Hollywood poker

When we compiled our Top 10 poker films a while back, we made one point, extremely vociferously: ‘Judging by this list we’re in dire need of new material.’ Thankfully, when we talk, Hollywood listens, and over the next 12 months your multiplex is going to be invaded by a raft of new poker flicks, which threaten to snap Rounders in half like an Oreo cookie.

You might be wondering why it’s taken Tinseltown this long. Poker has grown exponentially over the past few years to become one of the world’s most popular games and it contains all the ingredients needed to hang a brilliant film off. What other game comes with the intrigue and the suspense of Texas Hold’em? In what other game are millions of dollars won and lost on the turn of a card? Where you need balls of steel to pull off a successful bluff and the banter to talk your opponent off a big hand? Put simply, what other game has the current cache of cool? Celebs are still clamouring to get on the bandwagon; A-list actors and actresses are playing in some of the world’s biggest tourneys; and middle America has decided it’s so much fun it’s going to ban it.

So why the wait? Well, as Anthony Holden states in his brilliant book, Big Deal: ‘The studio bosses have never felt able to assume that punters were poker players as experienced and subtle as most of the screenplay writers in their employ.’ Put simply, you could never portray poker accurately on-screen because not enough people understood the game’s subtleties. So scriptwriters ignored the psychological nuances inherent in the game and constructed ridiculously over-the-top hand versus hand confrontations, which alienated the poker-playing audience and did nothing to educate the unwashed. (We’re assuming you’ve seen The Cincinnati Kid.)

New wave

But things have changed. If you want hard evidence that poker has cracked the mainstream, you’ll find it over the next seven pages. Because the new generation of poker films coming your way aren’t low-budget straight-to-DVD flicks aimed at a niche audience. Take the new Bond flick, Casino Royale. It uses Texas Hold’em as its hook and accuracy and authenticity are the new buzzwords.

The four films we’ve looked at have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure even the most anal poker afficionado will be satisfied by the action on offer. From employing poker experts and world famous professionals, to re-creating some of the world’s most famous cardrooms on-set, you’re going to be gobsmacked by the work that’s been put in and by the end you’re going to be slavering at the prospect of the new wave of big-screen poker flicks. Roll the cameras…