Poker Goes to the Movies: Top 5 Poker Hands

by Bodog Poker | Jan 22 2009

1. By far the most far-fetched poker hand in the history of cinema is the final hand in Casino Royale. Four players went all-in to showdown on board cards of Ah-8s-6s-4s-As. The first player held K-Q of spades for the king-high flush, the next guy had 8-8 for a full house, the third player had a higher full house with A-6, but Bond had the junk 5-7 of spades for the straight flush. Every player had over 90% to win based on the board cards, but three players bet all their money without the best hand.

2. Mel Gibson is the ultimate slow roller in the big hand in Maverick. After his opponent shows a straight flush, he exposes the 10-J-Q-K of spades. After a ridiculously long time he finally looks at his last card, and pretends like he missed his draw. Then he flings the ace of spades in front of his opponent and the crowd goes wild.

The hand is so improbable it’s ridiculous. The odds of getting dealt a royal flush are one in ever 650,000 hands. For two players, playing head-to-head, hitting a straight flush each is as near impossible as you can find on a poker table. You’ll only see that hand in Hollywood.

3. The hand from Rounders when Matt Damon’s character Mike discovers KGB’s tell with the Oreo cookies is another one for the ages. Mike flops two pair but gives up the hand because KGB puts an Oreo to his ear, the way he did the last time he busted him.

Despite it being an example of a player playing the player instead of the cards, most tells come in the form of betting patterns and the size of a bet. The hand turns around the momentum of the game and leads to Mike’s outplaying KGB.

4. The final hand from the Cincinnati Kid is a bit different than most poker movie hands. For one thing they use cash instead of chips, and they are playing five-card stud where only one card is in the hole. The hero loses in this movie, once again losing to a cooler straight flush while holding a monster full house, aces over tens.

In this movie the hand wasn’t about the hero winning the big one, rather it showed the fact that a game of chance can beat you despite being the better player. That, or they could have been just setting up a sequel.

5. A Big Hand for a Little Lady is a western from the mid-sixties that starred Henry Fonda and Joanne Woodward. The two arrive in a town just in time for a high-stakes poker game with the five richest men in town. After Meredith (Fonda) collapses at the table, Mary (Woodward) is forced to sit in on the game in his place with everything they have on the line. The problem is she never played poker before.

The idea of getting the local tight-wad banker to lend her money to raise the bet with after she shows him her hand works well in the plot, but they should have left out the part of her walking across the street to show him.

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