The poker scene of John Wick 4 is somehow more absurd than Casino Royale

The poker scene in John Wick: Chapter 4 is a little different because it’s Five Card Draw. Instead of each player starting out with two cards and watching the dealer deal five matching cards (like Texas Hold’em does), each player is dealt just five cards, each of which is of strength on its own. It’s all the more impressive when Caine (Donnie Yen) ends up with four of a kind. John lands two aces and two eights, aka dead man’s hand, and Mr. Nobody gets a royal flush.

Is this more or less ridiculous than the Casino Royale scene? It’s difficult to say. The odds of Caine and Mr. Nobody getting their respective hands at the same time are astronomical, but this movie deserves credit for not giving John a straight flush just because he’s cool. Instead, John gets the weakest hand of the four and ends up using one of his cards to cut the dealer’s neck.

Speaking of dealers, we should talk about Killa (Scott Atkins), the German high table senior who deals the hand. He also deals with himself, ending up giving himself five of a kind even though there are only four suits in a deck. (No one has gotten a hand this brave since Futurama.) This moment makes the poker scene less ridiculous than Bond’s, because at least here we have “the game was rigged” as an explanation.