Matt Damon Poker Rating: 9,4/10 3870 votes
Matt Damon is perhaps known more for his work in movies like Bourne Identity and its two follow up movies. He was certainly a gambler in the film Rounders, but in 2011 it was announced he and several other top stars of Hollywood were involved in Texas Hold’em games. It is nothing new that private games might be held. After all, anyone can get a deck of cards and wager at home. It is definitely not surprising that actors would like to be a part of some games. Bugsy Siegal was reputed to play with actors during his time in Hollywood. Howard Hughes also played with actors. It should not come as a surprise that there are invitation games in such a town as LA; after all, celebrities do enjoy a great game too.
Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Adam Sandler and Tom Brady will all be participating in the tournament from the safety of their own homes, as will Jason Bateman, Tobey Maguire, Adam Levine, Bryan. Both the stars and writers of poker's most enduring film say a sequel is a realistic possibility. 'Everybody would probably come back,' Rounders star Matt Damon told PokerListings. 'The actors all had a really good time working together. 'I know Edward would want to do it; we had a blast working together. Starring: Matt DamonEdward NortonJohn TurturroFamke JanssenGretchen Molwith John Malkovichand Martin Landau. Matt Damon and Ben Affleck ‘s star-studded poker game amassed huge funds for charity amid the coronavirus pandemic. On Saturday, the actors organized an online poker tournament, All in For.
Matt Damon unlike some of the other stars has never been on celebrity poker shows, but rather he and fellow star Ben Afleck were reported to play in these invitation games of Texas Hold’em at luxury hotels. The information about Matt Damon being a poker player came to light in 2011. Matt Damon is reputed to be in the games Brad Ruderman started. Ruderman is not a great guy as it turns out. Rather, he took money invested into a hedge fund he managed and played poker with it. He has been held on counts of embezzlement. Gabe Kaplan and other actors have been named in lawsuits. Afleck and Damon are perhaps too big to name or like rumours suggest they just didn’t win at the tables so they didn’t take home any of the embezzled funds.
It does seem based on the information reported that Damon enjoys playing Texas Hold’em. Since he does so in his private life, who he may play with is really his concern.
Matt Damon has made the list of being a famous gambler since he is an actor. He has become one of the most famous USA actors in recent years due to the Bourne series. His earlier movies while great did not reach the heights that the Bourne movies did. Like many other actors he has a reputation for enjoying a game of poker at private tables. Even Sean Connery has been considered a gambler because of the occasional games he was reputed to play.
Obviously Damon would have needed to do some research for his role in Rounders which contained gambling, so this may be where his interest lies. Certainly he is more of an actor than gambler though worth a mention as someone who has been known to dabble with cards.
In the long list of gamblers, he will probably not be remembered as a poker player much past a mere mention in his extensive actor bio. There is no news as to whether he has played and won any games of any kind or tournaments. Rather, it seems he likes to keep any playing among friends with the occasional $100,000 buy in for private invitation only Texas Hold’em. Most often his poker playing has been linked with Ben Afleck as the two are long time friends.
Mike McDermott, played by Matt Damon, and Worm, played by Edward Norton, headline Rounders. (Image: Getty)
Rounders is now available on Netflix in the United States for the very first time! Poker’s most popular movie, that’s still regularly quoted at poker tables all over the world, first premiered in 1998 and has since become an iconic film that every poker player and fan has watched numerous times.
While to outsiders Rounders might be known as that “Matt Damon poker movie,” to insiders this John Dahl directed film is at the top of the list. Despite not killing it at the box office from the outset, garnering only $8.5 million in the opening weekend, it steadily rose to $22.9 million at the box office and developed into cult status as poker’s popularity grew in the early 2000s.
Rounders was written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien who have since created the popular Showtime drama “Billions” among many other projects. Rounders stars Matt Damon, Edward Norton, John Malkovich, John Turturro, Martin Landau, Famke Jansen, and Gretchen Mol.
Released in 1998, this poker movie predated the Moneymaker induced poker boom in 2003. Because of this timing, it turned Johnny Chan into arguably poker’s biggest star as his famous back-to-back World Series of Poker Main Event wins in 1987 and 1988 were featured in the film and its lead character, Mike McDermott, pulled off a bluff on the champ at a Limit Hold’em poker table in Atlantic City at the Taj Mahal. Other poker pros that are mentioned in the movie include Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim.
Depicting the life of aspiring rounder, or poker pro, Mike McDermott, Rounders and its characters are loosely based around the Mayfair Club in Manhattan. PokerGO did a documentary short on The Mayfair Club as part of the original series Stories from the Felt in 2017. Back in 2007, Week 6 of Poker After Dark featured Howard Lederer, Jay Heimowitz, Mickey Appleman, Dan Harrington, Steve Zolotow, and Mike Schichtman on “Mayfair Club” week. You can find this throwback episode in The Vault on PokerGO. The life story of Erik Seidel, who frequented the Mayfair Club and was shown playing heads-up against Johnny Chan in Rounders, can also be found on PokerGO.
Matt Damon Poker Bad Acting
Recently, Edward Norton jumped on the Bill Simmons Podcast and the two talked about what a sequel to Rounders could look like. Check out this podcast here. Check out Rounders on Netflix here.
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