"Welcome back, everybody, to the 1997 World Series of Poker, where Stu "The Kid" Ungar is attempting to make one of the greatest comebacks in poker history by winning the no-limit Texas Hold-em Championship a record third time." "And Al, the amazing thing about this is that Stuey would be achieving that feat after 16 years of personal struggle where victories were really few and far between." "And standing between Stuey and history is John Stremp, a local casino executive who's shown remarkable fortitude, actually, in making it to this point." "And here it is--Stu is raising enough to put Stremp all in." "This could be it, Al." "If Stremp wins, it'll change the tide of the tournament." "If Stuey wins, he's got the championship again after 16 long years." "You're not sure?" "I thought you're supposed to be some freaking genius or something." "Yeah?" "Well, fuck you, then." "Come on, Stuey." "You could do better than that." "Do better than what?" "I wake up, you're in my goddamn hotel room wanting to know if I seen you before." "What kind of fucked-up game is that?" "I thought you liked games." "Cards, horses, football..." "I heard you play golf, even." "You got a good swing, Stuey?" "So that's what this is about?" "What do you think it's about?" "Oh, man." "Look..." "stop screwing with me." "You do what you gotta do." "You in a hurry?" "Got a hot date?" "What are the odds, Stuey?" "You're good with that stuff, right?" "Maybe you can get to that blade before I even figured out what you were up to." "You know..." "cut and run." "Me?" "I'd say I'm a 20-1 favorite to slice your fucking heart out before you're off the bed." "That about right?" "Hey, I know people, man." "I know important people." "Don't get all lathered up, Stuey." "You wanna know what the game is?" "I hear you're a worthless piece of Vegas shit, which is what you kind of look like at this point, if you don't mind me saying." "No offense." "But then I hear other things." "Like...you're a--a God or a legend or something." "A bona fide fucking legend." "Yeah?" "That's interesting." "And my job isn't usually real interesting." "So tell me a story." "A story?" "Yeah." "About you." "Why the fuck would I?" "Because then you might figure out why I'm here." "And if you do that..." "I'll go." "You'll go?" "On my father's eyes." "Get off me!" "Give us the money, Ungar!" "Don't give us that crap." "Punch him again, Flesh!" "No, wait!" "All right!" "Hi, Leon." "Yeah, Franky." "Stupid, I said 1 8." "Yes, 1 8." "I don't make the line." "You want it or not?" "I don't wanna hear a joke." "Franky, I don't wanna hear" "I don't..." "Are you a lonely person?" "What's the matter with you?" "Hey, Pop." "Oh, Christ." "What happened to you?" "No, sorry." "Call me back." "Who did this, Stuey?" "That Sheinberg kid again?" "I'll speak to his father." "No, no, no." "It's okay." "Yeah, it's okay." "You mean that move we talked about?" "How?" "I dropped some change." "It worked perfect." "Where'd you get him?" "Solly, Stuey got that fat-ass bully Sheinberg kid right in the chatchkes!" "Congratulations." "I love it, ah!" "Beautiful!" "That's it, kid." "That's how you're gonna do it." "You're smarter than all of 'em." "You don't have to be big when you're smart, right?" " Yeah." " Yeah." "You don't need any of this nonsense, do you?" "Here's what we're gonna do." "We're all gonna go out of town this weekend and celebrate." "Some place fancy." "Sound good?" " Sure." " All right." "Go get washed up." "I'll have Jimmy pour you something to take the sting away." "Go on." "Hey, Stuey..." "This was special." "But you don't come down here unless I bring you, okay?" "I mean it." "Yeah, no, I'm talking to my kid." "My kid." "My kid." "He just kicked the Sheinberg kid in the balls." "Yeah, you hope he don't kick you in the balls." "Oh, you don't have any balls." "Yeah, I knew that." "You should know." "He's a good boy." "Sure you wanna do that?" "You talk too much, shrimp." "Okay...just asking." "Gin." "Woo!" "It's like I already knew how to play." "My mom