The life of a Poker Professional

It just wouldn't be possible to write an article about poker in movies and not do one on this poker legend, High Roller. It’s hard to get closer to the game than this 2003 movie, which follows the life of one of the greatest poker players to ever live.

High Roller: The Stu Ungar Story (it also goes by the title "Stuey") is one of the top movies about gambling and follows the life of Unger, who not only won many tournaments, but took home three WSOP tournament wins.

As often seen in poker films, the ultimate outcome of gambling is one of devastation and sadness, not necessarily caused by the gambling itself, but more with the troubles that come with success.

What would be better taken from these movies about poker is what can be accomplished if you focus on being a great player. This is balanced by showcasing what can happen if you don't keep things in perspective rather than forming the impression that only the bad things will happen.

Struggling with Poker Fame

In the movie, Stu Ungar is portrayed by Michael Imperioli of Sopranos fame. During the course of the movie it shows that by perfecting his game of poker, Stu managed to earn several million dollars. The unfortunate part was he never learned to manage that money or the fame that came with being the Poker Star of the century. This lack of maturity led Stu Ungar to a life of drugs and non stop gambling on horses. This all came to an end though with his sad and unfortunate death in 1998.

The moral of this movie or any of the movies about gambling should really focus on the true cause of Stu Ungar's demise which was not being able to handle the place where poker took him. Not the game of poker itself.