isn't one that is out yet, but there have been some recent talks about them making a sequel to Rounders. It's even listed on IMDB as being in the talks.

Thanks for that list of poker movies. I want to watch them all.

IMDB lists Rounders 2 in production.

But what is the is the definton of a "poker movie"? Is it that the theme of the movie is centered around poker, or is it simply that it contains poker scenes?

Do you know if "Rounders II" will involve some of the same actors? Just curious...enjoyed the first one. I've seen & own most of the list above of poker movies...not just because they involve poker; but because, IMO, they are great movies!

To answer your question about Rounders II, I saw an article a couple weeks ago talking about how all of the actors are on board to film a sequel if a script was written for it, but it has not been written yet, so it is in the very early stages of production.

Hmmm...I'm a really good writer...perhaps I should write the script......did you happen to notice the Production Company name? I guess it would be the same as the original though.

Thank you LarkMarlow, I found all of them on Netflix except,
The Big Blind--a Real Poker Movie
Kenny Rogers Legend of the Gambler

And, I've seen all the bond movies and the Ocean movies. But, Wow, nice big list!!! Thanks for doing that!!! It will take me a few months to watch them all, but I will!!! Thanks again!!!


Also, while I was putting all the movies on my Netflix list, another movie poped up that looked like it could be pretty good, so I ordered it too!

Deal (2007)
Ex-card shark Tommy Vinson (Burt Reynolds) swore himself off the cards years ago, but when he takes on a cocky young player named Alex Stillman (Bret Harrison) as his protégé, he quickly finds himself drawn back into the world of high-stakes poker. Co-written and directed by Gil Cates Jr., this character-driven drama also pokerstars Shannon Elizabeth, Jon Thomas and Maria Mason.

Not poker, but Blackjack.. but I enjoyed "21"

21 was a good movie too, even though I knew the entire story before watching the movie because I have heard it 100 times. I think they are all pretty good movies, and most of them are so fictuous that it's hilarious, especially when it comes to how they portray tells(Cookies in Rounders and the bleeding eye in Casino Royale, lol)

Look for Deal on NetFlix - I just watched it last week. Nice movie with fairly up to date TV poker star types. Thanks for the long list.

Casino Royale - not a good poker movie. The sequence where they have to explain what a "tell" is just kills me. BTW - Make sure you get the Daniel Craig version of Casino Royale, and not the 1967 David Niven/Peter Sellers one... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEnoKqiGJFI No poker there, just slapstick.

Smokin' Aces was an awesome flick!

I totally agree about Casino Royale--the poker portrayed in that flick was close to if not totally embarassing.

And how could I have forgotten "Deal"--terrific movie.

I'm really excited about the possibility of "Rounders II" as well as a film based on the book by Jim McManus titled "Positively Fifth Street".

Will definitely check out "Smokin' Aces" too.

I also forgot about the Maverick movie. Actually if my memory is correct, there were 2 of them--one in 1960 starring Garner himself, and then the Mel Gibson remake.

I watch the black and white reruns of the original TV show on cable as well and really enjoy them. Alot of pros apprently do too--I've seen testimonials by Doyle Brunson, Mike Caro and Clonie Gowan in between episodes.

I didn't see you list the movie "21" with Kevin Spacey and that one blonde chick can't remember her name though. It was mostly about counting cards but its still poker right? Anyways it was a good movie..

From the list you have I would say my favorite was the Stu Ungar movie and the worse was Lucky you, I love Drew Barrymore but that dude could not act if his life depended on it.

You don't count cards is poker, you count outs and odds. "21" is about the game 21, also called Black Jack.

While I liked the movie, I don't recall any actual poker being played in it.

Missing the point but...

"The Way Of The Gun" is a bad ass poker movie. Not that there's any poker in it...

There is a lot of hip-shot, quick on the draw, tactical thinking in it though. Lot's of Roshambo-like, levels of thinking, problems with characters playing for blood and money. That's like poker...

It get's a little slow but has a killer car chase and LOT's of guns.

They do play hearts at one point.