stanted to teach me." "she let me watch. but I knew." "I knew how they fit..." "how they felt." "More like a mouth." "You know cards were invented in China?" "First they invented paper, then cards right after." "Not these, though." "These came from England later." "That's why there's a Queen, you know." "Four suits of 1 3 cards." "It's just magic." "It's perfect." "The Devil's work." "Yeah." "Yeah." "But God, too." "Let's go to work." "Hello, everybody." "I brought my twin brother from Jersey." "We'll see you inside." "I wasn't really allowed to go to the club." "But sometimes. when Ma was visiting her sister or something." "I got to go." "At night..." "there was no place like it." "Hi, folks." "Everything okay?" "The martinis good?" "God bless you." "Nice to see you." "Welcome." "Welcome." "This is Stuey, my son." "Senator, how are you?" "So nice to see you..." "Pop was a big man there." "Everyone shook his hand-- Jews and Italians." "Brooklyn Moe Weinstein." "Big Anthony Tontolla." "Jackie Nose." "Bad Phillie Broma." "even celebrities that came down sometimes--everybody." "Most of the time there." "I felt dizzy." "I couldn't breathe." "It was so much..." "bigger than everything else." "He's my bodyguard." "I brought him along." "I mean. broads. booze." "gambling--all of it." "But they never got sloppy." "Ever." "And they took exactly zero shit from nobody." "None of this corporate political bullshit." "If they liked you. you were in." "If not. you were fucked." "Not like now." "Like you company muscle guys. right?" "Not my style." "Martini time" "I'm lining up my straws" "So they liked you ?" "Shit. yeah." "They saw I could play cards." "so I played for them." "The fish never saw me coming." "Never forgot me. either." "I razzed them so bad." "they always came back." "Vince and the other guys-- they respected me for my talent." "Don't work that way no more." "It's not so different now." "Stuey." "When I was bar mitzvah'd in '66." "they all came." "Every one." "They all gave me cash-- three grand." "Out of respect." "You gonna tell me it happens that way now?" "Yeah." "You give respect." "you get respect." "I gave respect." "What'd you do with the money." "Stuey?" "I don't remember." "Yeah. you do." "No, Maxwell!" "You're gonna kill him!" "That's what I should do, Flo, after what he did!" "That was your bar mitzvah money, you little shit!" " You spit on tradition!" " No!" "I'm sorry, Pop." "I didn't mean--!" "You didn't mean?" "You didn't mean?" "!" "Let me tell you what I mean." "From now on, no more club, no more cards, no more track, no more nothing, you understand?" "!" "You go to school, you come home." "You use that big brain of yours to do something other than embarrass me and your mother, you understand me?" "!" "Vincent wants me to" "That's right, run away, you little shit." "Don't let me catch you!" "What?" "!" "He-Hey!" "There's my little genius." "Jesus Christ." "Who did this to you?" "It's in your religion." "You understand my emphasis?" "You really wanna play cards, Stuey?" "Yeah." "More than anything." "All right." "I'll take care of it." "Let's go get a steak for that shiner." "Good. 'Cause this credit thing..." "it's for losers." "Stuey." "Come here, son." "I'm sorry I was late, Pop." "Ralph's dad got a new color TV, and we were watching, um..." "My son the doctor, driving up in his new Cadillac, visiting us from his house in Connecticut." "You think I wouldn't do it another way if I could?" "!" "I'm not smart enough!" "I hate school." "It's boring!" "And you don't like baseball, you don't like football," " Leave mom out of this!" " She doesn't see!" "What--that you sit down at the club and take these guys' money and respect and then you spit on them behind their backs?" "No, she doesn't see!" "Or someone did." "Everyone needs partners, man." "Where you been, Stuey?" "I've been waiting for two fucking hours." "Jesus Christ." "Your dick is gonna fall off if you keep going to them places." " Where this time?" " Dolly's." "Skanks." "Victoria's is better." "You