Rounders Page #8

---

please proceed

with oral arguments now.

If that is convenient

for you.

Yes, it is, and again,

I'm sorry, ah, that I'm late.

Um...

Well, I think clearly

the, uh...

the case which controls the issue at bar

would be, uh, Texas v. Johnson,

- Which holds...

- [McKinnon] Texas v. Johnson?

Mr. McDermott, that is a Supreme Court

free speech case...

that has no bearing

in the premises.

Each group was apprised to ignore

that aspect of this matter...

and focus instead on the idea

of de facto segregation.

Right. Um, well...

Mr. McDermott has

been unreachable,

so I'll take over,

if it pleases the court.

Someone saying something meaningful

would please us a great deal.

What we have here is a clear case

of gerrymandering,

impacting schoolchildren

and schools in the district...

that was created solely

to separate students by race.

Although not dispositive, the student

body is more than 99 percent white.

Well, that

was impressive.

Usually you have to know something about

a case to give an opening statement.

Guys, what...

what can I say?

Hey, it worked out great

for me, McDermott. I think

I actually impressed Marinacci.

Jo.

- Jo. Jo.

- What?

We're not gonna talk?

You left me pretty quick there.

- You make it sound

as if it was my decision.

- Well, it wasn't mine.

I came home and you were gone.

You were just gonna drop me like that?

I learned it

from you, Mike.

You always told me

that this was the rule.

Rule number one:
Throw in your cards

the moment you know they can't win.

- Fold the hand.

- Look, this is our thing

that we're talking about.

It's not some

losing hand of poker.

I know exactly what

we're talking about, Mike.

So, that's the last

of it, then?

Yeah.

[Scoffs]

I mean, I'd say good luck, but I know

it's not about luck in your game.

[Announcer]

Eric Seidel cannot win this hand,

and yet

he doesn't know it.

Chan is trying to sucker him in

by taking his time.

Oh, look at that look

of the defending champ.

And now Fifth Street,

a six of diamonds. No help.

Johnny Chan has

a queen high straight.

Will Eric Seidel

fall for the bait?

Yes, he's going all in,

and Chan has him.

Johnny Chan, the master...

- Yes, he's going all in,

and Chan has him.

- [Telephone Rings]

- Hello.

- Oh, hey, Mike. It's Petra.

Can I come up?

Yeah, I'll buzz you in.

[Buzzing]

Well, that's the important thing

with the game of Hold 'Em.

You're never down and out

until your chips are all gone.

- Hey.

- Hey.

- How you doing?

- Good.

- [TV:
Man Continues Speaking]

- I haven't seen the place in a while.

Looks about the same.

- You want some scotch or something?

- No, I'm fine.

- Oh, '88 World Series, huh?

- Yeah.

Johnny Chan.

Flops the nut straight and

has the discipline to wait him out.

He knows Seidel's

gonna bluff at it.

- [Announcer]

And yet he doesn't know it.

- Johnny f***ing Chan.

Chan is trying to sucker him in

by taking his time.

Look at the control.

Look at that f***.

He knows his man well enough

to check it all the way...

and risk winning nothing

with those cards.

He owns him.

[Announcer]

Will Eric Seidel fall for the bait?

Yes, he's going all in

and Chan has him.

- Johnny Chan, the master.

- Poor Seidel.

Kid doesn't know what hit him.

Yeah, I know

what that feels like.

It's like a locomotive

running through your stomach.

You feel gut-shot. F*** it.

You didn't come here to talk about this.

What's going on?

- Tomorrow's a week.

- A week of what?

The first two thousand

you owe the Chesterfield.

- Oh. Worm.

- Yes, it's kinda weird.

He'd just won eight grand.

Why go on the line behind another two?

So, he took, what, about eight

off of Roman and Maurice?

Yeah, yeah, he comes in

after you leave,

sits for like

another 20 more minutes,

cashes out

for the full amount.

Maurice hasn't been back since. I think

he's been playing across the street.

But, uh, Worm's

been around plenty.

He's run you up

just under seven grand.

Well, do me a favor

and just put him on his own.

- Yeah?

- Yeah, cut him off.

Um, I tell ya,

I got a thousand.

I got a thou.

And that's, you know...

I just started

coming back, so...

- Thanks for making it easy, Mike.

- Oh, yeah, yeah.

I'm, uh... I'm sorry to be back

over here for this reason.

- Don't worry about it.

- No, l... I like being here.

It's good

to see you, Mike.

- I can stay.

- Listen, I tell ya, I'Il... I'Il, um...

I'll come... I'll come...

I'll see you down at the club.

- I'll come by this week.

- Yeah.

[Glass Shatters]

- I know you're in here.

- Mike? Hey. I thought you were the janitor, man.

- You know, it's a good thing Grama doesn't know you as

well as I do.

- Hey, yeah, come on, I'll play your horse

fifty bucks a letter.

- Yeah? When I win, are you gonna pay

me back with my own f***ing money?

- Oh, oh, easy. Relax. Don't wing it. Just... Just step and

throw, you know. You need to work on your accuracy,

you know that?

- Will you stop f***ing around for five goddamn minutes

for once in your f***ing life!

- Whoa, Jesus. What happened? My old man just walked

in the door.

- I should f***ing beat the sh*t out of you

the way he used to.

- Oh. Remember when we found this place, man?

- Yeah, I remember when we found this place,

when you were hiding out from Toby Manzy

'cause you thought he was gonna f***ing pound you

into oblivion.

- Yeah, now see, what did I ever do to that guy?

- You f***ed his mother.

- [Laughing] Yeah, but she was a good-Iooking

older woman. You gotta give me that.

- She was that, you spent a year of your life hiding in

this f***ing gym from that sick f***. Until he pissed off

the wrong guy and some... someone dropped

a garbage can on his head.

- What d'you..., what do you want me to say? Those

were wild times. You were there too.

- Nothing's changed! Nothing has changed.

You were hiding from your troubles then.

You're hiding from your troubles now.

- I like the hiding, that's part of the fun for me.

You know, I just I don't like running solo.

It's like I used to have a running partner, you know

what I'm saying?

- If we f***ed up back then and got caught,

the worst thing that was gonna happen

was we were gonna maybe catch a beating, we were

gonna get expelled.

But, man, you're fixing to go down hard, and

it almost seems like you want to.

- Oh, come on, you know what? Stop worrying so much

about me, okay? I'm turning things around.

I'm not gonna let anybody drop a garbage can on my

head.

- No, no, you're... you're gonna get out of the way.

It's gonna land on me. I'll see ya.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote