To help Lester pay off his mounting debts, Mike gets him in a game. While Mike is honest and plays fair, Lester only aims to earn money by hustling and cheating. Mike manages to hold his word for a few months until his old friend Lester “Worm” Murphy gets out of prison. He even gets a part-time job to stay on the right path. He is distraught and disappointed and promises his girlfriend that he won’t play poker anymore and will instead focus on his studies. Being cocky and overconfident, Mike makes a wrong decision and loses $30,000 in just one hand.
One day, he gets into an underground poker game run by a Russian mobster nicknamed Teddy KGB. Mike is a very talented player but is impatient and often thinks that he’s better than he really is. He is a law student in New York City but dreams of becoming a professional poker player and winning a World Series of Poker bracelet. The PlotĪt the start of the movie, we get to know Mike McDermott, the main character of the movie. Read our take on the movie in this comprehensive Rounders review. So, why was this movie so successful? Was it the nail-biting story? Perhaps it’s compelling characters? Or was it just released at the right time, when poker was beginning to take traction? Even though it’s been over two decades since the movie came out, Rounders still enjoys great popularity among movie fans and gamblers. Rounders is one of the most loved and appreciated poker movies of all time.
