Matt Damon is Mike McDermott, a law student who makes his primary living as a rounder- a master poker player who makes the rounds from club to club making the big bucks. After losing it all to Teddy KGB, a ruthless Russian with mob ties played by John Malkovich, Mike gets out and vows to never return. Nine months later however, he finds himself drawn back when his childhood friend "Worm" (Edward Norton) gets released from prison and has to scramble to pay off a massive debt he accumulated prior to his incarceration. Despite his vow the urging of his girlfriend and fellow law student Jo (Gretchen Mol), and his better judgment, Mike buckles up and set out to do the only thing he's really good at, despite the risk. This film has garnered a reputation for being a sleeper hit, or at least a growing cult classic, and that's totally fine. Since Texas Hold 'Em has gotten so big since this film came out, that's probably a reason for why this one hasn't totally fallen by the wayside. It is a decent film with a good story, and, despite some contrivances and cliches here and there, the film is pretty grounded and realistic in its representation of the world of high stakes underground poker. Besides the names I've mentioned already, the cast also includes John Turturro, Famke Janssen, and Martin Landau. It really amazes me how they managed to pull together such an awesome cast. And thankfully, all of their combined talents are totally wasted, and they generally give some credible and solid performances. The film moves along at a decent pace, there's good atmosphere, and, like I said, the story's fairly decent. All in all, this might not be the greatest movie, but it's entertaining, well acted, and, despite being rather superficial, is still passable and worthy of a watch.