{"id":88857,"date":"2018-09-23T12:00:49","date_gmt":"2018-09-23T19:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=88857"},"modified":"2018-09-23T03:50:59","modified_gmt":"2018-09-23T10:50:59","slug":"matt-damon-edward-norton-cheated-bob-harvey-weinstein-at-poker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/matt-damon-edward-norton-cheated-bob-harvey-weinstein-at-poker\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Damon and Edward Norton Cheated Bob and Harvey Weinstein at Poker"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt Damon and Edward Norton once fleeced Bob Weinstein and his disgraced brother, Harvey Weinstein, at poker. The pair employed cheating skills they learned preparing for Rounders<\/em>, the classic 1998 poker movie that the Weinsteins themselves produced through their company Miramax.<\/p>\n

\"Matt
Rounders<\/em> was 20 years old this week, and its two male leads took method acting to a whole new level when they played in a poker game hosted by producers the Weinsteins, according to Edward Norton. (Image: Miramax)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s been two decades since the release of Rounders. <\/em>The movie was a box-office flop, pulled from theaters by Miramax after just three weeks. But it garnered a cult following on DVD and is credited — along with Chris Moneymaker\u2019s shock 2003 World Series of Poker victory — as igniting the \u201cpoker boom\u201d in the 2000s.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, here\u2019s the thing,\u201d explained Norton\u2019s character, Worm, famously in the movie. \u201cIf you can\u2019t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker.\u201d<\/p>\n

But one night, just before Rounders<\/em> started production, it was the Weinsteins and their friends who were the suckers, according to Norton.<\/p>\n

Signaling Systems<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The two method actors had become so absorbed in their roles and so skilled not just at poker but also at cheating<\/a> at poker, they decided to put their new skills to the test.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatt and I \u2026 had been taught how people cheated, played partner poker, by signaling. Because they do that in their games,\u201d recalls Norton, as part of an oral history of Rounder<\/em>s, published this week by The Ringer<\/em>. \u201cWe had had someone show us a fairly complex system for signaling what your cards were by the way you positioned your hold chips on your cards.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAnd so we got very good at it and we were just like, \u2018Should we do it?\u2019 And we were like, \u2018F*** it, it\u2019s like Harvey and Bob\u2019s game, let\u2019s do it.\u2019 We played that night doing sort of Mike and Worm\u2019s signaling system.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it worked enormously well. Matt was sort of getting the cards, so then I was like pumping up the bets, and seeing what he had, then folding out. And we went out when it was all over and chopped it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cult Classic Still Holds Up<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The film recounts the tale of Mike McDermott (Damon) and his degenerate hustler friend \u201cWorm\u201d (Norton). Mike is torn between dreams of poker greatness and giving up gambling altogether for the sake of his girlfriend. He also fantasizes about revenge against the Russian gangster, \u201cTeddy KGB,\u201d who takes him for his entire bankroll at the beginning of the movie.<\/p>\n

When Worm is released from prison and confides he owes money to the wrong people, the two hit the tables in a bid to pay off the debt, ultimately leading to a final showdown with TeddyKGB. Confronted with the choice of poker or a \u201cnormal life,\u201d Mike chooses poker, and heads to Vegas to seek his fortune.<\/p>\n

Damon and Norton\u2019s hard work and research paid off in more ways than one. Twenty years on, Rounders<\/em> still holds up as arguably the best and most authentic poker film ever made.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matt Damon and Edward Norton once fleeced Bob Weinstein and his disgraced brother, Harvey Weinstein, at poker. The pair employed cheating skills they learned preparing for Rounders, the classic 1998 poker movie that the Weinsteins themselves produced through their company Miramax. It\u2019s been two decades since the release of Rounders. The movie was a box-office […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":88859,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,3313,11,14],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMatt Damon, Edward Norton Cheated Bob, Harvey Weinstein at Poker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Matt Damon and Edward Norton cheated at poker game hosted by the Weinsteins after becoming cardsharps through their research for the movie Rounders, which turned 20 this week.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/matt-damon-edward-norton-cheated-bob-harvey-weinstein-at-poker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matt Damon, Edward Norton Cheated Bob, Harvey Weinstein at Poker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Matt Damon and Edward Norton cheated at poker game hosted by the Weinsteins after becoming cardsharps through their research for the movie Rounders, which turned 20 this week.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/matt-damon-edward-norton-cheated-bob-harvey-weinstein-at-poker\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-09-23T19:00:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-09-23T10:50:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/rounders.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/matt-damon-edward-norton-cheated-bob-harvey-weinstein-at-poker\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/matt-damon-edward-norton-cheated-bob-harvey-weinstein-at-poker\/\",\"name\":\"Matt Damon, Edward Norton Cheated Bob, Harvey Weinstein at Poker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/matt-damon-edward-norton-cheated-bob-harvey-weinstein-at-poker\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/matt-damon-edward-norton-cheated-bob-harvey-weinstein-at-poker\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/rounders.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-09-23T19:00:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-09-23T10:50:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Matt Damon and Edward Norton cheated at poker game hosted by the Weinsteins after becoming cardsharps through their research for the movie Rounders, which turned 20 this week.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/matt-damon-edward-norton-cheated-bob-harvey-weinstein-at-poker\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/matt-damon-edward-norton-cheated-bob-harvey-weinstein-at-poker\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/matt-damon-edward-norton-cheated-bob-harvey-weinstein-at-poker\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/rounders.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/rounders.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Rounders was 20 years old and its two male leads took method acting to a whole new level when they played in a poker game hosted by producers the Weinsteins, according to Edward Norton this week. 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