Rounders

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.

Guys around here 'll tell ya— you play for a living.

It's like any other job. You don't gamble. You grind it out.

Your goal is to win one big bet an hour, that's it.

Get your money in when you have the best of it, and protect it when you don't.

Don't give anything away.

That's how I've paid my way through half of law school.

A true grinder.

See, I learned how to win a little at a time. But finally, I've learned this—.

If you're too careful, your whole life can become a fuckin' grind.

This is Teddy KGB's place.

- Five hundred. - You won't find it in the Yellow Pages.

Nope. Not tonight.

No? What?

Give me three stacks of high society.

Thirty thousand. Count it.

- That's good. - So, you're sitting the apple.

- Good. Want a cookie? - No.

He doesn't look like much...

but KGB is connected all the way to the top of the Russian mob.

He's the one guy in the game you don't want to fuck with.

But if you're looking for high stakes, this is the only place in town.

They all know me as a small-timer, but that's about to change.

Joey Knish is a New York legend.

He's been a rounder, earning his living at cards...

since he was 19 years old.

What are you, holdin' those for somebody?

Yeah, I'm holding 'em for you.

You should be.

'Cause I hope you're not thinking of putting all that glimmer in play.

He's as close to a friend as there is in this place.

- Come here. - But tonight, I don't want to see him.

Now, you don't wanna butt onions with these guys.

'Cause they'll chew you up, take your whole bankroll.

- So you say. - There's plenty of easy games.

We get outta here, get some coffee, ride over to that soft seat in Queens.

I know what I'm doing.

You're making a run at it, aren't you?

Rolling up a stake and going to Vegas.

I'm right, right?

- I can beat the game. - Maybe.

Maybe this is a game can be beat.

But you know you can beat the 10-20 at the Chesterfield and the Hi-Low...

at that goulash joint on 79th Street.

Okay. I understand.

I understand. Back to battle.

The game in question is No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em.

Minimum buy-in $25, 000.

A game like this doesn't come together often outside the casinos.

The stakes attract rich flounders...

and they in turn attract the sharks.

No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em is the Cadillac of poker.

Each player is dealt two cards face down.

Five cards are then dealt face up across the middle.

These are community cards everyone can use to make the best five-card hand.

The key to the game is" playing the man, not the cards.

Bet an eight ball.

There's no other game in which fortunes can change so much from hand to hand.

A brilliant player can get a strong hand cracked go on tilt...

And lose his mind along with every single chip in front of him.

This is why the World Series of Poker is decided over a No-Limit Hold 'Em table.

Some people, pros even, won't play No—Limit.

They can't handle the swings.

But there are others, like Doyle Brunson. . .

Who consider No—Limit the only pure game left.

Like Papa Wallenda said— “Life is on the wire. The rest is just waiting. ”

Pass it to you.

All right, I raise.

- I'm gonna raise five hundred. - Fold.

It's a position raise. I call it.

Here's the beauty of this game.

- Go ahead. - I just got top two pair on the flop...

and I want to keep him in the hand.

Against your average guy, I'd set a bear trap, hardly bet at all.

Let him walk into it. But KGB's too smart for that.

So, what I've got to do is over-bet the pot...

make it look like I'm flying to buy it.

- I bet $2,000. - Then he plays back at me, and I get paid off.

DON'T TOUCH

Call.

My guess is Teddy's on a flush draw.

Burn and turn.

There's my money card, nine of hearts. I got a full house.

- To the better. - Check's good.

Now I hope a spade falls and Teddy makes his flush.

That way he'll bet strong, and I'll beat him with my nines full over aces.

I'm going to bet...

Bet...

$15,000.

Time.

I want him to think that I'm pondering a call...

but all I'm really thinking about is Vegas and the fucking Mirage.

All right, your 15, plus I have another 33 to raise you.

Yeah, I'm gonna go all in, 'cause I don't think you got the spades.

You are right. I don't have spades.

I know before the cards are even turned over.

Aces full, Mike.

Get up.

Walk it off.

- Want some? - No.

I'm down to the felt, Knish. I lost everything.

Man, I lost my case money. I lost my tuition.

