It was a long shot, but the combination of family drama, medical school tensions and Las Vegas poker tournaments turns out to be a winning hand—maybe not a royal flush, but certainly three of a kind. Dominique Swain carries the load as Ace, the poker prodigy in med school who spends her nights in casinos with a posse of equally attractive students, never failing to rake in the chips. Trustworthy character actors Michael Madsen and Louis Gossett Jr. pop us as Swain’s seedy but loving father and one of his pals, respectively, while James Russo (as an oily hospital boss) snarls his way through an improbably finale. Production values are limited but effective, with Los Angeles subbing for Vegas, and if the strained editing can’t get over some of the dubious plot developments, the attractive young cast can.

Shelf Talk: Poker remains hot, in homes and on sports TV, and with a little cross-promotion and talking up the stars—Swain, Madsen, Gossett, Dirt’s Johann Urb—this impressive pickup by MTI could do many turns before finding a home on TV. The studio is backing the title with radio and print interviews as well as working with gaming specialty magazines and Web sites, in addition to the usual YouTube and MySpace links.