If you love poker, you probably enjoy the characters you meet along the way as well. Also, all the different setting from back room games with friends to upscale private settings. It’s part of the fun. Unless you’re one of those players who can’t control him or herself. High stakes poker, like any form of high takes gambling, can crush souls and ruin lives. The key is to enjoy the thrill of this intoxicating game without letting it destroy you.

In “Molly’s Game” we get a glimpse into the world of private, high-stakes poker games in Los Angeles and New York. It’s a world filled with celebrities, athletes, beautiful women and plenty of booze and drugs. It’s a target-rich environment if you’re a smart and disciplined player. But for many others it’s a seductive trap that can often lead to a spectacular crash.

Warning: spoilers will follow.

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If you like poker, you’re probably going to enjoy The Grand, which was recently recommended by Premium Hollywood as a DVD pick. The movie basically spoofs the poker scene in places like Las Vegas and also the various types of poker players that you see regularly at poker tournaments. Check out the video below for examples.

Here’s what PH said about it:

While most sports movies tend to take themselves very seriously, with triumphant underdogs and platitude-filled speeches in their third acts, some sports just inherently lend themselves to comedy. Bowling is a great example of this, as evidenced by the success of films like the Farrelly brothers’ Kingpin and the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski. Poker is another, though the game itself is so relatively inactive that it’s debatable whether it should even be called a sport, and Zak Penn‘s underrated improvisational comedy The Grand takes full advantage of a poker tournament’s many humorous possibilities.

Rent the DVD and you’ll love it.

Before the poker craze took root in the past 10 years, “Rounders” came out in 1998 and provided a window to the world of high stakes poker. Bullz-Eye.com included the new Blu-ray of the movie in its Holiday Gift Guide for movies.

Before the poker craze swept the nation, Matt Damon and Edward Norton gave us a fascinating look at the life of Mike McDermott (Damon), a reformed gambler who hits the tables again to help his friend, Lester ‘Worm’ Murphy (Norton), pay off his own gambling debts. Damon and Norton are both fantastic in these early career roles as we watch Worm drag Mike, a promising law student, back into the life he had left behind, with the duo looking for a game wherever they can find one and reviving some of their old tricks with very mixed results. “Rounders,” the second of three modern classics released to Blu-ray by Lionsgate this past August, also features memorable performances from John Turturro and John Malkovich, and includes some great extras, including a behind-the-scenes special, champion poker tips, and commentary from the cast, crew and even professional poker players.

This Blu-ray definitely makes a perfect gift for any poker fan.