As Mike points out, “If you can’t spot the sucker in the first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker”. In the world of poker, the skilled players are known to one another, each having a sense of the others’ skill levels. He has developed a skill in reading other players’ faces and behaviors, in knowing how they would react to his own actions. We are shown that he has been training himself to play poker, such as reading the book Super System by poker legend Doyle Brunson. Through voiceovers in the film, we hear Mike’s mind working as he constantly analyzes the other players. The movie begins with Mike’s losing his total savings, $30,000, on one poker hand to the Russian known as “Teddy KGB,” played beautifully by John Malkovitch. Rounders tells the story of New York City resident Mike McDermott (Matt Damon), who is paying for his law school tuition by winning at poker.
The element of chance is better portrayed by James Caan in The Gambler (1974). In the movie Rounders(1998) we see examples of these first three methods of seeking gambling success. There are varied paths to gambling success: through skill mastery through patience and consistency through cheating and clever trickery and, through sheer luck. (From the Turkish electronic publication Psinema 2008 Issue 3.) Rounders and the Gambler: Portrayals of Pathological Gambling in the Movies
