Rounders

Rounders is a 1998 American crime drama film about the underground world of high-stakes poker, directed by John Dahl and starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton. The story follows two friends who need to win at high-stakes poker to quickly pay off a large debt. The term "rounder" refers to a person traveling around from city to city seeking high-stakes card games. Rounders premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 4, 1998, and was theatrically released in the United States on September 11. It received mixed reviews from critics and was moderately successful at the box office, grossing $22.9 million against a $12 million budget. As a result of the poker boom in the early 2000s, the film gained a cult following. A novelization of the film was written by Kevin Canty