If you are interested, there was a show on the History Channel called Breaking Vegas and one of their episodes(actually, it was the biggest episode they had) was about McManus's run at the WSOP. You can stream it on Netflix as well.

great poker scenes in the john ford/henry fonda "my darling clementine".
"i love poker, every hand is a different problem"
maybe my quote is a little off but...off the top of my head there.

i know i posted in another thread youtube clips of some funny poker scenes from a spaghetti western called "trinity is still my name"...totally unrealistic...cheatin-est hand of all time, full house vs full house vs 4 of a kind vs 4 of a kind (5 card draw)...i say you been cheatin

the infamous dead man's hand. near the end of "the plainsman" staring gary cooper. poor wild bill.

there's an excellent sergio corbucci spaghetti western that will leave you heartbroken saying wtf! its the western in the snow, called "the great silence". one of the pokerstars of the film is the insane klaus kinski, who plays a cut-throat bounty hunter. one scene shows him, among other bounty hunters carelessly gambling away the bounties they've collected on innocent heads in a draw game, because there's an endless supply of people to kill and collect on, and of course the hero of the film attempting to intervene on their fun little game

yeah, they're old movies, but we all know old movies are way better than new movies. aside from cards, westerns are my favorite genre probably by a longshot. the fact that in so many of them are low-down yankee LIARS playin cards in the saloons in the background of the dialog, is a bonus, and often the perfect dirty, rotten setting for the good guy and the bad guy to have a little run in

I just watched it. Man McManus sucked, lol. The way they showed it he just looked like a lucky calling station. He turned 1k into 250k!!! Good for him, however was all due to luck from what I saw in the show.

Hehehe it's in my collection. Juliette Lewis who looks like Gavin Smith's twin sister shot the moon in it.

Got a Howard Lederer DVD for a buck, hell that's cheaper than Amazon. Just can't get the cover photo to watch it.

If we can expand to television, apparently Star Trekk The Next Generation has a running poker theme. There's an article about it somewhere on the web. Interesting read. Funny I never really thought about the two as going hand in hand before.

Oh hey why hasn't anyone mentioned "Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch"? Since we're apparently talking gambling and strategy movies, and not solely poker films, they're must adds. Though three card brag does look a lot like poker.

The Stu Ungar biopic mentioned isn't half bad even though the guy in it doesn't look nearly enough like Stu to keep me believing it's him. I mean, way too much nose + doesn't really look like a kid in the beginning.

Better is the one that I think was made for espn and features interviews from the pros. You can watch it on pokertube. "One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stu Ungar " it's way better than the "dramatized" version and includes interviews with the guys who actually played with him.

Help, I can't find two movies I really want to see. I want to see this biography special that was on ESPN or Fox Sports Net again. I saw it b4 I got a dvr, and I really wanna see it again. It's all about Doyle Brunson, Barry Greenstein, and if I remember correctly, Jennifer Harman was in it as well. It was really cool but I only got to see it the once.

Also, where do I get this http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0423096/ Apparently it profiles Gus Hansen, and it's the sort of poker movie I've been more or less dying to watch. Not because it's Gus mind you, adorable or not, it's the concept of following a great player around and picking their brain on camera that has me intrigued.

Just watched "Deal". Awesome movie highly recommended for a poker movie

Yea, the way that they portray it, it makes you think that just about anyone can have a good run of luck and make it deep at the WSOP just by reading one poker book, lol. I have played against McManus on Tilt before a while back, he is always playing the low limits and he isn't the best. I also downloaded Positively Fifth Street on audio and listened to in on my way to and from work, and that was pretty good. It's the same story, only in way more detail(and you can tell a couple places where the History Channel got it mixed up or wrong.)

Speaking of TV shows, a friend of mine mentioned the Deadwood series that used to be on HBO. Did anyone watch those? Worth buying the series on DVD?

Also, I wanted to mention that if anyone is looking for the poker-based "The Big Blind", remember to go to the website rather than a rental place or Amazon. Reason? There is another movie also called "The Big Blind" which is a "16mm freestyle snowboard film shot on location around the world". Who knew?!

I watched "The Grand" last night. OMG, it's funny as sh%*!!! Must watch, if you like "A Mighty Wind" or "Dog Show" or "This is Spinal Tap" it's a movie like that, only with poker!!!

Actually there was more of a plot to it, but there was poker, they sat at the tables and had the signs they would use.....but more to get that villian, its been a while, this may not really be a poker movie but it was an awesome flick


I guess check it out but not a total poker flick. The poker was a side note. I will have to watch it again.

I'm laughing so much again, just reading your post Trigga! Yep, that one is definitely a keeper. When I am feeling bluesy about life at the tables I watch that flick to lift my spirits.

I'm looking forward to hearing what you think about "All In". Definitely entertaining as well but in an entirely different way. For some reason I really, really, really like that movie.

didnt read thru all the posts so excuse me if this was posted before but the cincinnati kid is the second best poker movie behind rounders