As the cult movie starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton approaches its 25th anniversary, we look at Rounders, a film centred around poker, and how it became a cult classic for fans of the game, a game that exploded in popularity globally in the early noughties and beyond.
Premiering on 11th September 1998, Rounders, John Dahl’s stylish yet dark look into the world of high stakes poker, still exudes an irrefutable air of charm and still radiates a certain amount of charisma even 25 years on.
Rounders is certainly one of the greatest gambling movies that has ever been made. Classics like The Sting, The Hustler, or even The Color of Money are definitely up there, as are the more modern movies like Casino or even Oceans 11. Still, Rounders was pretty unique because you couldn’t help but fall in love with the characters, even though they were lovable degenerates.
Popular with gamblers and poker players across the world, Rounders was definitely ahead of its time, which is why it is still classed as one of the best poker-centric movies.
The film is also popular with people who don’t play the game, although it’s probably best to learn some poker rules first. This becomes essential if you’re thinking of ditching the day job to join the Texas Hold’em circuit.
The film premiered five years previous to the poker boom of 2003 and was dubbed as a “how-to” guide for the ever-popular card game for anyone who wanted to experience the rags to riches “success story” that the movie evidently portrayed.
Although Rounders was only a moderate smash at the box office with a gross of only $23 million, its influence and legacy live on.
There’s no getting away from it; Rounders is a seriously good movie and one of Hollywood star Matt Damon’s best and most iconic roles. Also, dare we say it, it features probably one of Counting Crows most iconic, although underrated, songs (listen when the end credits roll).
The question is, would the poker boom have happened if Rounders hadn’t have come to fruition? What if Worm hadn’t persuaded Mike to play cards again? What if Teddy hadn’t fiddled with his Oreo biscuits? What if Mike hadn’t bluffed Johnny Chan?
Undoubtedly, the movie more than delivered when it came to quotable lines, starting right at the very beginning: “Listen, here’s the thing. If you can’t spot the sucker in your first half-hour at the table, then you are the sucker.”
Rounders certainly gave newbies to poker somewhat of an entry point and a definitive need and desire to try the game for themselves and was in some ways a dream come true for some of the veteran players out there with new blood at the tables.
Because of the movie, by around 2004, a friendly game of poker changed from limit to no-limit, and if someone invited you over for a “poker night”, it did invariably mean a hold’em tournament or cash game.
In addition to enticing new players into the game of poker and popularising the whole “no-limit” format of the game (where you can bet as many chips as you like – or all of them at once), Rounders impacted the world of gambling. Poker players were made to be stars shortly thereafter, with the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Doyle Brunson, Dave “Devilfish” Ulliott and Phil Hellmuth fast becoming household names.
You’ve got to admit that it is pretty amazing that a movie like Rounders has impacted gambling and the game of poker in general. It hasn’t only sensationalised it but also made the game famous in so many ways, despite the somewhat dark and dangerous nuance that surrounds it in the film.
There have been a lot of movies since Rounders that have centred around gambling and poker. But have they made such an impact as the Matt Damon and Edward Norton classic? To be honest, we don’t think so. Rounders was certainly ahead of its time, and there hasn’t been anything that has even come close to it when it comes to influential movies. Yes, of course, Casino, Mississippi Grind, Molly’s Game and Maverick were all great gambling movies, but Rounders? Iconic – Yes. A Phenomenon – most certainly! Beatable? We think not!
If you haven’t seen it, then it’s definitely one for your movie bucket list whether you play poker or not.