I'll tell you why so serious

Fresh and Exciting

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

All of the good reviews I've seen on here make me think that none of them have read Ed Gorman's book that the movie was adapted from. I think they got the idea and the character's names right, but it stopped right there. The Poker Club was a great book, I don't know why they didn't just keep to the original story and not make it predictable and stupid, like they did. Schaech needs to stick with acting and forget about screen-writing. Glad I just rented this pile of crap and didn't buy it. The whole part of the movie about both Jan and Aaron both having affairs was just pointless. I understand a movie can't be made as detailed as a book, but come on! If your'e going to adapt a movie from a book, at least stick to the story or come up with your own damn idea.

Four friends in a weekly poker game. A burglar breaks in. They kill him. It looks bad (they tied his hands; he tried to escape and one of them baseball-batted him). They don't report it and dump the body.Then things get really bad.From a novel by Ed Gorman, Johnathon Schaech produces, co-screenplays and stars in the tight thriller, THE POKER CLUB. If you're looking for poker action, go watch ROUNDERS or 21. Despite its title, in this movie, you'll get exactly five minutes of poker as an establishing shot, then the movie concerns itself with how the burglar's death affects the four friends of The Poker Club (quaky Loren Dean, beanstem Michael Risley, dynamic Johnathon Schaech and Chippendaler Johnny Messner).Part psychological thriller, part gore-fest, all indie film-making.A couple of twists you can see coming and a couple you can't, some good acting and some bad acting, motivations which seem untidy and some which we can buy; all in all, the most fun you can have watching a poker movie without actually watching a poker movie.--Review by Poffy The Cucumber (for Poffy's Movie Mania).

I gave this one a 6/10 because of the twists involved. It was a very enjoyable movie, moved along very well, the actors were very good.With all of the trash out on the market now days, its nice to see a good drama that catches your attention and keeps it.I am not much for drama, but this is one I would recommend. I feel it will be one of the best missed movies of 2009.Johnathon Schaech is riveting in this role. I know that most of the critics will give this one a low score just because there are no big names in it, but don't let that miss-lead you... This is a good movie to watch, not a waste of time or money.

I've been a fan of Tim McCann for a long time, an underrated, cult director who always brings a gritty, realistic edge to his films. While this is a more conventional story than the brooding, psychological Runaway, or the insane, disturbing, genre-bending Nowhere Man, the snappy direction and some nice performances elevate this crime drama. A few of the plot developments require a little willing suspension of disbelief, but that's often the case in these 'Hitchcockian' thrillers. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised, and happy to see the charismatic Loren Dean and a good jittery performance by McCann stalwart Michael Risley.