Poker & Gambling Movies

Maverick is recreated from the character James Garner created in the 1950s TV program. Maverick is a poker player who would rather con someone than fight them. He needs an additional three thousand dollars in order to enter a Winner Take All poker game that begins in a few days.

A little drunk on its own arcane exotica as a gambling movie, Rounders is a film that takes us inside a world of high-stakes card players but falls short on such essentials as character development, relationships, that sort of thing. Still, it is a real curiosity, written by a couple of guys (David Levien and Brian Koppelman) who appear to know something about the dark underbelly of card hustling for fun and profit.

A gangster by the name of Danny Ocean (George Clooney) rounds up a gang of associates to stage heists of three major Las Vegas casino’s (Bellagio, The Mirage, and the MGM Grand) simultaneously during a popular boxing event.

Set three years after “Ocean’s 11,” this sequel shows us Danny Ocean gathering up his complete gang of con artists and thieves from the first film in New York City before they all jet off to Amsterdam, Rome, and Paris to pull off three separate heists.

The boys are back in town to perform their third casino heist. However, this time it is less about money and more about friendship. When their close friend Rueben suffers a heart attack because of a casino deal gone sour, Ocean and his crew decide to pull out all the stops to prevent the new casino from getting the prestigious five-diamond award. Not to mention their plan to rig the casino so than Banks loses big money on opening night and will lose ownership of the casino. Noticeably Tess and Isabel are absent from this third installment of the Oceans franchise, this is explained early on by Danny when he says simply it is not their fight. With this gorgeous star filled cast, you will be hard pressed not to enjoy this movie.

Bond, James Bond. Whether you are eight or eighty you likely have your favorite Bond movie. Casino Royale brings you the new generation of Bond with Daniel Craig’s rugged looks and steel blue eyes sure to turn the head of many ladies. The latest installation finds our fearless hero as a newly promoted double O who tends to ruffle his boss M, every chance he gets. OO7 is on the money trail of an international terrorist organization and the trail stops at a high stakes poker game, with ten million of the government’s money on the line. Win and Bond cuts the money line, lose and the government inadvertently funds terrorism around the globe.

As poker movies go this one drops the serious aspects for some comic relief. Woody Harrelson, Cheryl Hines, Richard Kind and Burt Reynolds round out the cast in this quirky comedy that on the whole is a work of improvation. Each character has their own brand of weirdness going on including the Russian and his myriad of caged animals, (Please don’t ask what he done with the bunny!) This movie is pretty much a gathering of well known and little known actors having a good time playing poker. Critics have been harsh in their assessment but for a laugh or two, it really is not that bad.

In the back room of the saloon, the richest men in Laredo set down for their annual poker tournament. Recovering gambler Meredith (Henry Fonda) happens into town needing wagon repairs, when he hears of the game. His wife Mary (Joanne Woodward) is having none of it! He slips in when her back is turned and stakes the family fortune. He slips in when her back is turned and stakes the family fortune. When he cannot meet the final raise, Meridith falls out and begs them to let his wife play. She has no clue but once the rules are explained, asks for a moment to get a loan.

Lou is a small time gangster, who thinks he used to be something big. He meets up with a younger girl, Sally, who is learning to be a croupier. Her husband turns up with drugs he has stolen from the Mafia. The husband gets Lou to sell the drugs, but is killed before Lou can give him the money. Later, the owners of the drugs turn up and threaten to kill Sally if she doesn’t return them…

Bookies is a story of 3 college students who become bookies and take sport bets. They end up becoming successful but that is not without stepping on the big boys toes which has its own consequences.

Born Yesterday’ (1950) directed by George Cukor, based on the play by Garson Kanin of the same name, is about a corrupt tycoon Harry Brock (Broderick Crawford) who brings his mistress Emma ‘Billie’ Dawn (Judy Holliday) with him to Washington D.C to buy a congressman. Though he gets his lawyer Jim Devery (Howard St. John) with him, he finally employs Paul Verrall (William Holden), a journalist to tutor ill-mannered Billie…

‘California Split’ directed by Robert Altman, revolves around two gamblers Charlie Waters (Elliott Gould) and Bill Denny (George Segal), bonding through their mutual love for gambling. Charlie is a witty, clever gambler while Bill is an amateur who works in a magazine.

As the film progresses Charlie and Bill bond over the roulette tables and Bill slowly gets hooked to gambling and runs into debt with his bookie (Joseph Walsh). Towards the climax, Bill pawns some of his possessions and pools his money with Charlie’s and enters a poker game against the former world champion Amarillo Slim…

This Martin Scorsese film depicts the Janus-like quality of Las Vegas–it has a glittering, glamorous face, as well as a brutal, cruel one. Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro, mobsters who move to Las Vegas to make their mark, live and work in this paradoxical world.

