The 1998 film ‘Rounders’ is known by poker players as being the best poker movie ever made, and many have wished for a sequel. Some twelve years later, we find that a sequel to this amazing film could become a reality. Thursday, Miramax announced plans for ‘Rounders 2′, and the Internet Movie Database lists the film as coming out in 2012.

Matt Damon is expected to reprise his role as Mike McDermott, and Ed Norton is also expected to return as Les “Worm” Murphy. The original director of ‘Rounders’, John Dahl, is also going to be directing the sequel. It’s unclear at this point whether John Malkovich will be returning as the Russian mobster Teddy KGB, or if John Turturro will be returning to play Joey Knish. Speculation has led to guesses for possible plot lines that include Mike and Worm’s reunion, Mike’s future in Las Vegas after entering the Main Event of the World Series of poker, or the future adventures of Worm. As of this point, however, nothing has officially been released about the direction the sequel will take.

The original film portrayed the trials of Mike after losing his entire bankroll of about $30,000 to Teddy KGB in a high-stakes cash game. Even though the film wasn’t particularly successful in theaters, it became a bit of a cult favorite by poker players during the poker boom which started around 2003 with Chris Moneymaker’s big win in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker (the same tournament Mike was traveling to at the end of the first film).

Almost every poker movie since ‘Rounders’ has been a flop. Casino Royale, a James Bond movie centering primarily around an ultra high stakes poker game, featured tons of poker-playing blunders and overused cliches, including a scene where James Bond slow-rolled half of the table in a huge pot, and a lot of discussion about finding his opponent’s tell. One particularly painful moment was one character explaining to James Bond what staking someone meant.

Another film centering around poker players, ‘Lucky You’, starred a number of big name stars and poker professionals, including Drew Barrymore, Eric Bana, Robert Duvall, Sam Farha, Daniel Negreanu, and Barry Greenstein. However, they weren’t enough to keep it from being a huge flop (no pun intended) due to a terrible plot and endless cliches that made every poker player who watched it cringe in horror and shame.