Movie Stars Always Get the Best Poker Hands

We all know movies are not the number one source for realism. We watch movies because they’re unrealistic and more interesting than our every day lives. Many movies that deal with sports and games are so far fetched it’s unbelievable. There are quite a few poker movies that fall to such fate. The first is the movie Maverick. It’s a great movie. I absolutely enjoy watching it and it was long before Mel Gibson went crazy. However, the odds that everyone happens to have rare hands is astounding. One player has four eights, the other has a low straight flush, and our leading man ends up with a royal straight flush. Now of course it’s possible for people to be dealt these hands, but for all three players at the same time? I don’t think so. I guess the movie wouldn’t be very interesting if the others had a simple pair.

Another infamous movie with a similar scene is Casino Royale. First, everyone has to go all-in to make it more exciting. Bad guy Le Chiffre has a full house but Bond beats him with a straight flush. If only watching poker on ESPN were this exciting. I guess the rest of us will just have to settle for a custom poker chip set, some cheap poker table supplies, and good friends for our daily dose of suspenseful thrills.