Poker movies have come and gone over the years with the most famous of them all being before the turn of the century with movies like The Cincinnati Kid and Rounders.

This has lead us to have a think about what poker movies or movies that include poker scenes have been released so far this century and how well they depict the game that so many love to play in their pastime.

 

Lucky Town (2000)

The first movie and scene we will be looking at is the first poker scene shown in the 2006 movie Lucky Town, starring Kirsten Dunst. This scene, however, is more notable due to apparently having two players at the table playing completely different variations of the game of poker. One player seems to be playing Texas Holdem whilst the other is playing what looks like 5 Card Draw. A rather huge mistake, we are sure that you agree.

 

All-In (2006)

It has to be said that this movie has been labeled as the worst poker movie of all time. It centres around struggling medical students looking for other ways to make money and ending up trying poker to do so. The plot is thin and the acting not much better. To sum it up, the best poker scene is all about luck as the main character, called ‘Ace’, wrongly gets her chips into the middle when holding pocket queens against the pocket ace of her opponent just to then get lucky with a third queen on the river.

 

Casino Royale (2006)

Casino Royale may not really be a poker movie, but it does contain a lot of the game. While the movie may have saved the Bond franchise, when it comes to the poker aspect it is fundamentally flawed. The big hand at the end where he wins a massive pot when his opponents have a flush, two full houses and he has the straight flush is just too fantasy. This is particularly the case after each player checked their hands on the turn – as you know, this would never happen in real life with such big money on the line.

 

The Grand (2007)

What marks this movie out is that it is a comedy rather than that of a serious depiction of poker. It is actually very funny and stars the super cool Woody Harrelson. The poker scene in this movie was also done differently in that it was not scripted. They allowed the players to play out the hand and had no idea who was going to win.

 

Deal (2008)

This movie really brought out the names as Phil Laak, Antonio Esfandiari, Greg Mueller, Joe Hachem and Jennifer Tilly all had bit roles. It is about an online poker player that tries his hand on the live circuit and takes part in the World Poker Tour. The big poker scene is the one in which he makes the final table but then loses an all-in despite being ahead when the chips went into the middle with top two pair.