Of all the poker movies I’ve seen over the years, High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story is the one that I’ve seen most times. I tend to see it every couple of years, and despite almost knowing it by heart, I enjoy it every time.
The movie is based on a real life story of Stu “The Kind” Ungar, the greatest poker player of his era who, despite his enormous talent for playing cards, couldn’t fight off his inner demons, leading to his early demise.
High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story uses an interesting setup to tell the story of “The Kid.” Ungar is in his dim hotel room, facing a man who, by all accounts, was sent to kill him. The man gives an out, though, inviting him to tell him his life story, and promising that if he can figure out why he is there, he’ll leave.
At the end of his strength and with nothing left to lose, Ungar lays out a detailed account of his life, starting with his early childhood. When his story reaches the end, there is one final twist to the movie, which I won’t reveal in case you are yet to see it.
Core High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story Movie Details & Ratings
- Title: High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story
- Year: 2003
- Director: A.W. Vidmer
- Main cast: Al Bernstein, Andrew N.S. Glazer, Michael Imperioli
- Genre: Drama / Biography
- Duration: 109 min.
- Overall score: 9/10
| Criteria | Score (1-10) | Reviewer note |
| Poker Realism | 10/10 | Very realistic and true-to-life representation of poker hands |
| Story & Writing | 8/10 | Suspenseful, slowly-building story that will keep your attention |
| Acting & Characters | 7/10 | Not an expert, but I love Michael Imperioli, and he did a great job playing Ungar |
| Poker Excitement Factor | 8/10 | This movie is a rollercoaster of emotions, in terms of poker and otherwise |
| Entertainment value | 9/10 | You’ll enjoy every minute of it |
What We Loved About The Movie
High Roller: The Stu Ungar story is a poker movie that isn’t really about poker. Instead, poker is used as a vehicle to tell a story about a man who had one great talent, but it came at high cost. All Ungar’s success at card games (and all the money that came with it) wasn’t enough to save him from himself.
Because of this, anyone can watch this movie and enjoy it. How much you know about poker rules won’t affect your overall viewing experience too much. That said, I do think this movie hits differently if you’re someone familiar with the world of poker and gambling or if you’re watching it as an “outsider” of sorts.
From poker perspective, it’s nice to see that writers tried to stay true to the game, avoiding made-up and super unrealistic hands just to add some shock value. For example, Ungar’s final hand in his 1997 WSOP Main Event victory was recounted correctly, and it is this kind of attention to detail that poker fans (especially those older among us) will appreciate.
Life on the Grind
Stu Ungar’s gambling journey started when he was just a kid, but it wasn’t until later in his life that he discovered bright lights of Las Vegas and fell in love with them. This is hardly a surprise for someone who only had one desire growing up: to play cards and beat everyone.
In the movie, the Ungar character puts it nicely, saying: “Movie stars in Los Angeles, politicians in Washington, gamblers in Las Vegas.”
The way the life of a poker grinder during that period (80s and 90s) is described in the movie rings true. It was the time when talented players, like Ungar, could make serious bank playing poker as most people lacked even the basic understanding of the game. For most, it was just another form of gambling.
It is a nice throwback to the period in time when poker was just starting to take off. It would be long time yet before the game became mainstream, but High Roller gives a sense of how things progressed over the years and what the life was like for those who were there early.
No Outs At All
I’d be lying if I said that poker is the main reason why I love this movie so much. It is Ungar’s personal struggle to succeed in the world that has seemingly given him everything but it is destroying him little by little with each passing day.
While professional critics and those who look at these things with different eyes may disagree, I find that struggle to be depicted very well in the movie. It starts very early, when Stu is pushed into the world of criminals, gamblers, and degenerates – the world he’s not ready for at all.
Those early scenes are prelude to things to come, and as the movie develops, Ungar is getting deeper and deeper into the vicious circle that he’ll never be able to escape. All his success on the felt is not enough, despite his deeply rooted desire to simply be happy.
Throughout the movie, he describes his various gambling achievements and how proud he is of them, but one especially powerful scene reveals the truth.
Ungar is describing his final 1997 Main Event hand to the mysterious stranger in his room, and he gets his money into the pot behind. And, he describes the situation, saying:
“But, wherever you are, you’ve got to consider all of your outs. See, sometimes they save you. But, sometime, you really ain’t got no outs at all.”
Ungar hit his miracle out on the river to take down the WSOP Main Event for the third time, but, as he remembers it, he finally realizes that his true battle was never at the poker table, and that cards, that he was in love with for his entire life, could not save him.
Shortcomings
As far as poker movies go, it’s hard to find much wrong with High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story. The most exciting hand in the movie, outside of Ungar’s WSOP victories, shows a fairly bold bluff with a player revealing one of his cards.
This is certainly nothing out of the ordinary and you can actually see it all the time on poker streams these days.
Some will say that the fact the movie describes poker as “having nothing to do with cards” is incorrect, but this needs to be observed in the context of the time the movie is depicting.
The success back then was much more about playing the player, which is why the likes of Ungar and, later, Gus Hansen were able to achieve amazing results through sheer, untamed aggression.
Perhaps a few more scenes showing poker hands would add to the excitement, but that wasn’t what High Roller was going for. So, personally, I don’t find any serious shortcomings with this movie, and while I know that’s not a general consensus, it will remain near the very top of my all-time favorite poker movies.
Final Verdict
High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story is a cautionary tale for all poker players. The life on the grind comes with many challenges, and some of them have nothing to do with how good a poker player you happen to be.
It’s hard to imagine that any fan of poker will watch this movie and regret the invested time. As the story unravels, it will suck you in, and you’ll feel the tension building up, especially if this is your first time watching.
Overall Score: 9/10
