I was recently employed by Business Insider to look at a number of poker scenes from movies and TV and judge them on realism.

While I’m a big fan of movies myself and had seen most of the films already, it was instructive to see them all together and notice the patterns. Representing poker effectively in movies presents a unique hurdle for filmmakers, who often have limited screen time to showcase thrilling hands or crucial story advancements.

That got me thinking — what are some of the common mistakes Hollywood typically makes when creating poker scenes? 

1. String Bets

Across all the scenes I watched, string bets were far and away the most common mistakes made by filmmakers.  While perhaps unknown to the casual player or non-poker player, the string bet is a rule that prevents a player from using multiple motions to call and raise.

Oftentimes in film, we will see a player first make a call, and then a raise afterwards.  In some older scenes, I even saw this being declared verbally, “Call your $1,000 and raise you another $2,000.”  These types of bets qualify as string bets and are illegal in poker.  As soon as a player calls, either verbally or by putting chips forward, they have relinquished their option to raise on that street.  

2. Massive Coolers

While not technically a mistake, I am always astounded by the massive set-ups we see in poker’s portrayal in Hollywood. I understand that these scenes are made for entertainment and meant to be dramatic, but the statistical improbabilities shown in movies and TV are mind-boggling. In cinema, coolers like a straight flush over four-of-a-kind over a straight flush are commonplace, and royal flushes come off the deck as commonly as one pair! 

To give a frame of reference to the actual poker world, most poker rooms offer a jackpot if a player is unlucky enough to lose with a hand as strong as four-of-a-kind. These are known as Bad Beat Jackpots. Bad Beat Jackpots (or BBJs) typically only hit once a month or a few times a year, and that’s with nearly every table in the casino being eligible. BBJs are super popular with players at smaller stakes as it gives them a chance at winning hundreds of thousands of dollars while only playing poker for $50-$100. If poker movies were running Bad Beat Jackpots they would quickly be bankrupt as they’d be handing out the jackpot every other hand!    

3. Cheating

Everyone is always cheating in Hollywood poker scenes! Whether players are stacking the deck, using devices, or teaming up with other players to collude, there is foul play everywhere. And while cheating can and does occur in poker, the frequency with which it shows up is massively overblown by Hollywood. The vast majority of poker games in the world are square games with no cheating whatsoever going on. This is especially the case for poker games inside casinos, where cheating becomes much more difficult.  

The only saving grace to Hollywood’s cheating obsession is that most of the games portrayed in these scenes are not played in a casino. These cheating scenes mostly show private games, with players dealing to each other and the game host being able to control the environment of the game. In settings like this, cheating is much easier to pull off. Nearly every player has been cheated in a poker home game if they play long enough, even myself! 

For Entertainment Purposes Only

So while Hollywood typically gets these elements of poker incorrect in their work, I do give them a bit of latitude as they are attempting to create entertainment. Dramatic tension, heightened stakes, and visually compelling scenarios often take precedence over the nuanced realities of the game. Realistic accuracy clearly gets moved down the list of priorities when making movies or TV. 

Consequently, individuals with deep knowledge and experience in various professional fields, including poker, are likely to identify technical or procedural inaccuracies in their cinematic representations. These discrepancies, while potentially jarring to experts, are generally considered necessary sacrifices for the sake of storytelling and broader audience appeal. Audiences can deal with discrepancies and inaccuracies, as long as it’s a good watch.

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