Movies like Hard Eight (1997)
The best movies like Hard Eight (1997) are Rounders (1998), The Gambler (1974) and The Gambler (2014). If Hard Eight hooked you with its drama and crime, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedCasino (1995)8.0/10 from 6,860 votes
- NewestBallad of a Small Player (2025)Released 2025
Rounders (1998)
Poker addict Mike McDermott knows the game inside out, but loses his money one night in a game to Russian-American gangster Teddy KGB. Promising his partner Jo he'll give up, he meets up with best friend Lester 'Worm' Murphy, just out of prison and owing lots of money to the wrong kind of people. McDermott becomes his co-guarantor and now there's only one way to raise the money, the pair have to get back into the game.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Gambler (1974)
New York City English professor Axel Freed outwardly seems like an upstanding citizen. But privately Freed is in the clutches of a severe gambling addiction that threatens to destroy him.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Gambler (2014)
Literature professor Jim Bennett leads a secret life as a high-stakes gambler. Always a risk-taker, Bennett bets it all when he borrows from a gangster and offers his own life as collateral. Staying one step ahead, he pits his creditor against the operator of an illicit gambling ring while garnering the attention of Frank, a paternalistic loan shark. As his relationship with a student deepens, Bennett must risk everything for a second chance.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Thief (2003)
An aging gambler on a losing streak attempts to rob a casino in Monte Carlo. But someone's already tipped off the cops before he even makes a move.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Grifters (1990)
A small-time conman has his loyalties torn between his estranged mother and his new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Color of Money (1986)
Former pool hustler "Fast Eddie" Felson decides he wants to return to the game by taking a pupil. He meets talented but green Vincent Lauria and proposes a partnership. As they tour pool halls, Eddie teaches Vincent the tricks of scamming, but he eventually grows frustrated with Vincent's showboat antics, leading to an argument and a falling-out. Eddie takes up playing again and soon crosses paths with Vincent as an opponent.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of Games (1987)
A psychiatrist comes to the aid of a compulsive gambler and is led by a smooth-talking grifter into the shadowy but compelling world of stings, scams, and con men.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinning Streak (2012)
Winning Streak is the astonishing story of a group of young down-and-outs who are presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; to change their luck and set off on the adventure of their lives. Thanks to an infallible method based on the roulette wheel’s imperfection, their lifestyle is about to become better than their wildest dreams, as they set out to break the banks at casinos around the world.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like this21 (2008)
Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent student at M.I.T. who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 tuition as he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor to a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher, who are being trained by Professor Rosa to count cards at blackjack.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cincinnati Kid (1965)
An up-and-coming poker player tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOwning Mahowny (2003)
Dan Mahowny was a rising star at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. At twenty-four he was assistant manager of a major branch in the heart of Toronto's financial district. To his colleagues he was a workaholic. To his customers, he was astute, decisive and helpful. To his friends, he was a quiet, but humorous man who enjoyed watching sports on television. To his girlfriend, he was shy but engaging. None of them knew the other side of Dan Mahowny--the side that executed the largest single-handed bank fraud in Canadian history, grossing over $10 million in eighteen months to feed his gambling obsession.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlue Collar (1978)
Fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and union brass, and coupled with financial hardships on each man's end, three auto assembly line workers hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCasino (1995)
In Las Vegas, two best friends-a casino executive and a Mafia enforcer--compete for a gambling empire and a fast-living, fast-loving socialite.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Card Counter (2021)
William Tell just wants to play cards. His spartan existence on the casino trail is shattered when he is approached by Cirk, a vulnerable and angry young man seeking help to execute his plan for revenge on a military colonel. Tell sees a chance at redemption through his relationship with Cirk.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Music of Chance (1993)
Two men face the consequences of gambling after playing with men beyond their league.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Light Sleeper (1992)
