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Hang on to your blinds, the Texas Hold’em Poker wave is set to hit Asia.

If the silver screen is a reflection of reality, then Chan Hing-Ka and Janet Chun’s Poker King (2009) has just upped the ante, albeit more than a decade after the boom of the game in the US following the popularity of Hollywood blockbuster Rounders (1998), starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton.

Poker King follows a simple enough storyline: Heir to a casino empire, Jack Chang (Louis Koo) has no interest to take over his father’s business. After the latter passes away, Jack prefers to bury himself in a sea of computer monitors, raking in the cash with Texas Hold’em on the internet. Uno Cheuk (Lau Ching Wan), appointed caretaker of the conglomerate, drags Jack back to the gambling strip in Macau, introduces him to live games, only to oust him from the company in a heads up game. Jack is forced to improve on his live poker, and eventually wins back his father’s empire. Of course, there is also the mandatory sub-plot where he falls in love with a girl, Smiley, played by Stephy Tang.

Throw in the comedy – verging on slapstick, no less – that we have come to expect and love from Hong Kong films, Poker King seems to be another run-of-mill HK production in the tradition of the highly popular God of Gamblers (1989), which inspired a host of spinoffs throughout the 90s.

My only complaint is the superficial treatment of poker per se in the movie. Skill was virtually non-existent, with the exception of Uno’s beautifully played trap after flopping a fullhouse. But like the rest of the poker in this movie, luck played a more important role, and his fullhouse was torn down by a freak runner runner for a split pot. But as an introduction to Texas Hold’em, this simplicity was understandable, and perhaps even necessary.    

But beneath the audio-visual experience of film exists a whole sociological subtext. Where earlier Asian cinema on gambling focused on either Mahjong or 5-card Stud Poker, this is the first time Texas Hold’em has been featured in the East.

Befitting his status as the flag-bearer to Asian poker, 10-time World Series Of Poker (WSOP) champion Johnny “The Orient Express” Chan makes a cameo appearance toward the end of the movie. His onscreen role is negligible, even awkward, but Johnny’s contribution to poker in Asia is priceless. How many young Chinese men have dreamt of playing in the big league like Uncle Johnny? Don’t bluff now, you know you have. Interestingly, Johnny also appeared in a role for Rounders.

Poker King “has the potential to be much, much bigger than Rounders ever was,” said Johnny. “Say there are over one billion Chinese speaking people in the world, now compare that to the United States and their 300 million people. You can see that this could be huge. Rounders gave poker a new lease of life in the West – this could kick start a new poker boom in Asia.”

And he is probably right.

Look at the stellar cast of Asian poker stars that chipped in with cameo roles at the final table of Poker King – including Liz Lieu, Nam Le, and David “Chino” Rheem – there is no doubt the future is burning bright for Asian poker.

The poker boom in Asia will be huge, bigger than anything the West has seen. I’d wager my bottom dollar on it.