That’s what Hollywood A-lister Matt Damon said about a potential Rounders sequel—nearly 30 years after the first film’s release in 1998. On The Rich Eisen Show, he was asked whether any of his movies would get sequels in the future, and Rounders came out on top. Centering around Damon and Edward Norton’s journey through the world of high-stakes poker, it’s considered a cult classic by the card game’s enthusiasts. That’s why this demand for a sequel from cast, crew, and fans alike comes despite the fact that Rounders is actually considered to have underperformed at the box office. In fact, the sleeper hit only skyrocketed to fame amid the poker boom of the early 2000s.
“Because so much has happened in that poker world in the last 25 years, it would be fun to catch up with those guys,” Damon elaborated.
With the real-life poker scene evolving so rapidly in the two decades that followed, Damon’s dedication to turning a sequel into reality shows just how much the card game has impacted cinema—and pop culture as a whole—starting with Rounders’ release.
Sparking the 2000s poker boom
Chris Moneymaker, who won the 2003 World Series of Poker, is widely credited for igniting the poker boom. However, the series of events that led up to his win arguably starts with him watching Rounders when it first came out.
“Me and my friends, we had a home game,” he explained. “We never played no-limit hold ’em. After we saw Rounders, we started playing almost exclusively no-limit hold ’em.”
The film eventually set off a domino effect. Moneymaker started playing poker’s Texas Hold’em variant at casinos, where he was encouraged to try online poker. After a while, he ended up “accidentally” joining an online satellite event hosted by a leading poker site. When he finished in the top three, he was surprised with a spot in the World Series of Poker’s Main Event—where he took home a grand prize worth over $2.5 million. Moneymaker then left his job as an accountant to play professionally full-time. That led him to nab major deals, including a role as the main ambassador for America’s Card Room. With the help of the US’ #1 poker site, he’s been able to inspire others to potentially reach the same success in poker by organizing The Sunday Moneymaker and even the Moneymaker Tour.
With Moneymaker at the helm, poker penetrated the mainstream. That’s what made Rounders so popular, with players like Vanessa Rousso citing the film and the boom as getting her into the sport. Poker pros themselves went on to become major pop culture icons following Moneymaker’s win, with the likes of Daniel Negreanu, Tiffany Michelle, and Maria Ho making their way to reality TV shows like Celebrity Apprentice and The Amazing Race.
Motivating celebrity charity action
Rounders and the poker boom didn’t just turn professional players into influential personalities—they also inspired multiple celebrities to try their hand at the sport, too.
Damon, who joined the 1998 World Series of Poker, began competing in multiple professional tournaments after the boom made Rounders more popular. Some events he’s been spotted at include the 2009 World Series of Poker, where he played against pro Erik Seidel.
There’s also Bride of Chucky star Jennifer Tilly—who began playing in 2005 and immediately won prestigious events, including the World Poker Tour Ladies’ Invitational. She’s since netted over $1 million in career earnings. Their participation saw poker take on a more glamorous and exciting image, and that encouraged even more celebrities to try it—not just to play in their free time, but also to raise money for charity.
One great example of this is Damon’s close friend and frequent collaborator, Ben Affleck. Having won the California State Poker Championship a mere year after Moneymaker’s victory, Affleck is a seasoned poker player in his own right. Like Damon, however, he’s also known for his philanthropic efforts. Many of them involve poker, including a Las Vegas celebrity charity tournament in 2023. Held for the benefit of his non-profit, the Eastern Congo Initiative, the event was attended by the likes of Jon Hamm and Jimmy Kimmel. With Damon and America’s Card Room, he also organized the online All In For America tournament, which raised over $1.75 million to restock the country’s food banks during COVID-19.
Affleck and Damon aren’t the only stars who’ve organized celebrity charity poker tournaments, either. The late TV star Ed Asner is particularly famous for starting the event Poker for Ed, which has been frequented by pros like Phil Hellmuth and is still held annually to this day. More recently, Jeremy Renner integrated poker tournaments into a charity weekend event last October. Hosted at the Venetian’s new poker room in Las Vegas, the Celebrity Poker Showdown saw the likes of Richard Kind and Joey Ingram raise money for Renner’s RennerVation Foundation.
Fueling the demand for more poker movies
Arguably, poker’s biggest impact on pop culture can be seen in film. After Rounders—which, in itself, was inspired by the exciting nature of the card game—multiple films began featuring it to add tension, drama, and a little bit of thrill to scenes with high stakes.
There’s Ocean’s Eleven (which Damon also starred in), which used poker to showcase the heist-ready skills of characters portrayed by George Clooney and Brad Pitt. You also have the James Bond film Casino Royale, which replaced the pivotal baccarat game played between Bond and villain Le Chiffre with three rounds of Texas Hold’em to make it more exciting to watch. To pull off an even more authentic feel, the film enlisted Tom Sanbrook—winner of the 2002 European Poker Championship—as a formal poker consultant for the scene.
Of course, poker also fueled the demand for movies solely about the card game. Though the likes of Ryan Reynolds’ Mississippi Grind and the 2007 comedy film The Grand—which followed improvisational actors playing different characters participating in actual poker tournaments—are great examples, Molly’s Game, which stars Jessica Chastain, is arguably the standout here. The 2017 film dramatizes the real-life story of Molly Bloom, who held low-key poker games for some of America’s biggest influential persons. Potentially, one of them is Tobey Maguire. In the poker community, the Spider-Man star is best known for organizing private games with the likes of Affleck, Damon, and Leonardo DiCaprio. He also competed in the main event of the World Series of Poker—not just once, but thrice—between 2005 and 2007. In the film, he’s widely believed to be the person represented by the character “Player X,” who was portrayed by Michael Cera.
With poker now seen as being essential for adding excitement to movies regardless of genre, it’s clear just how heavily it’s influenced cinema and pop culture as a whole. That impact may just be the reason that a Rounders sequel is so highly anticipated—not just by the card game’s enthusiasts, but the cast and crew of the original film itself.
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