Hi, my name’s Darren Elias.
I’m a four-time World Poker Tour champion, and I’ve been a professional poker player for nearly two decades.
Today we’ll be looking at poker scenes in movies and TV and judging how real they are.
Rounders: Teddy KGB vs Mike McDermott
This is the famous Oreo poker tell. It’s worth saying that Rounders is almost unanimously considered the best poker movie ever made.
Mikey McD laying down ace-five — I could see recognizing a tell and folding a good hand. That part is realistic. But the idea that a guy only eats Oreos when he has the best hand is a bit much. A real tell would be more subtle.
The one knock on Rounders is the bet sizing. There’s about $400 in the pot, and Teddy KGB bets $2,000 — five times the pot — on the flop. That almost never happens, especially from a supposedly competent player. Also, in a real game like this they would have a dedicated dealer instead of dealing to each other.
A lot of scenes in Rounders take place in underground games, and that’s a real thing. Playing in an underground game isn’t necessarily illegal, but running the game and taking rake is. These games come with extra risk — in a casino you know the dealer isn’t cheating, there are cameras, and you’ll always be able to cash out. None of that is guaranteed in a private or underground game, so I tend to avoid them.
Mikey flops the nut straight here. He’s clearly planning to trap Teddy, checking and calling instead of raising. Against an opponent making oversized bets, this line makes sense — they’re likely to keep firing, so you let them.
Teddy KGB is clearly rattled in this scene. It’s late in the match, emotions are creeping in, and that’s when you can win the most money — when your opponent is tilted and not playing their best.
I’d give this scene an 8 out of 10. Tough to be harsh on Rounders. The only nitpick is the bet sizing.
Molly's Game: Player X and Brad
Molly’s Game is based on Molly Bloom running a private high-stakes game with celebrities and influential people. These games definitely exist, and I’ve played in a few. I’ve played with Michael Phelps, Nelly, Kelly Rowland. They’re hard to get into if you’re not part of the circle — celebrities generally don’t want to lose money to a pro they don’t know.
He’s staring at his cards, and even a reasonably good amateur would know he has the nuts — the best possible hand. Folding the nuts is basically impossible in a real game. But in a private game with inexperienced players, you could see someone not realizing that.
If everyone folds, you win the pot regardless of your cards. Bluffing is a huge factor, and I could believe this kind of thing happening in a big private game.
There’s always a Bad Brad in a private game. This is a great example of why understanding the player matters. If you don’t know your opponent’s tendencies, you’re forced into a simpler, more “basic” strategy — and you can get bluffed in situations where you wouldn’t if you had a read.
I have to think about it… but I’d give Molly’s Game a 9 out of 10.
John Wick Chapter 4: Killa Harkan vs John Wick & Others
I would say that if a guy’s handling the cards and the ace of spades is just flying out while he’s trying to deal you a poker hand, I would be wary about sitting in this game.
So they say five-card draw, which is a pretty common game in movies — but not commonly played anymore. Five-card draw was played a lot before 2000.
In five-card draw, all players get five cards. There’s a betting round, then each player can trade in some cards for new ones.
Wick has here. Dead man’s hand — fitting for John Wick, who seems to kill people by the dozens in these movies.
Aces and eights is known as dead man’s hand because Wild Bill Hickok, in Deadwood, South Dakota in the late 1800s, was shot in the back of the head during a hand of five-card draw. He was reportedly holding aces and eights. The exact suits are debated, but black aces and eights is generally accepted.
We just saw four of a kind, a royal flush, and five deuces in a four-handed game of five-card draw — which is absurd. Nothing beats a royal flush — unless you’re in a John Wick movie.
Probably the most realistic part of the scene is John Wick cutting the guy’s throat with a playing card — which could actually happen. Lower-quality cards are paper or cardstock. High-quality casino cards are plastic and have a sharp edge. I’ve seen people throw a card and slice through a banana or a cucumber.
I’ll rate John Wick a 1 out of 10. And that one point is solely for the card throw.
Casino Royale: Monsieur Le Chiffre vs James Bond
Very obvious tell. If a guy is playing for millions of dollars, he wouldn’t have a tell so obvious that a spectator at the bar could see it.
The staring element in poker can seem uncomfortable to regular people, but it’s absolutely part of the game. Some pros stare directly at opponents looking for any information. Others do it to intimidate. Some never look at you at all — it depends entirely on the player.
