5. Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

This (very) English film from 1998 is not all about poker. In fact, there's not much poker in it at all. However, the game starts when a couple a friends ends up in debt to an East End mobster after a rigged poker game. This starts a chain of unfortunate events.

In the clip below, poker action is shown in a very 90s kind-of-way - everything to the tones of The Castaway's soul classic Liar Liar. Indeed beautiful.

 

 

4. The Sting

It's interesting to watch the old poker films. String-betting didn't seem to be an issue. Players said "I call your thousand," pushed the call into the pot, and then added "and raise you two thousand".

Re-buying during the hand was also ok as it seems.

Nevertheless, The Sting won seven Oscars and is definitely more than just a poker movie. It's must-see for anyone interested in poker and/or films.

 

 

3. Rounders

For people who started playing poker in the late 90s, Rounders is a milestone. We all learned to say "I splash the pot whenever the f**k I please" and "Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker."

Maybe this film won't go to the history as one of the best movies ever made, but it had a huge impact on what poker has become. That, no one can take away.

 

 

2. Cincinnati Kid

This film is about a young man, a true rounder, who travels around between big-stakes stud games. He finally ends up in New Orleans where he faces the player known as "The Man". The Kid, played by Steve McQueen, thinks it's time to push The Man off the throne.

During the five-card stud hand shown below a couple of classic film lines are delivered: "That's what it's all about, making the wrong move at the right time" and "You're good, kid, but as long as I'm around you're second best."

 

 

1. California Split

Poker, and every form of gambling for that matter, is not all about one amazing hand, a single nerve-wrecking call or that life-changing single decision. Poker is not like it's described in the most overrated film ever, Maverick, where one decision changes it all. Poker is a lifelong grind.

California Split, directed by Robert Altman, succeeds in describing the life of a gambler - the ups and downs, the highs and lows. If you're the least interested in gambling, please watch this film.