Rounders Quotations

Rounders is a 1998 film about a reformed gambler who must return to playing big stakes poker to help a friend pay off loan sharks.

Directed by John Dahl. Written by David Levien Brian Koppelman

You've got to play the hand you're dealt. taglines

Mike McDermott

Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in your first half-hour at the table, then YOU are the sucker.

We're not playing together. But then again, we're not playing against each other either. It's like the Nature Channel. You don't see piranhas eating each other, do you?

Dialogue

Worm: Just like the saying says, you know? In the poker game of life, women are the rake. They are the fucking rake.

Mike: What the fuck are you talking about? What saying?

Worm: I don't know. There oughta be one.

[before inviting Worm up to his place]

Mike: All right, listen. Things haven't been so smooth on the home front, so tone it down a little, all right?

Worm: Tone down what, motherfucker?

Mike: Great. Never mind.

Mike: So, uh, Nick the Greek, what's with kiting my checks?

Worm: I'm on empty.

Mike: How much was the hooker?

Worm: Mike, please! "Relaxation therapist!"

Worm: Hey, you know what cheers me up when I'm feeling shitty?

Mike: What?

Worm: Rolled-up aces over kings.

Mike: Is that right?

Worm: Check-raising stupid tourists and taking huge pots off of them.

Mike: Yeah?

Worm: Stacks and towers of checks I can't even see over. Playing all-night, high-limit Hold'em at the Taj, "where the sand turns to gold."

Mike: Fuck it, let's go.

Worm: Don't tease me.

Mike: Let's play some fucking cards!

Mike: Fifteen grand in five days, I can do that. I've gone on rushes like that before.

Worm: Uh, under optimum conditions with a bank roll. Maybe, maybe. But... what do you got on you?

Mike: I got, like, 350.

Worm: Nah, that's only 1200 between us. We might as well play the fucking lotto.

Worm: O yeah, one more thing, I got a feelin.'

Mike: Yeah, what feeling is that?

Worm: I know you know this feeling... You know this feeling very well... I mean, you got your table all set up, your fork, your knife, your A1 sauce...

Mike and Worm: All you need is the steak.

[last lines of the movie]

Taxi Driver: Vegas, huh?

Mike: Yep.

Taxi Driver: Good luck, man.

Mike: [narrating] People insist on calling it luck. [to taxi driver] Thanks. [narrating] First prize at the World Series of Poker is a million dollars. Does it have my name on it? I don't know. But I'm going to find out.

Taglines

You've got to play the hand you're dealt.
In The Game Of Life... Play The Cards You're Dealt
Trust everyone... but always cut the cards
Pick a card, any card
It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money

Cast

Matt Damon - Mike McDermott
Edward Norton - Lester "Worm" Murphy
John Malkovich - Teddy KGB

Quoternity