Runner Runner Page #2

You stopped counting, I count.

You, uh, got a minute?

Oh, yeah. Come in, sit down.

What the hell are you doing here?

Are you okay?

I'm fine.

What do you need?

Have you got any connections

in Costa Rica?

Why? Are you going down to Costa Rica?

Are you gonna gamble?

Are you a chip off the old block now?

No, I'm not.

I always thought you were an action guy.

I'm not looking to gamble.

Oh.

Well, what then?

I was hoping you knew somebody

who could get me close to Ivan Block.

No. I don't know anybody like that.

That's out of my league. Way out.

He started that site,

and he had a dozen competitors.

I know. You're sure?

There's nobody

from all the years at the tables?

No, there's nobody.

All the chits are going

the other way now, son.

Now, wait a minute.

Where the hell are you going?

Come on. Stick around, play a little bit.

Here.

Richie. Richie,

you're not even listening to me.

Richie, what about finals, huh?

I got extensions.

Okay, but where are you going?

- Costa Rica.

- Costa Rica.

Did you get your shots?

Because there are monkeys there.

Monkeys that bite you with disease.

Odds are, the monkeys

will be the least of my worries.

Do you have any idea how crazy this is?

Look, Block is a businessman.

It's bad business to defraud your customer.

If anything, I'm doing the guy a solid.

"A solid. "

This isn't about Block, though.

It's about you. You don't know how to lose.

- You ever heard of Meyer Lansky?

- Yes, I know Meyer Lansky.

Right. One thing he wouldn't allow

is a bent table at any of his casinos.

Every flip, every spin,

every roll of the dice had to be legit.

Because he understood

what gambling is about.

So, what's gambling all about?

Everybody gets a fair shot.

Whether you have one dollar on the line

or a million.

Let's think this through for a second.

You're about to jet off

to a country you've never been to,

with a language you do not speak,

bluff your way into Ivan Block's posse,

somehow call him out

in front of everybody he knows,

and you expect him

to just give you your money back and say,

"Oh, that's my bad, dude. My fault. "

This school, this degree,

- what that means in the world...

- Mmm.

This isn't my second chance, Craig.

This is my last chance.

Welcome to Costa Rica.

There are hundreds

of affiliates already

down here for the gaming convention.

And they run the gamut.

From the guys with all the money

to the guys trying to get some.

Hey, hoss. If you're looking to gamble

in your hotel room later.

I'm all right, man.

You're Pet! I'm Richie Furst.

I steer players to your sites.

Richie. Dude.

- Andrew C.

- Hey, Richie F.

Nice to meet you.

Are you here for the expo?

Yeah, I'm hoping to get face to face

with Ivan Block.

Do you know him?

The man is like the Wizard of f***ing Oz.

And no one gets behind the curtain.

No one.

All right, man. We gotta go. Take it easy.

Good luck.

Yeah, you too.

We understand you're homesick.

It's not that I'm homesick.

I'm not away at camp.

It's an issue of freedom.

You know what Napoleon said he missed

the most when he was in exile in Elba?

P*ssy.

You know what he missed second?

Paris.

Now, myself, I don't

give a f*** about Paris.

And I got a whole grip of p*ssy down here.

But I can't walk down Michigan Avenue.

I can't walk down Broadway.

I can't walk down Art Rooney Avenue

and have a Primanti's Kolbassi and cheese.

You know what that's like

for a lifelong Steelers fan?

I can only imagine.

We can raise it in committee.

The table's ready. Who's first?

Okay.

Look, guys, we all know what's going on.

You're about to get the kind of blowj*b

your wife hasn't given you in 30 years.

And that's great.

I want to help our vaunted leaders

let off a little steam.

That's why we're lucky,

because you got me down here.

Enjoy your massage.

Welcome, affiliates,

to the 2013 Midnight Black Expo.

Please join us poolside

for poker and blackjack.

Affiliates, please go to the lower deck

to redeem your vouchers.

Super affiliates, please meet

in the poker pavilion on the lower level.

Five minutes. I'm just looking

for five minutes with Mr. Block.

And I'm looking to be

on the cover of italian Vogue

but it's not gonna happen for either of us.

It could.

Maybe for me.

Why don't you give me your card?

I'll put you on the call list.

Oh.

Triage this for me, best you can.

Great dress, by the way.

Thank you.

You're gonna have to like it

because I'm gonna be in it

for the rest of the night.

No time to breathe, much less to change.

I know. I'm buried with party requests

for tomorrow night.

It's going to be amazing.

I've just been over all

the details with Ivan.

Excuse me, Ms. Shafran?

Oh, God, I haven't been called that

since the last time I was deposed.

It brings back bad memories.

It's Rebecca.

Rebecca, I'm Richie Furst and...

You smell like an affiliate.

Not anymore.

But you want something.

Okay, so there's a couple of ways

I could respond to that.

I could say "yes," and you walk away.

I could say "no,"

but then you'd know I was lying.

And I walk away.

But you haven't walked away yet.

Don't try to con me.

Just tell me straight up what you want.

Okay.

I need to come

to that party tomorrow night.

There. How easy was that?

Hey, you! Get down. Now.

All right, fellas.

Let's go.

Is this the guy?

Okay, you got in. What do you want?

My name is Richie Furst.

I was cheated on your site, Midnight Black,

and I'm guessing by the look

on your face you don't even know it.

If I had a dollar for every bad

gambler who lost money on my site,

and turned around and claimed

they got cheated, I wouldn't need a site.

Mr. Block, I ran a multimodal

sample distribution

at the Plasma Physics Lab at Princeton.

These numbers are negative-3 sigma.

That means they fall substantially below

the standard deviation.

I could have gone

to the internet forums, chat rooms,

exposed the whole thing, but I didn't.

I brought it to you.

Well, I appreciate that.

Thank you very much.

Have a good night.

Sir?

Hey. Come on aboard.

It's not gonna make you sick, is it?

No, no, no. I'm fine.

Good.

I'm a big believer in being the person

who kills what they eat, you know?

The indians had that figured out.

And not a whole hell of a lot else

until the casino racket in the mid '80s.

- - Let's try this

part again. My name's Ivan.

Richie Furst.

It's a pleasure, Richie.

Welcome aboard.

This is The House.

I never in a million years

thought I'd have something like this.

Just got to the point where me

and my old partner, Alex Maynard,

looked in the ATM account and

realized we had so much money

that it was morally incumbent on us

to buy something.

So, we ordered a set of these boats.

We had a good time. A lot of fun.

Is he still involved?

No. Alex, um...

You know, this life has

a lot of temptation.

And it just gets a hold of some people.

Alex died of a drug overdose

a little more than three years ago.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes