Directed by John Dahl. Written by David Levien Brian Koppelman

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