Nick Venizelos, Edward G. Robinson, is a prosperous small-town barber who runs a discreet gambling operation in his back room. When a bold dare reaches his ears—test his luck in the big city against the famed gambler Hickory Short—Nick, confident in his streak, backs half of a $10,000 stake with his own money and secures the rest from others, then heads to the city under the watchful eye of his loyal assistant, Jack James Cagney.
In the city, Nick learns from Marie Noel Francis at the hotel cigar stand where Hickory is hosting his illegal, high-stakes poker game. He sits down and loses all his money, only to discover later in the papers that the real Hickory Short has just been released from prison in Florida. The man he faced was Sleepy Sam, a conman, with Marie as his girlfriend and accomplice. When Nick tries to recover his money, Sleepy Sam and the other fake players beat him badly, and after a hospital stay, Nick vows revenge.
Nick returns to barbering and raises another stake. Six months later, he tracks Sleepy Sam and his gang to another city and proposes a high-stakes, one-on-one game: each man puts up $50,000 and plays until one person has all the money. Sleepy Sam accepts, and Nick insists on fresh decks of cards, just to be safe. When Nick wins and attempts to leave, the con artists reach for their guns, but Jack and another man burst in with their guns drawn. Nick then gloats, revealing that he simply cheated better than Sam by using shaved cards.
Nick becomes very successful, eventually getting to play the real Hickory Short; a Walter Winchell column later reports the rumor that Nick beat Hickory to the tune of $300,000. He rises as the king of illegal gambling in the city, with Jack as his right-hand man. Yet his weakness for blondes remains a constant temptation.
During a drive, they stop to pick up a young woman who has been fished half-drowned from the river to the hospital. Irene Graham Evalyn Knapp revives during the ride, but Nick insists she stay at his mansion until she is fully recovered, despite Jack's protests. Irene confesses she is fleeing a charge of blackmail, but Nick remains unconcerned.
Public outrage mounts and puts pressure on District Attorney Black, who is up for re-election. He has Irene picked up and coerces her to cooperate in incriminating Nick, though she initially refuses. Eventually, he gets her to place a racing form in Nick's coat, which would put Nick in jail for a month. Jack discovers the plan, but when he tries to warn his friend, Nick becomes furious and knocks him to the floor. The police raid the illegal casino, and Nick is arrested. They also discover that Jack is dead. Irene begs Nick for forgiveness, which he generously grants. He is sentenced to ten years. As he boards the train to prison, he bets that he will be out in five.
