When Matt Damon’s Mike goes back into the underground world of poker to help his friend Worm (Edward Norton) get out of debt, you know it’s going to be good. And for sure, the epic climax game between Mike and Teddy KGB (John Malkovich) is definitely one of the most intense Texas Hold’em games we’ve ever seen. While the cult classic movie starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton and John Malkovich is widely recognized as the best and most influential poker movie of all time, there are many others out there, and most of them feature scenes with memorable poker hands. High stakes, large pots and bluffing are what makes these scenes so great. Here are our top 10. Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) loses his money in a poker game against Russian gangster Teddy 'KGB' (John Malkovich). Under pressure from his girlfriend, Jo (Gretchen Mol), he promises to quit.
Given the prevailing attitude towards gambling and sports betting in the U.S, it seems strange to think that Hollywood loves nothing more than a suspenseful poker or casino scene. Interestingly, we have seen a huge number of casino and gambling scenes in a host of movies through the ages, while the diversity of films in which these take place has also evolved during the last 20 years.
Much of this has been inspired by the rise of online gaming, which has grown increasingly popular in developed economies in the UK and broken down many of the traditional barriers to gaming. Some online poker sites in the UK are all well-regulated and free-to-access, for example, introducing gaming as a staple feature of popular culture and popularising it among new player demographics in the process.
10 – Rounders
This entire film centres on gambling, although it is the final scene featuring Matt Damon (Mike) and John Malkovich (Teddy KGB) that steals the show. As the two compete in a final, winner-take-all round of Texas Hold’em Poker, there is incredible tension and intensity that keeps the viewer engaged before the film finally arrives at the outcome that everyone wants! The scene is embellished by the fact that Mike had borrowed $10,000 from his old Professor in a bid to repay his friends’ debts, which adds an element of emotion too.
9 – Run Lola Run
This is a great and underrated film and one that also includes a genuinely enthralling (not to mention unusually uplifting) casino scene. This sees Lola in need of quick cash to save her boyfriend, so she approaches a roulette table and places all that she has on 20 black. Even though the odds are 1,296-1 to win, you just know that Lola is destined for a huge success!
8 – Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
In an age of instantly accessible, freeroll poker tournaments, the notion of smoke-filled backroom gameplay seems horribly outdated. There is something alluring about old-school poker, however, and this was captured perfectly during the Guy Ritchie hit Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The stakes rise incredibly high during one (and unfortunately rigged) game of Three Card Brag between Fast Eddy (Nick Moran) and Hatchet Harry (P.H. Moriarty), with things getting hairy for the former as he needs to borrow money to stay in the game. This is worth watching for the darkness and menace that engulfs the scene alone.
7 – Ocean’s Eleven
Next, we consider a similar scene, as expert confidence trickster Brad Pitt teachers a small group of actors how to play poker. Filled with humour and witty dialogue this is one of the more engaging gambling scenes you will ever see while George Clooney’s cameo is eye-catching in the extreme. For anyone who has ever gone through the process of learning poker and its various iterations, this scene will tickle your funny bone!
6 – Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
While Austin Powers may be considered the anti-Bond, Mike Myers knows how to star in a blackjack scene. In this film, the redoubtable Powers engages Number Two (Robert Wagner) in a hilarious game of blackjack, making light of the tension usually associated with gambling. The fact that the game is also being played wrong only adds to the sense of fun, as it takes a light-hearted glance at a usually serious topic!
5 – Tombstone
This list would not be complete without a Western film, as the Wild West of the U.S became the home of poker and gambling during the 19th century. Tombstone is our pick, featuring Val Kilmer in one of his very best roles as Doc Holiday and including a number of brilliant poker scenes. One, in particular, sees Doc liquored up and in good spirits after 36 consecutive hours of poker, throughout which he manages to maintain his sharp edge and emerge victoriously.
4 – Swingers
Memorable for the appearance of an incredibly young Vince Vaughn, Swingers sees a classic road-trip to Vegas and outstanding casino action throughout. Vaughn’s character Trent forces his friend Mike (Jon Favreau) to join him as he visits Vegas in a bid to end his financial woes. Watching Mike pretend to be a high-roller as he buys into a $100 minimum bet table with a $300 bet is worth the entry fee alone, and this is another film that successfully makes light of casino gameplay.
