Nicky's Game

Nicky's Game is a 2005 American short film, originally developed and produced as an independent television pilot, based on Peter Alson's New York Times Best Seller Confessions of an Ivy League Bookie. The film was shot on 16mm in New York City and premiered in 2005 at the inaugural New York Television Festival. It went on to become an official selection in 2006 of the Vail Film Festival and CineVegas before being released on DVD/VOD by IndiePix Films.
Nicky's Game was re-released by WeShort in the fall of 2025 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the film's release.

Plot summary

Nicky Singer is a down-on-his-luck Brooklyn native who has parlayed his Yale education into a job eking out a living as a professional poker player. Using his wits to navigate the seedy world of underground poker, he must balance his own interests with those of his father, a retiree whose own gambling debts have pushed him to the brink of eviction. In a struggle to keep his head above water, Nicky encounters a diverse group of wannabe mobsters, thugs, and other eccentric characters.