Teddy KGB (John Malkovich), whose nickname refers to his high position in the Russian mafia, owns a strange underground poker facility that you won't find in the yellow pages. Teddy KGB (John Malkovich), whose nickname refers to his high position in the Russian mafia, owns a strange underground poker facility that you won't find in the yellow pages. And the creme-de-la-creme is 'Worm', played with angst and nervous energy by Edward Norton, who is both a brilliant poker player but a reckless cheat who deals 'hangars.

John Malkovich Poker Scene

• “Get your money in when you have the best of it. Protect it when you don't.”
  Matt Damon - Mike McDermott

• “I've often seen these people, these squares at the table, short stack and long odds against them. All their outs gone. One last card in the deck that can help them. I used to wonder how they could let themselves get into such bad shape, and how the hell they thought they could turn it around.”
  Matt Damon - Mike McDermott

• “Mike, I learned it from you. You always told me this was the rule. Rule number one: Throw away your cards the moment you know they can't win. Fold the fucking hand.” - Jo

• “That's the safe play. I told Worm you can't lose what you don't put in the middle. But you can't win much either.”
  Matt Damon - Mike McDermott

• “- Worm: What did I ever do to that guy?
  - Mike McDermott: You fucked his mother.
  - Worm: [amused] Yeah but she was a good looking older woman you gotta give me that.”
  Edward Norton - Worm
  Matt Damon - Mike McDermott

• “We can't run from who we are, our destiny chooses us.”
  Martin Landau - Abe Petrovsky

• “Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker. Guys around here will tell ya, you play for a living, it's like any other job. You don't gamble, you grind it out. Your goal is to win one big bet an hour, that's it.”
  Matt Damon - Mike McDermott

• “- Moogie: Hey, lemme ask you a question. In the legalsense, can fuckin' Steinbrenner move the Yankees? Does he have the fuckin' right to just move them?
  - Mike McDermott: How should I know that?
  - Moogie: You didn't learn that yet?
  - Mike McDermott: No, we get to Steinbrenner in third year law school.
  - Moogie: Oh...”
  - Moogie
  Matt Damon - Mike McDermott

• “- Mike McDermott: I watch the cards but I also watch the player react to the cards. That's how I knew the DA made his two pair and judge Kaplan missed the flush, I was watching their eyes when they checked their river cards, their faces tell you everything.
  - Abe Petrovsky: [confused] You watch the man? I never knew you had to calculate so much...” (continue)(continue reading)Matt Damon - Mike McDermott
  Martin Landau - Abe Petrovsky

• - Worm: You know what always cheers me up, when I'm feeling shitty?
  - Mike McDermott: No, what's that?
  - Worm: Rolled up aces over kings. Check-raising stupid tourists and taking huge pots off of them. Playing all-night high-limit Hold'em at the Taj, 'where the sand turns to gold'. Stacks and towers of checks I can't even see over.Edward Norton - Worm
  Matt Damon - Mike McDermott

• In 'Confessions of a Winning Poker Player', Jack King said, 'Few players recall big pots they have won, strange as it seems, but every player can remember with remarkable accuracy the outstanding tough beats of his career'. It seems true to me, cause walking in here, I can hardly remember how I built my bankroll, but I can't stop thinking of how... (continue)(continue reading)
  Matt Damon - Mike McDermott

• “- Worm: She's really got him by the balls.
  - Petra: That's not so bad, is it?
  - Worm: It depends on the grip!”Edward Norton - Worm
  Famke Janssen - Petra

• “Why do you think the same five guys make it to the final table of the World Series of Poker every year? What, are they the luckiest guys in Las Vegas? It's a skill game Jo.”Matt Damon - Mike McDermott

• “- Worm: I guess the sayings' true. In the poker game of life, women are the rake man. They are the fuckin' rake.
  - Mike McDermott: What the fuck are you talkin' about. What saying?
  - Worm: I don't know. There ought to be one though.”
  Edward Norton - Worm
  Matt Damon - Mike McDermott

• “First prize at the World Series of Poker is a million bucks. Does it have my name on it? I don't know. But, I'm gonna find out.”
  Matt Damon - Mike McDermott

• “- Mike McDermott: What happened?
  - Worm: Nothing, she closed her legs too fast!”Matt Damon - Mike McDermott
  Edward Norton - Worm

John Malkovich Poker Movie