The Cincinnati Kid (Steve McQueen) takes his chances in a Poker showdown against Lancey “The Man” Howard (Edward G. Robinson). Both The Kid and Howard are unaware that the game has been rigged in The Kid’s favor. The Dealer, Shooter (Karl Malden), has been bribed. The Kid finds out and wants to play it straight. After switching Dealers The Kid goes on a legendary run, only to see his luck dissipate during an unlikely hand.

My, doesn’t Nick and Sarah Jessica look young?! Long before treasures were national and Sarah was launching young men out of their family home these two were crazy lovebirds on their way to be married in Vegas! Or are they?

Unfortunately, for this couple Betsy (Parker) looks a lot like the dead wife of a professional gambler who cheats to put Jack (Cage) in deep debt to him…

Warren Beatty was not long in his career when he starred in this little number. Beatty is a playboy bent on making some serious cash at poker. There is just one catch he has marked every deck in the country! He accomplished this wonderful feat by breaking into the card making plant and etching a mark on the plates used to create playing cards.

With the beautiful Susannah York on his arm, it seems the luckiest poker player on the planet has it made. That is until Scotland Yard figures him out and offers him jail or a high stakes game against a rough character they want ruined. All things are fine until Beatty realizes the cards are not marked, its poker at its best as it all comes down to one big hand and no cheats!

Jack Manfred is an aspiring writer going nowhere fast. To make ends meet, and against his better judgment, he takes a job as a croupier. He finds himself drawn into the casino world and the job gradually takes over his life; his relationship with girlfriend Marion begins to deteriorate.

We all love to watch the great people in this world who have achieved what we can only dream about. Such is the movie High Roller; it follows the life and times of Stu Unger who rose to Poker fame early in life. Money flowed in his life but it could not stem the tide of his addiction, which led to his ultimate failure. This movie is an inside look at the things that can take a three-time World Series of Poker champion to the brink of despair. You do not have to love poker to love this movie, as it is more about the human condition than a high stakes poker game.

Eleven friends who know each other from World War II service plan to rob five of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night. They develop a master plan but after the whole thing is over, something goes wrong…

McDreamy before he was steaming up the doctor’s lounge stars in this thriller about a mistaken identity leading to the death of a mobster’s son after an ill-fated poker game. Charlie Farrow, (Patrick Dempsey) must now run for his life from the mob boss Matt Halloran, (Ken Pogue).

Death and mayhem ensue as the bullets begin to fly. It will come to a showdown on the dog track when Charlie faces certain death at the hands of a powerful mob boss.

Shade is set in the world of poker hustlers working the clubs and martini bars of Los Angeles. The tale unfolds as a group of hustlers encounter “The Dean” and pull off a successful sting that results in their pursuit by a vengeful gangster.

An excellent new full length feature film about poker, shot in lake Elsinore, Ca and featuring two top poker pros in the ensemble cast.

The unluckiest man in Vegas (William H. Macy) – a guy whose bad luck is contagious – is used by the last of the old time mob run casinos to kill high rollers’ action. That is, until he falls in love with a cocktail waitress (Maria Bello) and gets “lady luck,” which throws the situation into reverse. Things turn nasty when the casino director (Alec Baldwin) tries to break up the romance.

Based on Dostoyevsky’s novel, The Gambler (1974) directed by Karl Reisz is based on Axel Freed, this New York City English professor whose addiction to gambling spirals out of control. Axel’s (played by James Caan) flamboyant and promiscuous nature along with his idiosyncratic interpretation of Dostoyevsky mesmerizes his students and one beautiful student of his Billie (Lauren Hutton) falls in love with him. But his worsening gambling habits runs him into heavy debt with his bookie Hips (Paul Sorvino) which threatens his lifestyle…

An inexperienced Con-Man, Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford), unknowingly makes a mark out of Mob Boss Doyle lonnegan (Robert Shaw). As a result Hooker’s partner is killed. He skips town and enlists the help of a master of the “Long Con,” Henry Gondorff (Paul Newman). Together they hatch a scheme to use Lonnegan’s cheating ways against him during a rigged Poker game. Unsatisfied with the take, the partners continue to lead Donnegan deeper into The Sting.

A washed up ex-gambler mentors a young up and coming college poker player. The two end up going face to face in an epic WPT Championship. The mentor finds out that his toughest competition is the young college kid who has an amazing knack for poker.

This documentary movie tells a riveting story of how the one of the oldest games has had a huge renaissance over the last few years. It also shows the moneymaker effect and how poker is now a hip game that attracts thousands to the famous WSOP every single year.

This movie is about ultimate stakes poker and the drive that pushes players to keep wanting more and more.