There’s a lot to unpack here. Bond has — an incredibly strong hand (but Le Chiffre has ). He would put the money in no matter what, tell or no tell.
This is what we call a cooler — two players have hands so strong that all the money is going in regardless of skill level. That part is realistic.
Also worth noting: the Bond villain tables only one jack, then slowly reveals the other jack — a slow roll. Very bad etiquette in poker. But for a Bond villain, it fits.
Lots of plaques going in the middle. Plaques are high-denomination markers used in super high-stakes games. They usually represent $500,000 or $1 million in a scene like this.
$115 million in the pot. That is insane. There has never been — and probably never will be — a nine-figure pot in poker. The biggest real pots in history are seven figures, maybe a few eight-figure pots in extreme private games. Over $100 million is pure fantasy.
The way the dealer is manipulating the cards and placing them into the board is not realistic. A real dealer would never do that. It’s a movie thing to make the reveal cinematic.
Bond hits a straight flush with — around 3,500-to-1 to make. Not impossible, but rare.
The unrealistic part is everyone else also having huge hands at the same time. One monster hand is believable. Four monster hands simultaneously? That’s like winning the lottery while being struck by lightning.
Bond tipping half a million dollars is absolutely insane. Tipping is very common in poker — but not that common.
I don't think I've ever seen a tip like that. I would say if you win a big tournament where you're winning millions of dollars, there could be a big tip in a scenario like that, because players might tip 1% or 2%, 1.5% of the winnings. I think the most I've ever tipped is probably $10,000 on a poker tournament.
OK, I think I'd give Casino Royale three out of 10 on this scene. I do like the setting — the way the players are dressed, the whole vibe — but the actual poker play itself is a bit unrealistic.
The Simpsons: Lisa vs Sideshow Bob
My generation largely grew up playing online poker. When I first started, most of my hands were online. You could play 5, 6, even 10 games at once — a huge advantage for learning.
Lisa’s sitting with pocket aces and rivers a full house. She has $400,000 in front of her. This is actually believable in the early 2000s online boom. Plenty of young players spun up small deposits into huge bankrolls.
If only poker sites flashed “BUSTED” on the screen in giant letters when you lost — that would be great.
Lisa keeps going all-in with her entire bankroll every hand. That part is unrealistic. She could take money off the table. It’s called bankroll management. You can play $5,000 on the table without risking the rest.
But she’s a kid. Kids don’t know bankroll management. And many young players actually did do this — go broke by risking everything. I was guilty of it myself.
Definitely some truth there. Underage players did get accounts closed and funds confiscated. Enforcing it was tricky, but it happened.
I’ll give The Simpsons a 6 out of 10. Realistic spin-up, slightly unrealistic stakes, and fun TV logic.
Ocean's 11: Danny Ocean vs Rusty & Others
If a player starts dealing cards to the right, it's a dead giveaway they don’t play card games. Almost every card game deals clockwise. They're showing the guys are amateurs. Brad Pitt is coaching them, so this fits.
This is absolutely realistic for beginners. They think “all red” is a flush or a straight. Happens all the time with amateurs learning rankings.
George Clooney has made a bet, and all the players are calling. That’s usually a sign of inexperience or a very soft game. As you get deeper into a hand, players should have an idea of where they stand. The more opponents still involved, the better your hand needs to be. Professionals understand this. Inexperienced players often get tunnel vision and focus only on their own hand, forgetting they have to beat everyone else, not just one person.
I’ll give Ocean's 11 a five out of ten. The idea of a player coaching celebrities definitely could happen. The gameplay and setup are a little shaky, but the concept is believable.
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: Saloon Players vs Buster Scruggs
Uh-oh. Dead man’s hand. Always a bad omen in movies. You see it and know someone is about to die or a gunfight is coming.
If I’m in a tournament or cash game for real money, no, I wouldn’t fold dead man’s hand just because of Wild Bill Hickok. Professional players never talk about that stuff. But many hands have nicknames, and it’s part of poker folklore.
This guy clearly just wants trouble. There’s no rule saying you must play a hand someone folded. You would never be compelled to pick up a dead hand.
Poker was a huge part of American culture in the 1800s and early 1900s. Saloons, cowboys, riverboats. The game likely evolved from French and Persian gambling games that made their way through New Orleans. As settlers moved west, the game grew and morphed into the forms we recognize today, adding betting rounds and more complexity over time.
I’d give this a six out of ten. The confrontation feels realistic. The refusal to be forced into a hand is completely accurate.
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