Mentor and fellow rounder Joey Knish ( John Turturro) offers McDermott a part-time job driving a delivery truck to make ends meet. Shaken, Mike decides to concentrate on law school and promises his girlfriend and fellow law student Jo ( Gretchen Mol) that he will no longer play poker.
Unfortunately, Mike loses his entire $30,000 bankroll after being outplayed in a hand of Texas hold'em against Teddy 'KGB' ( John Malkovich), a Russian mobster who runs an underground poker room.
Gifted poker player and law student Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) dreams of playing in the World Series of Poker and sitting next to his idol Johnny Chan.
