Nevertheless, as we discussed in our review of 21, the variance of gambling strategies is high, and even expert poker players can be outplayed and/or unlucky. So is poker really gambling? Until recently, academic research on gambling tended to put poker to one side it falls within sensible definitions of gambling, but the significant element of skill enables some players to turn a steady profit. Rounders is a late 90s thriller about two small-time, career poker players (Matt Damon and Edward Norton, both in early roles) in New York City, and poker is very much at the forefront of this movie and central to almost every scene.
The Hangover has been suggested a couple of times –a film that has a few interesting things to say about the psychology of memory, but barely anything to say about the psychology of gambling.
In thinking about film choices for this series, we’ve been struck that there are many films set in or around gambling establishments, but many of these films are not really about gambling.
