Poker has been a preferred motif for filmmakers by the years, and Darren Elias lately supplied up some evaluations of card-playing scenes.
The four-time World Poker Tour champion was a visitor on the Business Insider YouTube channel and gave his ideas on movies starting from Rounders to Casino Royale to Molly’s Game and extra. The Bond flick stood out for the unlikely hand that helped the key agent vanquish his opponent. Others on the desk held surprisingly stable palms as nicely.
“In movies, you’re always going to see these huge hands,” Elias mentioned. “Really, the unrealistic part comes when everybody has these hands at the same time. It’s like winning the lottery while getting struck by lightning.”
Elias went on to touch upon different, extra life like movies, together with the well-known “Oreo scene” from Rounders. He broke down the motion whereas additionally explaining how the sport is performed. The film is life like, he notes, however discovering a inform primarily based on an opponent consuming cookies might stretch that realism a bit.
“Mikey McD laying down ace-five there,” he says. “I could see recognizing a tell and folding a good hand. That probably wouldn’t be as obvious as a guy only eats his Oreos when he has the best hand. It would probably be something a little more subtle.”
The Pennsylvania native had two different criticisms in regards to the movie.
“The only knock on Rounders would be bet sizing, I think, where there’s $400 in this pot and Teddy KGB bets $2,000. So, for a player to bet $2,000, five times the pot, on the flop, is pretty uncharacteristic. It doesn’t happen very often. And you would think a player who, Teddy KGB, although fictional, is regarded as a decent player, probably wouldn’t be betting five times the pot here. Also, they would probably have a dealer, is the only other unrealistic aspect, where they probably wouldn’t just be dealing to each other.”
The sorts of underground video games seen within the movie are actual, Elias says, and might include some threat for gamers. He complimented the 1998 movie on its realism and Mike’s makes an attempt to entice Teddy, giving the scene an eight out of 10.
Molly’s Game additionally drew good evaluations, however some others, akin to a poker scene in John Wick 4, didn’t fare as nicely. The scene options an attention-grabbing forged of characters gathered round a poker desk, with their lives on the road relying on the end result of the poker sport.
The sport is five-card draw, and Wick exhibits aces and eights, also called “dead man’s hand” after well-known gambler, lawman, and gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok allegedly held the hand when he was shot useless behind a saloon in Deadwood within the Dakota Territory in 1876.
Despite Wick’s stable hand, three opponents have been dealt the extremely unlikely palms of 4 of a form, a royal flush, and 5 of a form (apparently there have been wild playing cards). Elias notes that the situation is “pretty absurd.”
“Probably the most realistic part of the scene is John Wick cutting the guy’s throat with a playing card, where that could actually happen,” he mentioned. “Lower-quality playing cards are made of paper or card stock. But if you’re in a casino or you’re playing with a nice deck of cards, they’re made of plastic, and they do have an edge. So, a man of John Wick’s skill sets could probably cut somebody with a playing card. I’ve seen players that can throw a card and cut through a banana or a cucumber or things like that.”
However, the scene didn’t earn a optimistic evaluation. Elias, who has nearly $14 million in stay event winnings, gave the scene a one out of 10. Watch the entire video beneath.
A couple of extra movies have been added to the poker style in recent times. In November, a documentary in regards to the WPT World Championship was launched. The 2024 film Dead Money with Emile Hirsch additionally drew some good evaluations.
