It helped glorify the underground poker scene in New York City. While the movie didn’t exactly crush at the box office – it finished with the 76th largest domestic box office of 1989 at $22.9 million – it framed poker, and specifically Texas Hold’em, as a game where young people could use their smarts and wits to make money. Twenty-five years ago, Matt Damon and Edward Norton changed your life forever when they graced the silver screen as Mike McDermott and Lester Murphy – better known as ‘Worm’ – in Rounders. The Rounders Cinematic Universe puts those characters’ stories front and center. When Rounders debuted 25 years ago and gave us a glimpse into the characters that make the New York City poker scene so unique.
