Bruno

It can be hard for casino movies to be accurate, but some films are so inaccurate when it comes to the rules of certain games that they become almost laughable. If you’re looking to play the casino games featured in these movies, you can discover authentic games on some of the best online casino sites to see just how inexact these movies are. Whether it is card counting or factual inaccuracies relating to the types of chips used in a game, there are a number of films that haven’t portrayed casino gambling accurately. We’ve put together a list of some of the most obvious inaccuracies in casino movies.

The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

The Cincinnati Kid is one of the most critically acclaimed films of all time and starts with novice poker player Eric ‘The Kid’ Stoner following his dream by playing important games of poker in the big league. The most obvious inaccuracy from this film is from the betting rules in poker that just wouldn’t happen. For example, one scene shows characters raising and re-raising constantly – something that is not allowed in poker. Even the high-rollers at the casinos have measurements in place to stop this from getting out of hand. Also, when reciting the rules, the game host clearly states that there should be no string bets and that the game is played for table stakes; although players go on to make regular string bets throughout the game and instantly break both rules. The biggest inaccuracy however, is in the final hand. A full house and a straight flush are both turned over in the same hand, which in reality is almost impossible with odds meaning that this would happen once every 45,102,748 times.

Rounders (1998)

Rounders is considered to be the last time that poker had a proper cinematic presentation which accurately captures the essence of the game. However there are a few unrealistic and inaccurate scenarios that happen during this film. When Mike is watching the judge’s game, he perfectly reads every card that every player was holding and every card that they were looking to get. There is no way this would happen in real life. The best he would be able to do in a real life situation would be to be able to identify which players were strong and which were weak. In addition to this, after Mike sets Worm up at the club and leaves, Worm asks for $2000 of debt in Mike’s name to sit at a $20/$40 limit game. The woman is then seen putting four row of green $25 chips into a chip rack. However a $20/$40 game would never be played with $25 chips because it would be impossible to bet the required amount. The game would usually be played with $20 chips made specifically for $20/$40 games.

Casino Royale (2006)

In this particular James Bond movie, there is a scene where Bond is sent on a mission to defeat an arms dealer at a game of high stakes poker. Rather than the film showing how poker actually plays out, Bond conveniently won every hand during the final showdown. Simply, no one is that good at poker without magician-level sleight of hand. Also, after Bond wins, he passes a chip to the dealer as a tip. However, in poker tournaments the chips have no value – money accumulated from any collected chips is paid directly into a locked account. If the chip had value, it was attached to the game, and if so, Bond either tried to tip the dealer with the casino’s own money or he intentionally tipped the dealer nothing.

Movie 21 (2008)

Movie 21 is known for being full of inaccuracies. The film is about a group of MIT students that try to take Las Vegas to win money through card counting. Nevertheless there are various quotes and other concepts that are completely false in this film. Firstly, it is stated that the object of blackjack is to get as close to 21 as possible without going over. In fact, the object of blackjack is to beat the dealer. The film also portrayed pit bosses as being incompetent and unable to catch out card counters. In fact, everyone working in surveillance or floor management in a casino is able to count cards. The film also suggested that through card counting, players can win every single hand. This couldn’t be further from the truth, as card counting is just a tool that you can use to predict the statistical probability of the next card on the deck – it only improves your edge by around 1%.

The Hangover (2009)

The Hangover is one of the best Las Vegas comedies and its popularity has reportedly led to many more tourists heading over the Vegas for a stag do. However, the film does give a few inaccurate portrayals of how casinos and card counting works. Firstly, Alan is clearly mouthing the cards that go by. Considering that card counting leads to people being thrown out and receiving life time bans from casinos, in real life this would not be made that obvious – security would catch on within seconds and Alan would have been ejected. In addition to this, some of the mathematics that Alan is doing in his head in order to be successful at card counting actually have nothing to do with card counting at all. An example of this him trying to work out the square root of ((4x8)/2) – which if he was really doing this, he’d have just been doing it for fun.