John LeTour is a recovering drug user who suffers insomnia and still deals to a high-end New York clientele, even though he’s trying to move on from the business. John’s professional midlife crisis becomes something more acute — and dangerous — when he re-encounters an old flame while a string of seemingly drug-related murders rocks the city.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBallad of a Small Player (2025)
Amid the glittering casinos of Macau, a gambler running from his past—and his debts—becomes fascinated by an enigmatic woman at the baccarat table.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisTwo for the Money (2005)
A former college athlete joins forces with a sports consultant to handicap football games for high-rolling gamblers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThis World, Then the Fireworks (1997)
In 1950s, two incestuous lovers, a depraved suave journalist and his equally depraved prostitute sister, plan to get rich through seduction and murder.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Mississippi Grind (2015)
Gerry is a talented but down-on-his-luck gambler whose fortunes begin to change when he meets Curtis, a younger, highly charismatic poker player. The two strike up an immediate friendship and Gerry quickly persuades his new friend to accompany him on a road trip to a legendary high stakes poker game in New Orleans. As they make their way down the Mississippi River, Gerry and Curtis manage to find themselves in just about every bar, racetrack, casino, and pool hall they can find, experiencing both incredible highs and dispiriting lows, but ultimately forging a deep and genuine bond that will stay with them long after their adventure is over.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Cosmo Vittelli, the proprietor of a sleazy, low-rent Hollywood cabaret, has a real affection for the women who strip in his peepshows and the staff who keep up his dingy establishment. He also has a major gambling problem that has gotten him in trouble before. When Cosmo loses big-time at an underground casino run by mobster Mort, he isn't able to pay up. Mort then offers Cosmo the chance to pay back his debt by knocking off a pesky, Mafia-protected bookie.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRunner Runner (2013)
When a poor college student who cracks an online poker game goes bust, he arranges a face-to-face with the man he thinks cheated him, a sly offshore entrepreneur.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMolly's Game (2017)
Molly Bloom, a young skier and former Olympic hopeful becomes a successful entrepreneur (and a target of an FBI investigation) when she establishes a high-stakes, international poker game.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHigh Roller: The Stu Ungar Story (2003)
Based on the true story of the rise and fall of poker legend Stu "The Kid" Ungar.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Atlantic City (1980)
In a corrupt city, a small-time gangster and the estranged wife of a pot dealer find themselves thrown together in an escapade of love, money, drugs and danger.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCroupier (1998)
Jack Manfred is an aspiring writer who to make ends meet, takes a job as a croupier. Jack remains an observer, knowing that everything in life is a gamble and that gamblers are born to lose. Inevitably, he gets sucked into the world of the casino which takes its toll on his relationships and the novel he is writing.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight and the City (1992)
Looking to get rich quick, an unsuccessful lawyer uses dishonest means to try to become a boxing promoter.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Cooler (2003)
Bernie works at a Las Vegas casino, where he uses his innate ability to bring about misfortune in those around him to jinx gamblers into losing. His imposing boss, Shelly Kaplow, is happy with the arrangement. But Bernie finds unexpected happiness when he begins dating attractive waitress Natalie Belisario.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCold Deck (2015)
When a poker player hits rock bottom he enlists his best friend to pull off a high-stakes heist.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & crime
Auto Focus (2002)
A successful TV star during the 1960s, former "Hogan's Heroes" actor Bob Crane projects a wholesome family-man image, but this front masks his persona as a sex addict who records and photographs his many encounters with women, often with the help of his seedy friend, John Henry Carpenter. This biographical drama reveals how Crane's double life takes its toll on him and his family, and ultimately contributes to his death.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both crime & drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Hard Eight?
The closest matches to Hard Eight are Rounders (1998), The Gambler (1974) and The Gambler (2014). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Hard Eight?
People who watched Hard Eight most often go on to Rounders (1998), The Gambler (1974) and The Gambler (2014).
What is the highest-rated movie like Hard Eight?
Casino (1995), rated 8.0/10 by 6,860 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Hard Eight?
Ballad of a Small Player (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Hard Eight?
Yes: Rounders (1998), The Gambler (1974) and The Gambler (2014).
How are movies similar to Hard Eight chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Hard Eight, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.