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Popular movies about casino gambling

So a few days ago I posted a poll on Twitter asking people to vote on what their favorite movie was about casinos or casino gambling. Because Twitter doesn't offer an unlimited number of voting slots (only 4) I selected 3 movies, plus an other category, where you would have to name the movie in a reply or retweet. The three movies I selected were 21, with Kevin Spacey, Casino with Robert De Niro and The Cooler with William H Macy. These three movies illustrate what I consider to be the best movies out there with casinos and casino gambling at the core of their plots. Here are the results:

1. Casino        .                   73%
2. Other                              13%
3. Tie - 21 and The Cooler 7% each

The votes for other were all for a movie called Rounders, with Matt Damon, which is everybody's favorite movie about No Limit Texas Hold'em poker. Here is my analysis about your choices (and a few of my own):

The movie Casino won with over 70% of the votes. Both of the movies 21 and Casino are very accurate stories based on actual events, with only a little artistic license taken in the storytelling. Watching Casino is almost like stepping into a time machine and traveling back to Vegas in the 60s or 70s. I started going to casinos in the early 80s, and then working in casinos starting in 1985, and believe me, you can almost taste the gritty reality of what it was like by watching this movie.

It was a different time, for sure. Most of the dealers, and all of the crap dealers, were men. These guys would refer to  dealing blackjack or roulette as "skirt work". Pit Bosses were all chauvinistic, prejudiced, gruff and grumpy old white men. And literally every third word out of their mouth was "fuck".

Blackjack and craps where the king of the casino floor, bringing in most of the revenue, and getting all of the respect. Slots were only there for something for the "real players" wives to do while the men were at the tables. (Boy, how times have changed.) 

Since I never attended MIT, I can't speak to the accuracy of the movie 21 in quite the same way. However, everything I've read about the people there, who invented (or perfected) basic strategy and pioneered card counting and team play, is depicted in the movie fairly accurately.  If you haven't seen it, you should

"The Cooler" is a bit more whimsical of a tale, with more of an emphasis on its main character and his trials and tribulations that on the actual workings of a casino or a card counting team.  Unlike the other movies I'm talking about here, I've only seen this one once as it did not make that big of an impression on me. But I know it was popular with the "indie" film crowd upon its release.

"Rounders" is still one of my favorite movies of all time. It was obviously written by someone who knows the game of Texas Hold'em like the back of his hand. There is only one scene in it that takes place at a legitimate casino, in Atlantic City.  The rest of the action takes place either in private games or at semi-illegal card rooms in New York City. All of the lingo and gameplay is spot-on, even if the plot has a little bit of "writer embellishment" in it.  I love the voice-over narration by Matt Damon's character, as it treats the viewer like they know something about poker, without dumbing it down for them, Jerry Bruckheimer style.

For a comedy, I really like the movie "Mafia" with Jay Mohr. It spoofs both the Godfather movies and Casino at the same time. It also has some very insightful and funny scenes with lots of inside jokes. Blink and you'll miss them, so pay attention. If you haven't seen it you should.

The less said about the movie Ocean's Eleven the better, in my opinion. It is a complete fabrication from start to finish, and almost none of the casino scenes have any basis in reality. It's almost like watching a cartoon. If you haven't seen it, you shouldn't.

That's all for now, please leave any comments that you might have or suggestions about a better movie below. You can also follow me on Twitter @casinologger, and comment there if you like.

You can click here to become a Patreon supporter of my blogging. And here is the link to my Amazon affiliate page and some  Good books about Casino gambling and surveillance.  You can also get a free 30 day trial of Amazon Prime by clicking on this link here.  Finally, I also sell advertising sponsorships on this blog through eBay. I can devote an entire blog post to your product, service, website or anything else gaming-related. Click here to go to my eBay listing.

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