I enjoyed this one. The "partial narration" angle was well done. Not having enough poker scenes is understandably the reason some on this forum were disappointed in the flick. I too wished there were more. The imperfect heroine is what makes the movie interesting. Kind of like Mr. Hill fading off into the witness protection program at the end of Goodfellas. I'm not interested in reading the book, but I did do some followup research as I like to do on films based on a true story.

End of the movie in NY was based on these real life events.

https://www.pokernews.com/news/2014/05/former-world-poker-tour-champ-sentenced-to-prison-18171.htm




https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices/newyork/news/press-releases/defendant-sentenced-in-manhattan-federal-court-to-six-months-in-prison-and-six-months-home-confinement-for-being-a-leader-of-an-international-multi-million-dollar-illegal-sports-gambling-business


I enjoyed the movie. only the 2nd poker related movie I can say that about.

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Definitely one of the best poker movies out there. Really enjoyed it.

Is there a good poker movie in which criminals aren't involved?

Cincinnati Kid?

No mention of Blooms involvement in this article but yeah that is the mass indictment she was charged in. Did she write the book before or after the indictment irl? iirc in the movie she’d written the book first.

There was a pointless fight scene at the beginning of the film with shady characters. That could get a pass.

However, there are croooked (criminal?) dealers in the final game. Shooter (Karl Malden) was trying to rig the deck for the Kid. And there are theories that Lady Fingers (Joan Blondell) rigged the deck in the final longshot hand for Lancey Howard (Edward G. Robinson).

The larger point is that even The Cincinnati Kid shows the poker world as a shady place. That's not surprising for a 1965 movie. But, it should be possible to make an interesting poker movie without sleezeball characters so critical to the story.

I should address this, as I unfairly judged this part of the movie before I had actually seen it: the cheap ABS chips show up in the initial back-room poker game, when Molly first starts working for Jeremy Strong's character.

When Molly began running her own game, one of the many changes she made was to create custom chips –*which is depicted in the film.

How did this not win best picture at the Oscars?

Yup. Agree 💯%

turned it off 10 min after the first poker scene where apparently michael cera is such a good talker that he can make someone 'fold the nuts'

why even bring poker consultants on if you're gonna do this kind of ****

Is there a good movie in which criminals are not involved? We are Americans . 80-90 % commit crimes every day..

That made me giggle.

Here's an interesting update to the Molly's Game story...

https://nypost.com/2020/04/04/the-re...nd-poker-ring/

I read the Houston Curtis book last week. It was a much more plausible story than Molly's Game. Equally self aggrandizing, of course, but much less terrible.

I like the "About The Author" notes on Curtis for that book:

"Houston Curtis has lived a successful double life as both a producer and card mechanic for nearly thirty years. His credits include executive producing gambling related shows such as The Ultimate Blackjack Tour on CBS and pioneering the poker instructional DVD genre with titles featuring poker champs Phil Hellmuth and Annie Duke. Barred from Las Vegas Golden Nugget for "excessive winning" at Blackjack, Houston is one of the world’s most successful card mechanics and sleight-of-hand artists of the modern era. Curtis won the 2004 Legends of Poker championship before co-founding the elite Hollywood poker ring that inspired Aaron Sorkin’s Academy Award-nominated film Molly’s Game."

A successful card mechanic and sleight-of-hand artist who is also a close friend of Russ Hamilton? You don't say...

Is there a good poker game in which criminals aren't involved?

Probably not. Therefore poker should be banned. Also groceries since there is criminal involvement in that sector.

havent seen the movie because im dumb and know that little poker errors will bug me. however, the book is really good and i recommend it to anyone who's on the fence about watching the movie

another bonus is the book uses everyone's real name (toby, leo, etc), and you'll recognize a lot of the business men too from old PAD or HSP episodes (like bob safai)

the movie was trash don't bother

aight thanks

You realize you two are complete strangers right? Maybe one of you would like it and the other hates it. Lol at not watching it because a rando tells you not to. It did suck tho 5/10 max

nah we’re best friends

Have only followed this through the eyes of "Molly's Game" so wasn't too familiar with this guy, but worth a read. Definitely goes out of his way to marginalize Molly's involvement in the whole thing.

If nothing else, we can prob all agree Maguire seems to be a first-class a-hole.

Should watch Yonker's Joe for a good gambling movie (not poker related unfortunately).