There is a continuous debate about whether life mimics art or it is the other way around. This is not the place to solve this debate, but the film Rounders does provide an interesting point to discuss. In the 1998 film, Matt Damon plays a young poker en ligne player who funnels his college tuition into the world of jeux de casino and high stakes poker. His skills in the film are obviously top notch, but many viewers felt that this was more a result of scripting than skill. His poker skills were considered a film fiction, in the same line as happy endings and monster flicks. No one thought that the actor was actually a poker player.

He took on the controversy full force when he appeared in the 1998 World Series of Poker with his co-star Edward Norton. The two actors participated in the $10,000 buy in No Limit Texas Holdem Event in order to best replicate the game they played in the movie. They both acquitted themselves well in the tournament, even though neither of them walked away a champion. Their appearance in the tournament raised a lot of questions in the poker world about whether they participated in the film because they were already good at the game, or whether their real life skills was a result of their artistic training.