Poker Face Ending, Explained: How Does [Spoiler] Die?

Sky Cinema’s ‘Poker Face’ is a mystery thriller movie that centers on childhood friends playing a high-stakes poker game. Jake (Russell Crowe), a tech billionaire, hosts a Texas Hold’em Poker game night for his friends. However, little do they realize that he’s got something else up his sleeve. When three ruthless robbers break into his mansion, the stakes turn real, and the true faces behind the facades reveal themselves.

Directed by Russell Crowe, ‘Poker Face’ explores nostalgia, friendship, and betrayal. The movie shows how sometimes people must have honest and hard conversations before it is too late. After the robbers enter the house, Jake realizes that, in some ways, times haven’t changed for these five friends. However, this time people’s lives are at stake, and Jake must do something about it. So, here’s everything you need to know about the ending of ‘Poker Face.’ SPOILERS AHEAD!

Poker Face Plot Synopsis

Jake, Drew, Mike, Paul, and Alex are childhood friends who seem to have drifted apart with time. At the film’s beginning, as Jake drives to a wellness retreat, he realizes that he needs to regroup everyone. So, Jake invites Mike, Alex, and Paul, who can choose one of Jake’s cars and drive to his mansion. When they reach the house, Jake offers them some alcohol and gives them two options. The three can either keep the car as a gift or take $5 million in poker chips and play a game, for old times’ sake. Jake also says the winner can take all the money, and the friends decide to play the game. As the game progresses, the men in the room start sweating a little.

At this point, Jake’s best bud, Drew, joins the party. As they sit and catch up, Jake reveals that he has poisoned Mike, Paul, and Alex. In reality, he used only two drops of the truth serum he received at the wellness retreat. Unaware of this, the three start pouring out their secrets. Mike talks about his alcohol addiction and suicidal thoughts. Alex reveals that he’s been having an affair with Jake’s wife, Nicole. Paul confesses that his brother Victor is blackmailing him over a video that could cause a scandal. Paul emptied his accounts, but Viktor wanted more. So the former asked his brother to break into Jake’s mansion and steal art worth millions of dollars.

After everything is out in the open, Jake says that none of them will die. He only gave everyone a small dose to have an honest conversation with his childhood buds. Jake also opens up about his pancreatic cancer. Before the five get a chance to patch up, Victor and two other thieves break into the house. The five lock themselves in a panic room and watch Victor as he searches for Jake and drinks alcohol from one of the friend’s glasses. Soon, the man’s nose starts bleeding due to the poisoned alcohol, at which point Nicole and Rebecca enter the house. So, Jake tries to save his family and offers to cure Victor with an anti-serum. Victor somehow takes the chemical from Jake, injects himself with it, and runs out. However, by the time he reaches outside, he collapses and dies.

Poker Face Ending: How Does Victor Die?

Victor accidentally overdoses on scopolamine, a truth-inducing serum, and dies. When Paje gives Jake the truth serum, he says that anything above 10ml will lead to death. In the climax, Jake is aware of this and also knows that Victor will try to harm him no matter what. So, he plays a bluff and says he has a cure when there is no cure. Jake fills the syringe with more than 10ml of scopolamine and baits Victor into snatching it from him. Thus, Victor injects himself with a lethal dose of scopolamine and dies on his way out.

At the film’s beginning, Jake and Victor’s paths cross when they are quite young. While Jake and his four friends are playing poker, Victor ambushes their mini-party and tries to take their money. Instead of simply giving it away, Jake invites the bully to play a round of the titular card game. When the former wins fair and square, the latter gets violent. Before Victor can take the money, the boys escape. The encounter stays with Jake till he grows up, which is why he knows Victor’s nature. From the moment Jake leaves the panic room to save his family, his conversation with Victor mirrors the poker game.

At first, Jake sees his wife and daughter tied up on two chairs. While shaking, sweating, and bleeding, Victor has a shotgun pointed at the two women’s heads. Jake uses the “I see you and raise you” technique to negotiate with Victor. He informs Victor about the poisoned alcohol, but the latter doesn’t believe him. After a few hostile exchanges, Jake convinces Victor that he is telling the truth. Once Jake realizes Victor will believe his words, the former puts forth a counteroffer. Jakes says that Victor can have his most precious art and some money.

However, the billionaire also offers the man a cure for his condition. By making the last offer, Jake confidently bluffs because he knows Victor’s next move. As Jake predicts, Victor attacks him and takes away the syringe filled with scopolamine. When Victor injects himself with the serum, Jake knows the man will die, and he will win.

Does Jake Die?

Yes, Jake is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and succumbs to it by the film’s end. When we look back at the film, we realize that several hints about Jake’s illness are dropped from the film’s beginning. In the first scene, Jake visualizes a deep blue ocean when he looks at a painting. However, he also remembers his visit to the doctor. We see glimpses of him in a room where a woman checks his body and talks to him. This is likely when Jake first finds out about his terminal illness. The second instance comes in a conversation with Paje at the wellness center. Paje reads Jake’s face and reveals that the latter is concerned about his mortality.

In another scene, when Jake is consulting his lawyer about some foundations, his lawyer asks him if he needs to execute the elaborate plan. After all, most people are happy with flowers and cards. The final instance is when Drew asks Jake if he wants to go down this way. Jake responds that he doesn’t have enough time to have an honest conversation with his friends and wait for them to tell him the truth. All these moments point toward Jake’s illness. In the end, when his friends, wife, and daughter are dressed in black, crying, and listening to Jake’s will, it confirms that Jake has passed away.

How Does Jake Split His Wealth?

In the last scene, Jake’s lawyer reads the man’s will after he has passed away. Jake distributes half of his wealth to 21 charities in the hopes that good people, including gambling addicts, will be benefited from it. He leaves all five of his friends $50 million each. In addition, Jake gives complete control of his two companies to his best friend and business partner, Drew. Jake adds a clause for Mike, according to which, only if Mike completes 12 months in a rehabilitation center will he get his share of $50 million. The man sets up a fund for Nicole and Alex’s future children. Jake also advises Paul to leave politics and hopes the $50 million can help him get back on his feet. Finally, he leaves the rest of his wealth to his daughter Rebecca.

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