Casinos & Gambling: The Movies vs 'Real Life'

Summary: We've all seen the movies where casinos are these larger-then-life, extravagant, paradises. Every time I find myself at a casino I try to play out those fantasies as best I can but some things from the movies are just too good to be true.

Casinos, to me, are a lot like New Year's Eve... They never quite live up to all the hype and expectations. If only I could gamble like they do on the silver screen...

To start, where are all these back room poker games and underground casinos? Maybe I'm not cool enough or don't know the right people.

Matt Damon in Rounders has no trouble finding backroom tables, whether it be the Russian mob boss' dungeon or the esteemed, weekly judges table or the sheriffs' game. Are these games actually out there or are thy just a work of fiction or am I just a guppy that can't swim with the big fishes?

Do people actually carry bank stacks with them in Vegas? I somehow never seem to have stacks of cash to drop on the table. Even the average guys in The Hangover can scrap together a casual ten grand.

I like to think I still know what I'm doing after an all-nighter at the tables but I usually end up losing, which means I don't. I am not as sharp and don't look, or talk, nearly as good as Val Kilmer in Tombstone. Thirty-six hours my ass... 

Have you ever sat at a table where a bunch of random people are watching intently as play your hand? Me either.

I have never, not once, been applauded for winning a hand and, for sure, I have never had a crowd laugh at my clever quips as I sarcastically put down another player.

Counting cards is, apparently, the easiest thing to do but I can't, for the life of me, figure it out. I guess I'm no Rain Man.

Not all casino movies are out of touch, Swingers is spot on. This is exactly like what I look like at a casino.

You don't have to take my word for it; check out these 25 of the best gambling movies you need to watch before you die, compare them with you 'real life' experiences, and tell me I'm wrong.

Though there is one thing the movies go get perfectly right...

Sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.