wanna go?" "Nah, I don't wanna go." "Vince is gonna be mad as it is." "The game was supposed to start an hour ago." "So?" "We still gotta eat, though, don't we?" "I guess so." "Whose is this?" "Teddy's." "Teddy's?" "And they look forward to the trip." "Unbelievable." "Listen..." "Vincent wanted me to speak to you." "Tommy Spinotti, Carmine Frangine" "Carmine's a prick." "and then you'll run off to the track or find some asshole bookie to take your bet." "Okay, Anthony." "Okay." "Flaming Christ, Anthony!" "Absolutely, Mr. Leo." "Hi, it's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Leo." "So, shall we begin?" "I believe knock rummy is the game?" "What would you like to play for, kid?" "Anything you want." "Two bucks a point, 500 a game too much?" "I'm rolling the dice" "Feeling pretty good" "Nice run of luck there, kid." "Oh, it ain't luck." "What, then?" "I know you." "You know me?" "Yeah, but I know now." "After four discards?" "Impossible." "Well, I know you got a pretty decent hand 'cause you always lean a little forward when the cards look good on the deal." "Since I got the queen of diamonds, you got kings." "until you hit something else and you move 'em over." "Now, that's interesting, right?" "No." "No, I don't think so, Mr. Leo." "Oh." "Oh, and, uh... if you ever get to Vegas, look me up." "So you're laying ten Gs against 66 hundred to make that call." "Yeah, but I had him." "I call right, he's destroyed." "If you could take a man out, you do it." "What'd he do to you?" "Nothing." "Yeah." " Well" " No, they don't. 'Cause they got class." "Look at that jacket." "Like you've never been in one before." "No, sir." "Good." "Because they spread disease." "Give young Stu here my food." "He's going to be a millionaire, you know." "Don't let him near Funzi Giacomo or the other families." "Gratzi." "Just another $2 whore, eh, Stuey?" "Gimme a dime." "...six--I don't have change." "Seven...eight..." "Give me a fucking dime, Anthony." "four...five...six..." "Sixteen..." "Yeah." "Oh, it's okay." "Don't worry about it." "Yeah?" "Okay." "Uh, great." "Um..." "Friday?" "7:30?" "Great." "Okay." "Okay, great." "I'll see you then." "All right, bye." "A king." "Now he's smiling real big, he's relaxing, lights a cigar." " The whole place goes berserk." " No!" "What did he do?" "He turned white as a sheet," "He died right there." "Oh, my God." "Really?" "Um, sir, about the wine, my manager..." "Do you possibly have any identification?" "A driver's license, perhaps?" "Well, I don't drive," "You think?" "Bad day." "You know, people coming and going, winning, losing..." "Yeah, exactly." "This is me." "Yeah, I talked to fucking Vincent, you Jew bastard." "Carmine, let's go." "One of these days... and with you, it's just a matter of time." "There ain't gonna be no Vincent...no Gus." "...we're gonna have a nice long dance." "Oh, yeah." "We will." "Want some coffee?" "And they lived happily ever after." "But it wasn't enough?" "Hey, nobody gets everything they need from one person." "So why'd she ask?" "So he could tell her what she wanted to hear." "And she could be with him." "Okay, good." "Here." "Hold on one second." "Yeah, it's Stuey." "Uh, could you set us up with a couple of spaghetti and meatballs--two orders." "What was that?" " Joey's." "I ordered for us." " You ordered?" "Maybe I'll be there when you get back." "We'll do it tomorrow, I promise." "Okay?" "Just you and me." "Real romantic-like." "I promise." "I don't like this, Stuey." "This ain't like usual." "He wouldn't give it to me." "He said you owe him." "Rosco, then?" "No." "Freddie." "No!" "Who, then?" "Gus won't cover us if we lose." "I should've told you." "Why don't you get out of here." "They broke Anthony's arm." " You think this is a fucking game?" " Jesus." "Yes, you will." "You're going to Las Vegas tonight." "Tonight?" "But Angela" "Fuck Angela." "You don't even know when your life's being saved, so shut the fuck up." "Every penny comes back here, you understand?" "Every fucking penny." "Come on, Gino." "Please." "Okay, Stuey." "Sure." "Shit." "You have a wonderful evening, sir." "And if you wanna go anywhere, ask for Gerald." "Okay, Gerry." "I'll do that." "Welcome to Las Vegas, sir." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Me and Frank." "Best in the business--best in the world, as far as I'm concerned." "They got a couple of guys making some noise now up and down the strip, but...it won't be the same." "Some kind of player, this boy." "Listen, Stu... if I even hear you're near any one of them before the tournament... ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together and welcome little Stuey Ungar!" "You sure you're old enough to win this, kid?" "Anthony." "Jeez, man." " Hello?" " Um." "Sondra." "Yeah, Sondra, listen." "I gotta take care of some business, okay?" "They're like fucking sharks around here." "They smell blood in the water." "Cops came....firemen." "Everything." "Big scene." "You could do this, Stuey." "I'm funny?" "gone back to New York, gotten a job as an accountant or some shit, made my apologies." "No!" "No!" "For leaving the goddamn table!" "This was what I was meant to do." "This was where I was supposed to be." "Movie stars in Hollywood, politicians in Washington." "I promised myself I wasn't gonna gamble no more, and I didn't." "I really didn't." "For a long time, I didn't." "and the casinos edge on the game just whittles it away." "Sometimes it's just a tiny edge." "but it's always there." "so they buy you your room and your dinner." "and they smile and wait for you to lay your money down again" "And that's what we did. too." "Just waited forya." "You get two private cards." "five others are dealt up." "'Cause these donkeys never figured out that the game wasn't about cards." "It was about people." "Re-raise." "I gotta bet you 5,000, Mario." "That one." "This one?" "You lucky bastard." "Nice draw." "Hey!" "In golf. you could do that." "He's got about 1 80 yards to the pin." "And this certainly is anywhere." "You'll drown!" "He hits the ball off this huge tee three feet from the fucking cup." "Five fucking months!" "People stood six-deep to watch." "It was the fuckin' World Series of Poker." "and either you had the chops to win a bracelet. or you didn't." "Tell me I'm learning" "I call." "But I don't walk on water and I don't read minds" "Yeah, it's just a matter of time" "When you made the final table..." "Listen, I'm gonna go to my room and lie down." "Okay." "I'll" "Stuey." "Hand-made." "You and those cards." "We all knew it." "I have to get home." "change is good." "It looks like." "I need to wash these windows." "He's, uh...really smart." "Tall." "I got a million bucks in a vault at the Dunes." "Anything." "In Vegas?" "For Vegas, it was a normal life." " Thank you." " I'll be downstairs." "I'm gonna go look at this house." " Glass of wine." " Okay." "You get married, you get soft." "But there is a matter of a down payment." "Yeah, 40K, right?" "Here you go." "Stu." "What?" "What?" "Everything okay?" "Yeah." "Yeah?" "Salmon or Hunter Green?" "What?" "I think Salmon." "Stuey, you haven't spent one second in the new house, and I have made every decision, all right?" "So paint the fucking thing Day-Glo Purple, for all I care." "Just leave me the fuck alone, all right?" "I'm gonna put it in the bank and give it to my kid--what else?" "Then why'd you say that?" "I was kidding." "Great house, cars, vacations..." "And Nicky." "Your daughter." "No." "It's the most amazing thing." "You don't sound amazed." "Yeah." "See, a kid is you..." "perfect." "Stuey!" " How ya doing?" " Good." "Listen, go see if Scout has enough water, okay?" " Okay." " All right." " I don't know." " How 'bout raw?" "Think he'll like that?" "How 'bout Susan?" "And now they have to come back over and turn it on--again." "And I have to call Susan and make something up." "No!" "That's not the way it works!" "We could put it on a credit card, but we don't have a credit card." "You know, sometimes you can be a real cunt, Angie." "Sometimes you make me fucking sick." "You should've