It happens to everyone. Time to time, everyone goes bust.

You'll be back in the game before you know it.

I'm done. I'm out of it.

They all say that at first.

Anyway, let me stake you. Standard deal, you know.

Fifty percent of your winnings. If you lose, it's on me.

I'd just throw it away.

- You still got the truck? - Sure.

Come on.

Nine months later.

You don't hear much about guys who take their shot and miss...

but I'll tell you what happens to 'em.

They end up humping crappy jobs on graveyard shifts...

trying to figure out how they came up short.

See, I had this picture in my head.

Me sitting at the big table, Doyle to my left...

Amarillo Slim to my right, playing in the World Series of Poker.

And I let that vision blind me at the table against KGB.

Now, the closest I get to Vegas is West New York...

driving this lousy route handed down from Knish...

to rounders who forget the cardinal fuckin' rule—.

Always leave yourself outs.

- Hey, Moogie. - Let me ask you a question.

In a legal sense, can fuckin' Steinbrenner just move the Yankees?

Does he have the fuckin' right to just move them?

I don't know. How should I know that?

You didn't learn that yet?

No, we get to Steinbrenner in the third year of law school.

- Take care, man. - Yeah.

City law university.

The judges' game.

I'd heard about it for years on the street, before I was even in law school.

A rotating group often or twelve judges, prosecutors and professors.

They all have money, and in my playing days...

it would have been pretty sweet to have any one of them owing me favours.

Only problem is, no one can get in the game anymore.

One rounder, Crispy Linetta, sat under some pretense...

but they found out he was a pro...

he couldn't cross the street without a legal hassle.

Even his regular club, Vorshay's, got shut down.

Place had been open since 1907.

- Oh, Michael. You got some things for me? - Yes, I do.

Put 'em on the desk. It's all right.

Kid, he paying you for this late night shit?

Oh, well, knowledge is my reward, sir.

Let me tell you, it ain't worth it.

Why don't you become a jockey, do something useful?

Kid's a little tall, isn't he, Gene?

Enough with the Belmont recruiting spiel. Your bet.

- All right. I call. - Michael is lead counsel...

in the Moot Court you're presiding over next week, Gene.

Besides, he could use the background if he's gonna...

clerk for one of you fellas this summer, right?

Abe, I thought you liked the kid. Why do you want to make him a civil servant?

Yeah, look— A word to the wise. Stay in the private sector.

That Nassau defence attorney's game? They use our chips for coasters.

The amazing thing is, in this collection of great legal minds...

there isn't a single real card player.

- I call. - Call.

Raise.

The professor raises.

Mike? Michael, I would have just called.

No, you're good.

All right, I call.

I don't know if I'm going to bring my legal career to a crashing halt...

before it even starts, but I just can't help myself.

- Good. - I'm in.

Read 'em and weep.

Threes check.

Check to Martin and Lewis over there.

- Check to the raiser. - Czechoslovakia.

- What's the limit? - $20. Big bet's $20.

Okay. Good. There's $20.

You've seen half a hand. How the fuck are you betting into us?

You sure this is wise, Abe? It's your money the kid's bettin' with.

It's plenty wise. We know what we're holding, and we know what you're holding.

The fuck you know what we all got.

Summer clerkship in your office says I know what you're holding.

I don't bet with jobs like that.

Let's just say I'll put you at the top of the list if you're right.

Okay. You were looking for that third three...

but you forgot that Professor Green folded it on Fourth Street...

and now you're representing that you have it.

The D.A. made his two pair, but he knows they're no good.

Judge Kaplan was trying to squeeze out a diamond flush, but he came up short...

and Mr. Eisen is futilely hoping that his queens are gonna stand up.

So, like I said, the Dean's bet is $20.

- Well, kiss my ass. - Kiss my ass.

- What'd you have, Abe? - Nothin' but a busted straight.

- Oh, come on. - It's good enough to win. Take it down.

All right, kid, your first assignment. Pull up a seat next to me.

Oh, I'd like to. I can't, I can't. I don't play cards.

- Get outta here! - See you tomorrow.

- Whose deal? - Right here.

- I like the kid, Abe. - Good kid.