There has been a lot of talk in the pokerverse about what can be done to boost poker’s popularity and what, if anything, could trigger a new poker boom.
In the midst of these discussions, somebody brought up Queen’s Gambit, a show that arguably did for chess what Moneymaker’s WSOP victory did for poker. In the wake of its release, the game of chess saw a huge surge in popularity, with millions of people worldwide picking up the game or coming back to it having not played in years.
To be fair, Queen’s Gambit came out at just the right time, with many people stuck at home due to various restrictions caused by the global pandemic, looking for something to keep them entertained. Online chess was right there; it was free, and the show gave the game a fresh allure.
Arguably, poker had its own moment with the movie Rounders, but that movie came out all the way back in 1998. At this time, online poker was at its very start and far from being a global phenomenon. So, for many of those who were fascinated by Mike McDermott’s quest for greatness, taking up poker simply wasn’t an option.
Vegas and fucking Mirage are cool and all, but for a large part of the global population, they are also thousands of miles (and thousands of bucks) away – and that’s just to get you started.
Today, however, poker is everywhere. There are countless online options and live tournaments taking place all over the world. If you want, you can combine the two and use online platforms to qualify for live events and all that is possible without having to risk huge amounts of money.
With all this in mind, it feels like the perfect time for poker’s version of Queen’s Gambit, be it a movie or TV show. But what would it take for that movie to strike a chord and wake up the masses, giving them a new perception of the game?
I’m by no means a moviemaker or screenwriter, but these are my thoughts on the topic, looking at it primarily from a fan’s perspective, as someone who’s seen every poker movie there is, and would certainly enjoy a new (good) one.
The Plot: An Exciting But Relatable Story
Every movie needs a good plot that holds it together and keeps your attention. We want the story to make sense from start to finish and to be plausible. But, at the same time, it needs to be interesting.
That’s a tall order for any movie, which is why so many of them fail, but it’s particularly challenging for the one that revolves around something as niche as Texas Hold’em.
But it’s not like there is a lack of inspiration in the real world. Take Victor Blom, for example. Isildur1’s story is well known within the poker community, but, with the right approach, it could be adopted into a movie that appeals to a much wider audience.
Think about it – it’s a story about the ultimate challenge, with complete disregard for money. It is the story about perseverance as Blom was ready to drop in stakes, rebuild, and do it all over again. You can have many nail-biting moments built in there that will make the audience sit on the edge of their seats.
However, the plot can’t be one-dimensional, otherwise it’s not realistic. There need to be other stories happening around it. These subplots give us hints into the state of mind of the main character, allowing us to cheer him on, feel for his hardships, or even hate him.
A good movie will create a range of emotions with different people, as we all come to it with a different set of eyes. But, as long as it is able to wake real emotions, it is a success.
The Characters: Motivation and Development
I’ve always been the most impressed by movies and shows that manage to develop their characters as the plot progresses. By the end of it all, the main character and those closest to them have changed a lot in the light of their experiences, and this change makes sense.
This is a tall order, of course, as you need to do it all within a couple of hours, and that’s not a lot of time. But that’s why the best Hollywood directors and screenwriters get paid the big bucks – they know how it is done.
I'm about to alienate the entire poker industry with what I'm going to say.
— Dustin Iannotti (@dustini) April 10, 2025
But someone needs to point out that we've been telling the wrong story for 20 years.
The evidence is undeniable. The solution is uncomfortable.
The poker content industry is creatively bankrupt and… pic.twitter.com/VS8hZLNJ6d
The plot and the characters need to be in sync. If we have a player who’s ready to take on the poker world, we want to understand what it is that motivates them. That’s one of the things that I’ve never liked about Rounders – it’s not really clear what it is that Mike wants to achieve.
The way the plot is set up, he wants to play the WSOP Main Event, but he had enough money to go and do it at the very start of the movie, so…
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Character development is really important for a movie to achieve a broad appeal because that’s what gets the people talking. We want to see questionable decisions, condemn them, but also understand the reasoning behind them. This creates an environment for discussions and arguments, which motivates more people to go and see the movie themselves.
The Presentation: Rounding It All Up
With absolutely zero experience in the movie industry, I am in no position to talk about camera angles, shooting styles, and whatever else it is that happens behind the scenes. All I can say is that the right setup can make even a boring story interesting to watch, and vice versa.
The ability to capture the moment and the emotion behind it without a single word is truly an art, and while you may not know how or why, you certainly know when those moments take place on the screen.
In fact, it is those few moments that often stick with us long after we’ve seen a movie and come back as flashbacks. And, arguably, it’s those moments that make people say – I want to experience this!
Can Someone Give It a Go, Pretty Please?
It is impossible to say what, if anything, could cause another poker boom like we saw back in the 2000s. Perhaps it’s just not possible in today’s climate, especially with the US still largely out of the picture, at least when it comes to online poker.
But that doesn’t mean that poker doesn’t deserve its own version of Queen’s Gambit. After all, there are hundreds (at least) of movies produced in Hollywood each year, and a good portion of them simply suck. Yet, they get all the way across the finish line somehow.
It would be nice if someone gave a poker movie a proper shot, working with insiders who understand the game and those who have had years of experience on the felt. Who knows, it just may end up being a blockbuster.
