I bought this DVD for five bucks. The video quality was poor but it was fascinating to watch Kevin Costner as such a young dude wearing a cowboy hat, playing the role of a young Reno native. The lead actress is a mousy easily intimidated woman with her her older ugly sidekick. The Casino management calls her the mouse. They can't figure out how she wins such a high percentage of games. "She counts some, but she also has a lot of luck working for her". After winning 12K from the casino, the owner invites her, her older sidekick and Kevin to take his private jet on an all-expense paid trip to his other bigger casino in Vegas. They figure there they could get their money back. But with major coaching and practicing by Will Bonner (Costner), for one week before she hit the circuit, (she won 82 out of 100 games in practice), she is unstoppable. She wins another 35k or more in Vegas.
Kevin Costner steals the movie with his natural in his own skin acting. The characters in the casino are also very realistic. As they watch her play, they send a guy to bump into her to see if she has any wires or recorders. The managers are bewildered by her ability to win. They send in a cold looking woman dealer to bounce her out using a short deck. As Stacy moves from table to table to get away from her, the dealer follows her with the short deck. A scuffle ensues as she demands to see the deck. The manager says they only show the deck to the gaming commission. They leave.
PLOT SPOILER: Kevin introduces set up a meeting with Stacy and this mysterious old man that is so good at winning, he has some kind of deal with the casinos where they pay him off not to ever come to one. She spends the night at the old man's house playing cards. He tells her to forget the counting, the percentages, the number. Instead, concentrate on the deck. The deck is alive. Let it speak to you. He starts out by dealing 5 hands and asking her to identify the strength of each hand without turning them over. She picks the 2nd best had. He said, close. By 4AM he has her calling the card names psychically before he flips them over. He says keep going. She starts naming every card without him even flipping them over. She can see the all the cards in the deck in order and therefore can predict the result of every hand dealt on the table. She is now unstoppable. He sees her off in the morning with the farewell message that he's waited many years for her to show up. He never thought she would.
Kevin Costner steals the movie with his natural in his own skin acting. The characters in the casino are also very realistic. As they watch her play, they send a guy to bump into her to see if she has any wires or recorders. The managers are bewildered by her ability to win. They send in a cold looking woman dealer to bounce her out using a short deck. As Stacy moves from table to table to get away from her, the dealer follows her with the short deck. A scuffle ensues as she demands to see the deck. The manager says they only show the deck to the gaming commission. They leave.
PLOT SPOILER: Kevin introduces set up a meeting with Stacy and this mysterious old man that is so good at winning, he has some kind of deal with the casinos where they pay him off not to ever come to one. She spends the night at the old man's house playing cards. He tells her to forget the counting, the percentages, the number. Instead, concentrate on the deck. The deck is alive. Let it speak to you. He starts out by dealing 5 hands and asking her to identify the strength of each hand without turning them over. She picks the 2nd best had. He said, close. By 4AM he has her calling the card names psychically before he flips them over. He says keep going. She starts naming every card without him even flipping them over. She can see the all the cards in the deck in order and therefore can predict the result of every hand dealt on the table. She is now unstoppable. He sees her off in the morning with the farewell message that he's waited many years for her to show up. He never thought she would.