3 – Cool Hand Luke
John Malkovich Poker Scenes
When trying to justify the inclusion of this film on the list, I kept coming back to the fact that it has Paul Newman in it. Undoubtedly the coolest actor of his generation, Newman had one of the best poker faces of all time and he used this to perfection as the lead character in this title. He also wins for the line ‘Sometimes nothin’ can be a real cool hand’, which taps into the influence of bluffing as a key poker strategy.
2 – Hard Eight
This film is all about gambling, that high speed, high thrill, risk-taking scenario makes for a very fast-paced film that is well worth watching. While it is one for the older gamblers, young people will also like the class and style this move has.
1 – Goodfellas
This scene is fleeting and not connected to the main Goodfellas narrative, but is still manages to stand out thanks largely to the incredibly menacing and downright terrifying performance of Joe Pesci as everybody’s favourite lunatic Tommy DeVito. Before DeVito met a sticky end, he shoots a barman in the foot after an honest misunderstanding during a good-natured game of poker. He later kills the same man during a similar game, after the unfortunate ‘Spider’ engages Tommy in a brief and lethal bout of banter.
Poker hit a heyday back in the early 2000s, and we aren’t over it yet. We love nothing more than vicariously experiencing the highs and lows of the poker table. In fact, our love of poker on our television screens is second only to our love of poker on our computer screens with Agen IDN poker.
Watching our favorite stars hit the highs and lows of a great poker game always gets us fired up, and luckily there is no shortage of great films that feature our beloved card game. Here are the very best poker scenes from movies. Some of them were buried deep in the recesses of our brains!
Maverick
While the final poker scene gets the most love, it’s the first poker scene in Maverick that’s hard to beat. In Maverick, Mel Gibson takes the lead as the title character, but Jodie Foster shines as con artist Annabelle Bransford in the western comedy about a high stakes poker game. Foster is channeling her inner southern belle, even as she sits at a table full of some super rough looking players.
The table happily accepts Gibson’s Maverick at the game when he promises to spend his time losing to the crew. While Maverick collects the players’ tells and bluffs, the players collect Maverick’s money. The fun begins when the guns get pulled.
Ocean’s Eleven
The poker scene at the beginning of Ocean’s Eleven with Brad Pitt & George Clooney is just classic Hollywood, the intro to the first installment of the franchise. It’s a friendly game between buddies before Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and the squad pulls off the full-blown heist.
There are a lot of great quotable lines in the game; one of the fan favorites is “I’m not sure what four nines do, but the ace I think is pretty high.”
Rounders
Another movie where the opening poker scene doesn’t get the appreciation it deserves, the beginning of Rounders sets the stage for the entire film. Starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton, and John Malkovich and released in 1998, Rounders cheerfully buys into compulsive gambling. The hero gambles away his tuition money, his girlfriend, his law degree, and nearly his life, and in the end, he’s still a happy gambler.
Acting out of desperation to repay debts, Mike borrows $10,000 from his old professor to buy into a poker game. The subtle nuances, meticulous planning, and painstaking performances exhibited by these characters made viewers wonder what they could do with the right partner.
Tombstone
Easily one of the very best westerns of all time, and one of Val Kilmer’s most iconic roles, the gambling scene in Tombstone has Kilmer’s Doc Holiday hitting the highest levels of drunkenness. After an epic 36 straight hours of poker, he’s feeling pretty good, and still his hilariously wry self.
In a movie full of Holiday’s hilarious one-liners, Holiday rattles off one of the very best in this scene, “Maybe poker just isn’t your game. I’ve got an idea, let’s have a spelling contest.”
Casino Royale
When you think about James Bond, what comes to mind? Well, most of us love the enigmatic Agent 007 because of his casino cool.
John Malkovich Poker Scene Game
The second poker scene in Casino Royale sets stakes insanely high during the game of Texas Hold’em between James Bond (Daniel Craig) going against the terrifying villain Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen).
While we all know there’s never any shortage of villainous foes lurking in the background to ramp up the tension in a James Bond film, there is definitely danger lurking both in and out of the casino as millions are thrown around in this game.