Dead Money - New poker film.

Someone needs to tell these filmmakers (in the loosest sense of the world), that not every poker movie has to have a poker term in the title

"Dead Money" and "Degenerate" are good names, but not sure about the movie. They probably used "Rounders" because it sounds better than the more common term "grinders".

I wouldn't necessarily say that "grinder" is more common: it depends on region. In some places, it's called a submarine or sub, others a hoagie. But do keep in mind that everything you do at the poker table conveys information, and you can't be all loosey-goosey eating a sandwich.

More seriously, in 1998, online poker simply wasn't a thing, A grinder is often staying in one place, hour after hour in a Southern California card palace, playing every day in a long tournament series like the WSOP, or sitting in front of a computer screen playing 24 tables.

A rounder makes the rounds, playing in an underground club in Chelsea one night, a country club game in the Hamptons another night, a home game in Brooklyn another, and so on.

Wait, was the term “rounder” an actual term used before the movie came out? I’m in California and never heard the term until the movie. It was always grinder.

Was that a legit east coast term prior to the movie or did it become one after?

I will definitely watch this at 1 AM on Amazon Prime in 2026.

That makes sense, in "Rounders" the protagonist was a rounder. He played at the Taj in AC on weekends and underground games in NYC. They showed well known games, like the judge's game and private club games. It also showed high stakes HU NLHE.

A rounder is sort of like a road gambler, a little bit of a hustler.

"Rounders" and "Cincinnati Kid" weren't totally accurate, but showed the different types of games, with "Rounders" more about a grinder and "Cincinnati Kid" about high stakes games.

Emile Hirsch? Hell yah!

Look, I like Emile Hirsch in almost every movie,(Alpha Dog, Into the Wild) but he has had one of the worst, shockingly bad, flicks ever:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093357/

never heard of it...

i guess he's taking advantage of his B-list star power, probably is able to demand at least 500k-1mil per role..

EDIT: maybe that is a little TOO generous

still tho, gotta pay the bills somehow and some of these actors are able to get paid a lot of money starring in cheap action movies that are geared for an international/asian market and some actors like Nicolas Cage probably get some x3 movie deal...just go to tubi and look up his name...he's in so many crappy movies you never heard of. Bruce Willis did this for a few years because he knew he was going to have to retire soon because of his medical problems and did like 5-10 crappy movies where he barely acts or has any lines and the lines he does have are give to him through an ear piece...all so he could capitalize on his fame and leave his family with enough money for when he checks out.

I haven't seen "Lucky You". I seems to be about poker with lots of poker players in it. However, it cost 55 million to make and grossed 8 million.

Eric Bana was a bland protagonist and one you certainly didn't care about.

And there's something about Drew Barrymore and poker that just doesn't mix.

I think the the lack of success of that movie had little to do with poker and everything to do with
the poor casting and an unstimulating storyline.

Yeah, "Lucky You" doesn't sound so good. Rounders showed interesting scenes for people who didn't know much about poker, with underground and private games, etc. "Cincinnati Kid" did well, costing $250K and grossing $7 million.

Dead Chips
Dead Coins
Dead Pennies
Dead Moolah
Dead Cash
Dead Kerching
Dead Minted
Dead Gold
Dead Luxury Cars
Dead Rich
Dead Money
Dea...

Wait...say that last one again?!

Dead Money

*snaps fingers* Jesus Christ that's it.

Whoever cast Lucky You should never have worked again. Bana was no leading man, in every scene Duvall looked like he couldn't wait for the director to yell cut plus wore a terrible hairpiece. Barrymore was the least worst, which is saying something.

Will def watch this, why not. Dead Money is a great title, noob surfing might think gritty crime and check it out. Degenerate sounds like Maniac Cop V: Necro Patrol.

Rounders lulz not worth mentioning at the quarter century mark. Still a drop everything and watch til the end whenever you see itÂ’s on. Incredible casting. All time great closing credits song, right there with The HeartÂ’s Filthy Lessons & DonÂ’t You Forget About Me.

Emile Hirsch is a fine mid-card actor. Alpha Dog wasnÂ’t great, except for JT (who I seriously thought deserved a best supporting actor nom) & Ben whoever beating the crap out of everybody at the party.

What movie ends with Heart's Filthy Lesson?

Se7en

This movie looks awful. Has Direct-To-Video written all over it.

The writer of this movie was on the Third Man Walking podcast. I guess he is a 5/T reg in LA. Seemed like a pretty serious poker player.

The movie itself doesn’t look great but I’ll check it out. The writer said it will be in select theaters but will also be on VOD at the same time, which I think is kind of typical these days.

Yeah, this one.

This made me lol.

23 second into the trailer: How you much you wanna bet it's a set a queens vs. 56 for the turned straight? And that it's the hand he goes broke with before **** hits the fan?

"You're right. I don't have kings."

"I know before the cards are even turned over."

I don’t get it. Dead Money is a poker term and those other things aren’t. Are you not aware of the term dead money?

Norm, is that you back from the dead (money)?

From the article "Harmony Korine says Hollywood is starting to crumble creatively... ", Korine has cast real house robbers in his movie:

"The director said he used real security footage from some of his friends who had been robbed as a basis for the movie, which didn’t have a traditional script or cast. “Some of the cast were actually people that tried to rob a lot of friends of mine,” he said. “Once they were arrested, we cast them and it just added that extra sense of reality.”

https://variety.com/2024/film/festivals/...

Maybe this can mean in any future poker movies they can cast actual poker scammers and angle shooters to play themselves.

never heard of it