seen that fucking guy's face, man." "He was scared shit." "Aren't we havin' a fucking party, or what?" "Yeah!" "Look, I gotta go, okay?" "Oh, come on." "We're just getting started here, DJ." "No, man." "I'm done." "So, Stu--can I call you Stu?" "Yeah, sure." "So, Stu, have you met the lovely Sondra?" "We could settle up later, okay, Stu?" "Yeah, sure." "Thanks, Tony." "No fun at all." "What, home?" "!" "Oh..." "Like you'd think she had a shitty life or something like that." "Like she didn't live in a fucking mansion that I bought for her." "She's like" " Ungrateful." " Yes." "Yes." "Exactly that." "She's fucking ungrateful." "Here." "Here." "Look." " Stuey." " Right there." " Stuey." " You're happy, right?" "You're thrilled, right?" "Why should you?" "You got 30 grand right there." "With her, it's fucking different 'cause that shit is not important." "Not that she hasn't smacked me." "No, that's okay, I guess." "I don't know." "There's a different standard." "There's a double standard there." "Why?" "Angie wouldn't even touch me by then." "But you didn't really mind." "You had two new mistresses." "But I don't wanna talk about this no more." "Go on, Stuey." "We need this." "Oh, Bob, go fuck yourself, okay?" "Security!" "Get him out." "Why don't you just fucking kiss me, okay, because you've been fucking me all night, anyway." "Who the fuck you think you are..." "Angie?" "What the fuck is going on?" "Don't fucking tell me this." "Don't you fucking tell me this." "Motherfucker!" "You motherfucker!" "Huh?" "!" "Huh?" "You fucking miserable cunt!" "That's what you're gonna do?" "!" "Yes, it's me." "I know." "I know." "I'm sorry, okay?" "I'm sorry." "Okay." "Yeah." "You miserable cunt bitch!" "Fuck it!" "I don't remember, DJ." "I don't." "Hey ,fuck you, man, okay?" "I don't need any lectures right now." "You like that, Stuey?" "Huh?" "Well, you better get used to it, man." "Well, I haven't been in this room since, uh, Susan left." "Yeah, one thing at a time, okay, DJ?" "Yeah." "Yeah, sure." "Okay." "These okay?" "Oh, yeah." "Sure." "Wait a minute." "Hold on." "I..." "Susan always, uh..." "She thought of everything, huh?" "Yeah, she did." "Not today, brother." "Not today." "Good morning!" "Tonight I kinda lost myself in a moment of a year" "To take away yesterday's sorrow" "To take away yesterday's sorrow" "To take away yesterday's sorrow" "Send them angels" "It's good!" "No shit." "It's really good!" "But I'll get to see Nicky." "We sure fucked it up, didn't we?" "You know...if I'd have known about corned beef earlier," "Come on, kid." "Get in." "Where's your competitive spirit?" "I know, I know, I know." "You're worried about the money." "No, you wouldn't do that." "Of course not." "You're my player, all right?" "I gotta think about that." "And he wanna think about it?" "Well, thanks for the ride." "Oh...my pleasure." "Those are for me, huh?" "You used to try and get me to come out here, remember?" "Yeah." "She's a lot like you." " Oh, shit." " No." "In a good way." "We're, uh...we're gonna be moving back, Stuey." "I got a job." "Doesn't change anything." "Well..." "See ya." "I don't know." "It'll bring you luck at the series." "Bye." "Nicky." "You can't lose-- not with me around." "And as aggressive as Stuey has been throughout, here he comes again-- he raises $40,000." "Stu raised seven times in a row with no one calling him?" "Is he bluffing?" "No one was willing to be the one to pay to find out if Stu was bluffing." "Well, that's no help for Stu, because he needs a four or a deuce on the final card" "But wherever you are." "you gotta consider all your outs." "See. sometimes they save you... you really ain't got no outs at all." "Again." "A bona fide legend." "Oh, yeah." "Everybody's hero." "Uh-huh." "Oh, all the time, man." "They're always keeping me straight." "See, that's the great thing about Vegas." "Is--is people are always doing favors for each other." "So you got where you've seen me?" "You did good anyway." "Really?" "We could play a couple of hands for, you know..."