Poker In the movies

I was watching X-Men Origins: Wolverine last night (enjoyed it quite a bit) and was almost shocked to see Daniel Negreanu pop up in a poker scene in New Orleans when Wolverine first meets up with Gambit. My excitement quickly turned to disappointment, as his cameo is more or less wasted as a face shot before the movie paces on to other action, leaving Daniel out of the mix. That was too bad, since most people watching the movie wouldn’t even know who they were looking at, or that he’s one of the best poker players and readers in the game today.

I guess I was hoping for a line or two, or at least a full hand against gambit, taking him for a few bucks before the Aces and Kings started flying across the room.

Anyway, it got me thinking about other professionals I’ve seen in movies that weren’t necessarily home video poker tutorials.

It turns out there’s a few, but not nearly as many as I had thought. Of course, there’s Johnny Chan’s spot in Rounders, as he goes head-to-head with Damon’s character in a flashback story. “I’m sorry John, I don’t remember.” Poor Johnny doesn’t even get to speak the one line he has here, as Damon voices it over. Well, at least he actually did the acting, instead of only seeing the video of him winning the WSOP on tape.

And a few other heavy hitters appear in the poker movie The Grand, which came out in 2007 with Woody Harrelson. The legendary Doyle Brunson and the legendarily obnoxious Phil Hellmuth, among others, have small parts in the flick. I can only imagine what type of back and forth banter might have gone on behind the scenes between Harrelson and Hellmuth, that is if Woody still had the trash-talking chops he brought to the table in White Men Can’t Jump. “Phil, I want your mother your sister out of my house immediately.”

Of all the great poker scenes in movies (think Shade, Rounders, Maverick, The Cincinnati Kid, and, yes, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure), you’d think more professionals would be called upon to lend some credit to the scenes. I know I wouldn’t mind seeing the likes of Phil Ivey take some drinking money off Robert Downey Jr. in an upcoming Iron Man movie!