I’m not playing for the thrill of fuckin’ victory here. In the film that we all love, Rosenberg’s attitude about poker was conveyed brilliantly by John Turturro in what was perhaps his most famous line when Mike McDermott ( Matt Damon) came to him asking for money and then criticized him for not having the “stones” to play for the big bucks:

Bagels knew that this whole life thing was a con he was in on the joke, but he was still going to play it for all it was worth.” “The second was his worldview,” they added, “which was absurdist and hilarious. The first was his kindness: Although he’d gut you at the table, away from it, he wanted the best for you, encouraged you.” In an article on, Rounders writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien, who got to know Rosenberg during their years researching for the film, eulogized their friend, saying, “…two things set Joel apart from most of the other men and women grinding it out at the Mayfair. Rosenberg was the classic poker grinder, plugging away to pay the bills in the underground clubs of New York City, most notably the famous Mayfair. Joel “Bagels” Rosenberg, the inspiration for the character Joey Knish in the seminal poker film, Rounders, suffered a heart attack at the age of 58.

A legend of poker that most poker fans simultaneously both knew and did not know passed away last Thursday.

Georgia rounders poker club