Rounders Page #6

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my collection methods.

[Sighs]

Oh, God. All right, look.

Just take it easy,

all right?

I'll scrape something together,

and I'll find you this week.

- That's just what I figured.

- No, no, no.

- So I'm gonna take what you

got on you right now.

- Here. Fine.

Have yourself

a ball, okay?

[Sighs, Chuckles]

[Groans]

God!

Damn!

[Groans]

Excuse me.

Mind if I sit?

Michael.

Please, please.

Sit, sit.

That was a nifty trick

the other night.

- It was wonderful.

- [Chuckles] Thank you.

Marinacci and the D.A. were ready to cut

cards for your services at that point.

[Chuckles]

Of course,

it was an altogether different trick,

that disappearing act...

you pulled today

at your group's meeting.

- Yeah. Well, I figure

I owe you an explanation.

- Ah, not to me.

I'm sure there's

a good reason you left.

You'll just have to

work harder. Prepare.

- [Chuckles]

- And smooth things out with the others.

Right. Yeah.

Okay.

- Okay, well, thanks.

- Stay. Take a drink.

- Jamie?

- Yeah?

- Another glass, darling.

- Sure.

- What are you drinking?

- Gin. Always gin.

- Here you go.

- Thanks, dear.

Thank you.

I know a magician doesn't

divulge his secrets, but...

[Chuckles]

I'm no magician.

Well, if it wasn't magic,

how did you know

what everyone held?

It's a combination

of things.

Um, I was watching

when the cards came out.

That's... That's just an old habit

with me, like breathing.

You watch the cards.

I watch the cards also, but I watch

the players reacting to the cards.

That's how I knew the D.A.

made his two pair,

and Judge Kaplan

missed the flush.

I was watching their eyes

when they checked their river cards.

- Their faces tell you everything.

- You watch the man.

l... I never knew you had

to calculate so much at cards.

All right, here's the thing.

You only play premium hands.

You only start

with jacks or better split,

nines or better wired,

three high cards to a flush.

If it's good enough to call, you gotta

be in there raising, all right?

I mean, tight, but aggressive.

And I do mean aggressive.

That's your style, Professor.

I mean, you gotta...

you gotta think of it as a war.

You are officially never

invited to our game again. [Chuckles]

I don't blame you. Put a guy

like me in a game like that,

the cards don't even matter.

I'll play it blind.

Michael,

- May I tell you a story?

- Please.

For generations,

men of my family have been rabbis.

In Israel,

before that in Europe.

It was to be my calling.

I was quite a prodigy.

The pride of my yeshiva.

The elders said I had

a 40-year-old's understanding...

of the midrash

by the time I was 12.

But by the time

I was 13,

I knew I could never

be a rabbi.

Why not?

Because for all

I understood of the Talmud,

I never saw

God there.

- You couldn't lie to yourself.

- I tried.

Tried like crazy.

I mean, people were

counting on me.

But yours is

a respectable profession.

Not to my family.

My parents were destroyed,

devastated by my decision.

My father sent me away

to New York...

to live

with distant cousins.

Eventually, l...

I found my place,

my life's work.

What then?

I immersed myself fully,

I studied the minutiae,

I learned everything I could

about the law.

I mean, I felt deeply inside

that it was what I was born to do.

- And did your parents get over it?

- No.

I always hoped

that I would find...

some way to change

their minds, but...

They were

inconsolable.

My father never spoke

to me again.

If you had to do it

all over again,

would you make

the same choices?

What choice?

The last thing I took away

from the yeshiva is this...

We can't run

from who we are.

Our destiny chooses us.

Hey.

L'chayim.

Hey.

Hey, where you been?

I've been freezing my ass off.

- What happened?

- Ah, ran into a door.

Don't worry about it.

- What happened?

- Hey! She crossed her legs

too fast, all right?

- Just mind your own business.

- You comin' up?

No, I've been standing out here

all this time just to say hi.

Listen, things haven't

been that smooth on the home front,

so tone it down

a little, all right?

- Tone down what, motherf***er?

- Great.

- Never mind.

- [Laughs]

When you become a big shot lawyer,

could you find us an elevator building?

Shut up.

What, did you

get robbed?

Um, not exactly.

Wait, wait, wait.

Did she split on you?

[Scoffs]

Oh, God.

Oh, my God. Mike, she made off

with your sheets.

I always told her she'd be

a good card player.

- Know exactly when

to release a shitty hand.

- Come on, Mike, forget that.

This girl is obviously

wrapped way too tight for living.

No, she was a good... I knew it.

I f***in' knew it.

[Sighs]

It's depressing.

You can't trust 'em.

You can't trust 'em at all.

I mean, look at you.

You domesticated yourself for this girl.

You took yourself out of the life.

You walked the f***in' line for her.

And the minute you want a little

of it back, she walks out on you.

It's just like

the saying says, you know?

In the poker game of life,

women are the rake.

- They are the f***in' rake.

- What the f*** are you talking about?

What saying?

I don't know.

But there oughta be one.

- You know what cheers me up

when I'm feelin' shitty?

- What?

Rolled up aces over kings.

- That right?

- Yeah.

Check raising stupid tourists

and taking huge pots off 'em.

- Yeah?

- Stacks and towers of checks

I can't even see over.

Playin' all night,

high-limit Hold' Em at the Taj.

- Where the sand turns to gold.

- F*** it, let's go.

- Don't tease me.

- Let's play some f***in' cards.

[Mike Narrating]

The poker room at the Mirage in Vegas...

is the center of

the poker universe.

Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan,

Phil Helmuth...

The legends consider it

their office.

Every couple of days

a new millionaire shows up...

wanting to beat

a world champion.

Usually they go home

with nothing but a story.

Down here, the millionaires are scarce

or they're playing craps,

but there's still

plenty of money for the taking.

In fact, on the weekends

you can't get a game in the city,

because all the New York rounders

are taking care of the tourists here.

Hey, hey, why don't you warm up

a seat for me. I'll catch up with you.

- What?

- Look.

- I got certain needs

I gotta attend to, okay?

- Hey, good.

- I mean, I'm overdue.

- Good, man, hey, I was startin'

to wonder about you.

I thought, maybe, you know,

the boys upstate brought about

a few changes in you.

Hey, in your dreams,

lover.

- Hey, Mikey!

- Hey.

- Hey, Mike.

This is beautiful.

Welcome to the Chesterfield south.

- Ho!

- Changing $500.

Come all the way to Atlantic City

just to see your mugs, huh?

Twice in one week.

For someone who don't play, you spend

a lot of time in card rooms.

This is what

I like to see, huh?

Mike McDermott where he belongs...

sittin' with the scumbags.

Tellin' jokes,

draggin' the occasional pot.

Occasional? Yeah, like my ex-wife

occasionally went out with other men.

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