In the climax of the Rounders movie, Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) finds himself heads up against Teddy KGB (John Malkovich) with tens of thousands of dollars and Mikey’s kneecaps on the line. A lot of the play is clearly influenced by passages from Doyle Brunson’s 1970s teach-yourself-poker classic Super/System. The strategy is all fabulously pre-internet, with its 5x raises, and that moment when Mike McDermot considers folding kings to a heads up three-bet. The movie is a perfect time capsule of fin de siecle poker playing. Rounders is a good choice for Negreanu’s series. These discussions are heavily influenced by his stint running sims and talking to GTO coaches during his time filling up Doug Polk’s money truck. In the series, Negreanu goes through old hands and compares the old way of thinking about poker with more up-to-date poker theory.

So if you haven’t seen the movie then: 1) do yourself a favor and go do that now, and 2) beware of spoilers. New School thought processes turned its eye to the silver screen this week, with an analysis of the climactic duel at the end of Rounders (1998).

Poker player johnny rounders