Did Rounders Forever Change a View on Poker?

Rounders, a 1998 film movie, starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton and John Malkovich has had an impact on poker probably overshadowed only by the " Moneymaker Effect". I could spend some time going over the synopsis of the movie, but there is absolutely no need for that. When you read this article, there is about 99% chance that you've seen it already; and probably more than once.

Shifting the focus

For many people back in 1998, poker represented something sinister, just another form of gambling that attracted the usual casino frequenters for which “players preferred anonymity” (César Albarrán-Torres, 2014, Titanbet Poker). This was still way before the online poker, way before the big boom, and your average Joe was not in a situation where he'd be exposed to poker in his everyday life.

The Rounders would change that, or at least plant a seed of doubt in people's minds, with heavily repeated message luck's got nothing do with it. All the grievances that poker purists might have about the movie and how the games are depicted are of secondary importance, especially considering the fact that most people knew next to nothing about poker, and especially about Texas Hold'em.

It's a skill game

Even if the message of the movie did not quite correspond with the actual events at several occasions, it was there, repeated, hammered and emphasized, over and over again. We all remember the legendary scene in which Damon's character Mike walks into a judge's home game and proceeds to read everybody's hand perfectly.

It may be just a bit too much, but emphasizing the skill element of the game is a welcome and very important change. Furthermore, throughout the movie, Mike refuses the attempts of his good friend, Worm, who is a very capable card mechanic (e.g. cheater) to get him involved in a "dirty" game. He doesn't need it, he's got the skills, he can play the game and doesn't need to cheat to win.

Variance and bankroll management

This is probably the one aspect of the movie that we've all made the fun of the most. Bankroll management is clearly not one of Mike's strengths and although he doesn't really learn it by the end of the movie either, his attitude certainly changes.

During the movie, we learn that Mike is really a good, talented player (or at least he is depicted as such), but in any given hand, on any given night, anything can happen. A bad beat, a misplay or anything of the sorts and money could be gone.

But even if somewhat lacking, this aspect of the movie still emphasizes a skill-set needed for a poker player to succeed. We've all heard it mentioned later in coaching videos and articles; keep your emotions in check, never put your entire bankroll at the table and so long and so forth. Well, Mike was the first widely known "player" to feel a full sting of the variance.

Chasing the dream

What made The Rounders so successful was probably, as is the case with a majority of Hollywood movies, the story about chasing your dreams no matter the price. Of course, it has become a cliché at this point, but dreams sell, dreams inspire and people love and will always love a good dream-chasing story, even if the reviews for the movie were not stellar.

However, when you mix that story with some poker, that's bound to have a great impact on the game with the people it reaches. People love to romanticize things, even when there is nothing romantic about them. Through the recent history, Hollywood romanticized pretty much everything and anything at some point, be it a plain, old 9 to 5 job or a murder. So why not poker?

After all, all the elements were there to connect it to the American dream of making it big. Poker could bring you big bucks and, since it isn't pure gambling, if you put your mind to it, you can do it. You can't honestly expect much strategy discussion and heavy lingo in a movie intended for the masses. For what it was, The Rounders did a mighty fine job.

The scene where Mike sits down to play Johnny Chan is a bit funny (they should have really put a little more thought into it), but what it stands for is still strong, especially to someone only just learning about poker who will not notice these inconsistencies. In fact, I remember seeing The Rounders for the first time when I was maybe fifteen or so. Apart from some twisted variation of five card draw, I had no clue about poker.

From that perspective, The Rounders was just awesome. I already had a love for poker but did not really have opportunity to play it. So to me, the story, the idea of making it playing poker, of beating the best in their own game was beyond appealing. And even today, although I am somewhat a shame to admit it, some scenes from that movie make me shiver for a brief moment.

The flip side

Of course, there is a flip side to the move that could have potentially hurt the image of poker; luckily it did not happen as the main story was strong enough and appealing enough for the average audience.

But the world of poker depicted in The Rounders is mostly that of illegal poker games, underground casinos and shady characters. The picture it paints in that regard is certainly not a flattering one for poker, but somehow it did not steal the show.

Perhaps it is the power of Hollywood production that somehow made Teddy KGB, a ruthless man with strong ties to the Russian mafia, a likeable character who may be tough and dangerous, but is ultimately fair.

Rounding up The Rounders

One half-sentence that probably sums up The Rounders the best is Vegas and f'ing Mirage. Come to think of it, the movie is no different than so many that came before it and after it. A man with the dream, with the goal, a man looking for his holy grail.

The crucial difference between The Rounders and so many other movies was that it made the idea of realizing the dream plausible. None of us is King Arthur with his knights of the round table, but every single one of us can sit at the poker round table. There is nothing stopping us, if we are willing to go for it.

Final thoughts

For me personally, The Rounders will always remain near the top of best poker movies ever, despite of all poker-specific omissions. The idea it propagates and the message it sends have, in my opinion, done a great deal for popularization of poker, and that alone gives it a lot of extra credit.

On a deeper personal level, I liked the story; some probably haven't, and that's not something even worth arguing, as it belongs to the de gustibus category. I liked the background music as well, and all these elements certainly contributed to the success of the movie.

But even if you hated the movie, you would still want it to succeed back in 1998 if you were a poker player. You'd most certainly want few Mike's at the tables (probably not too many Knish's though). Simply because we all know it takes a lot of hard work to really succeed and very few are willing to put in the time and effort required. However, many are willing to give it a shot and that's what makes the poker world go round.

For more things Rounders, just in case this article made you nostalgic, you can visit the following links:

Trivia: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0128442/trivia

Quiz: http://www.funtrivia.com/html5/index.cfm?qid=137862

Script: http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/r/rounders-script-transcript-poker-damon.html

Soundtrack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4bSYXYSMF8&list=PLLzaGYdEteIEqkOOrNs7iypHbfKDkh1bE