The best poker movies in cinema history

4 min read

Since the birth of the Seventh Art, cinema and entertainment have gone hand in hand. From Casablanca in fact, there are countless movies dedicated to cards and arcades or set in the most famous casinos on the planet. Today we will explore some of them and focus on one of the most loved and followed games: poker. And here The best movies ever about Texas Hold’em and its varieties are more or less known.

Poker is still one of the most popular and played disciplines in the world today. In this age we mostly play online, these are available Thematic pages in poker Thematic broadcast channels that offer guides on rules and strategies are quite successful. One of the most beautiful Texas Hold’em movies ever is dedicated to this discipline: “Rounders” Made in 1998, it is a film that is still considered the cornerstone of genre cinema today.

The events of Rounders focus on the adventures of Mike McDermott (played by Matt Damon), who participates in a series of very high-stakes poker games to win in order to help his friend Worm (Edward Norton) pay off his debts. But things will get very difficult when Teddy KGB comes across Mike, masterfully played by John Malkovich.

Another extremely well-constructed film. “It’s all in there” The leading lady is Alicia Anderson (portrayed by Dominique Swain), known as “Ace”, an expert player who learned the rules of Texas Hold’em from her father, a former US soldier. After his parent’s death, Ace creates a team of professional players and uses the money he earns for his medical studies.

It deserves special mention, especially considering the cameos of some of the greatest champions in the history of the discipline. “Rules of the game” The story is set in Las Vegas and follows the adventures of Huck Cheever (Erica Bana), the son of professional Texas Hold’em player and two-time world champion LC Cheever (Robert Duvall).

Huck is a very talented player, but he is famous around the world for great victories and equally great defeats. He will be stabilized by his relationship with singer Billie Offer (the wonderful Drew Barrymore), who will help him get the entry fee for the World Series of Poker Main Event, the World Series. Here he will have to challenge his father again and again to achieve his third world title. The Rules of the Game owes its fame to the presence of some of the greatest living poker legends, including Doyle Brunson, Phil Hellmuth, Daniel Negreanu and Erick Lindgren. To make the dialogues and game scenes more believable, the screenwriters hired Brunson as a consultant.

Few people know this, but even in Italian cinema there are some films dedicated to the world of poker, but this time in the traditional version with 5 cards. Firstly “Christmas gift” A 1986 work by Pupi Avati, starring Diego Abatantuono, Alessandro Haber, George Eastman, Carlo Delle Piane and Gianni Cavina. The entire film focuses on a poker session that will highlight the worst aspects of the character of each of the participants.

Poker and comedy also continue to dominate “Ace” 1981 film starring Adriano Celentano and Edwige Fenech. In Castellano and Pipolo’s comedy, Ace (Celentano) is a bluffing phenomenon at the green table, but along the way he will find himself face to face with the terrible Marseillaise. Will he be able to beat him?

Final closure for the oldest title of this review, so “The Boy from Cincinnati”. We are in 1965, director Norman Jew (author of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “The Hot Night of Inspector Tibbs,” among others) and the lead character is Steve McQueen. Starring McQueen as a poker player challenging the game’s grand masters in 1930s New Orleans, the film has all the ingredients for what would prove to be a masterpiece of its time.

You May Also Like

More From Author

+ There are no comments

Add yours