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Rounders
New York City law student and gifted poker player Mike McDermott dreams of winning the World Series of Poker. At an underground Texas hold 'em game run by Russian mobster Teddy "KGB", an overconfident Mike loses his entire $30,000 bankroll in a single hand. Shaken, he promises his girlfriend and fellow student Jo he has quit poker, and concentrates on law school. His mentor Joey Knish offers to stake him to rebuild his bankroll, but Mike declines and accepts a part-time job to make money.
Months pass and Mike stays true to his promise until his childhood friend, Lester "Worm" Murphy, is released from prison. While Mike is an honest player, Worm is a hustler and unapologetic cheat. To help Worm pay off a debt, Mike sets him up with games across town and reluctantly sits in on one, interfering with his studies and his relationship with Jo. Mike allows Worm to play on his credit at the Chesterfield Club. After being lent $2,000, Worm gets up to $10,000 and cashes out for the full amount, which starts a tab in Mike's name. Worm runs into Grama, a dangerous pimp, who reveals he is working for KGB and has bought Worm's debt, now totaling $25,000 with interest. Grama takes Worm's $10,000, threatening him to pay the rest. As Mike returns to his poker lifestyle and friends, Jo ends their relationship.
Mike learns from Petra at the Chesterfield that Worm has racked up a $7,000 debt in Mike's name. Worm tells Mike about Grama, but withholds the KGB connection. Mike vouches for Worm to Grama, but Worm and Grama insult each other and nearly come to blows. Grama gives them five days to pay the remaining $15,000. Mike decides to help Worm win the money by playing in several games in and around the city.
Mike wins $7,200 in three days, but still needs to more than double it in 48 hours. Worm drives Mike to Binghamton for a game hosted by New York state troopers, where he comes close to winning the $7,800 needed before Worm unexpectedly joins the game. Soon after, a trooper catches Worm base-dealing to help Mike; they are beaten up and relieved of their entire bankroll. Worm confesses that Grama is working for KGB and decides to flee; Mike returns to the city alone.
Mike asks Grama for more time, to no avail. He asks Knish for the money, but is refused out of principle. Knish chastises him for poor decisions, and Mike finally reveals why he took the ill-fated risk at KGB's club; he once beat poker legend Johnny Chan at a single hand in Atlantic City and thinks he can compete and possibly win the World Series of Poker. Desperate, Mike goes to his law professor, Petrovsky, who lends him $10,000. Mike challenges KGB to a second heads-up no-limit Texas hold 'em game for the remaining debt, with winner-take-all stakes, which KGB accepts. Mike beats KGB in the first session, winning $20,000. KGB offers to let Mike's winnings "ride" and continue the game, but Mike – with enough to pay off most of his debts – declines. As he is about to leave, KGB taunts that he is paying Mike with the money that he won from their previous game. Mike changes his mind and decides to continue playing.
Mike doubles the blinds at the risk of losing everything, and possibly his life, to KGB. As the night wears on, he spots KGB's tell and folds a crucial hand. Irate at missing a chance to bust Mike, KGB begins to play on " tilt ". In the final hand, Mike baits a boastful KGB into going all-in and defeats him with a nut straight. KGB throws a tantrum at having been lured into a mistake. The rattled KGB calls off his goons and admits that Mike won fairly, allowing him to leave with his winnings.
With over $60,000, Mike settles Worm's $15,000 debt to Grama, the Chesterfield's $6,000 credit, and his professor's $10,000 loan, and restores his original bankroll of "three stacks of high society". He drops out of law school, bids Jo goodbye, and leaves for Las Vegas to play in the World Series of Poker.