In case you missed it … ‘Rounders’

This is definitely not a movie you should have missed, but in case you did … here you go.

Starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton, and a pre ‘Jean Gray’ Famke Janssen this poker movie hit the scene a few years before the Texas Hold Em/World Series of Poker explosion. Matt Damon is Mike a law student who swore off gambling/poker for his girlfriend, and when his friend Worm (Ed Norton) gets out of jail for something they both did, he gets sucked back into the poker world. When Worm runs up a big debt to an underground club that Mike used to frequent, he comes to his rescue and they both have to play around the clock to settle up an even larger debt that worm owe’s to the local mafia and KGB big guy Teddy, played by John Malkovich. John Turturro also has a part in the movie, which is where I first became a fan of his.

“The term ’rounder’ refers to a person whose sole means of earning a living is by playing cards”, Matt Damon and Ed Norton are so good in this movie that you may actually buy into these guys living that life.

The film didn’t do great in theaters, but as you know poker is HUGE right now, and has come a cult classic especially for those guys. If you are a fan of poker, or any of the actors in this movie … go see it!