Why Are Movie Poker Scenes Always so Bad?

20:11
23 Nov

The classic poker movie Rounders turned 25-years-old in 2023, and it’s a classic for a very good reason: it’s actually realistic.

Since the dawn of filmmaking, poker scenes have been totally unrealistic in almost all cases, possibly barring some old Westerns where someone gets caught cheating and ends up getting shot.

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So why is this the case? Surely the directors can call in someone who actually knows what the scene should look like; how the players really behave.

And what about the rules? They are often forgotten in the search for drama.

How many times have you seen a player chucking his car keys into the middle of the table when the money has run out?

And the good, old-fashioned string raise. “I call…and raise you..”, they say. Not in our games, mate.

And why is every other hand we see a royal flush over a straight flush?

Of course, the drama in a poker scene is essential. There needs to be some kind of underlying conflict going on to create the necessary tension. After all, the poker is secondary to the story.



In Molly’s Game, there are a couple of brutal errors that should never have been allowed to pass the cut.

In one scene, Molly is talking about Harlan Eustice being tight because he folds “64 percent of the time.” What kind of maniac nonsense is this?

There is also talk of introducing rake half way through a hand!

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Does Casino Royale have the Best Movie Poker Scene?

The James Bond movie Casino Royale showcases quite a lot of poker, much of it looking okay.

Is it the best movie poker scene outside of Rounders? Possibly, but apparently there was plenty of discussion about cutting it all out.

The 2006 movie was all about rebooting Bond into the modern day. Gone was the cheese and there was less focus on the trendy gadgets. But the producers also wanted to remove what they perceived as sexist tropes from Bond’s behaviour and for this reason the poker scene almost didn’t make it.

Director Martin Campbell said:

“Bond, full of attitude, comes in and hangs up her dress and says, ‘I want you to wear this, because I want the players looking at you and not at their cards. A distracting technique.’

“It was chauvinist as hell. Then he goes back in and, my God, he sees this beautiful suit laid out. I remember Barbara saying, ‘You can’t have that. You can’t have that. Bond has his own suit.’ I said, ‘But he’s not Bond yet.’”

One arguable error in the Casino Royale poker scene that a few readers might have noticed is that all of the players are impeccably dressed. A trip to the WSOP in the summer will show you that this isn’t usually the case!