Poker
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
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| USS Enterprise-D senior staff play. | |
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| Data playing on the holodeck. | |
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| USS Enterprise-D junior officers play. | |
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| A few Voyager senior staff members play a game aboard the Delta Flyer |
Poker is a traditional Earth card game of chance and skill. The game has many variations but all forms of poker are games of incomplete information in which the players wager on the strength of their cards relative to those of the other players, at least some of whose cards are hidden from the other players at the table.
Frederick La Rouque was an experienced gambler in the 1890s. (TNG: "Time's Arrow, Part II")
Spock was unfamiliar with poker in 2266, and Leonard McCoy offered to teach it to him. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver")
The senior staff of the USS Enterprise-D held a weekly poker game every Tuesday evening. Most of them were frequent participants with the exception of Captain Picard. He had a standing invitation for several years, but never accepted it until after his encounter with the anti-time anomaly in the Devron System. (TNG: "Cause and Effect"; TNG: "All Good Things...")
When he was first introduced to the game in 2365, Data believed that the game could be played with a simple mathematical strategy, but he did not yet understand the practice of bluffing, which greatly complicated matters. Over time, Data grew to consider poker to be an interesting forum for the study of Human nature. He designed a holodeck program in which he played poker with three of Earth's greatest scientists: Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Stephen Hawking. (TNG: "Descent") In addition, his inability to have emotions naturally gave him the ultimate poker face which enhanced his already considerable skill at the game. That skill proved invaluable when he was flung back in time to the 1890s San Francisco and raised needed funds by joining a poker game and apparently cleaning his opponents out of their money and even some clothing. (TNG: "Time's Arrow")
Doctor Mendoza recognized right away that Commander Riker was a poker player. (TNG: "The Price")
During one game in 2367, Deanna Troi suggested that they play a "Federation Day" variant of the game, where twos, sixes, and aces were wild cards (corresponding to the Federation's founding year of 2161). Worf commented that the large number of wild cards was a "Woman's Game" because it "supports a weak hand". (TNG: "The Outcast")
Although the games on the Enterprise-D were usually played for common clay chips, one game between William Riker, Worf, Geordi La Forge, and Beverly Crusher was wagered on an unconventional stake: if Beverly won, all of the men would shave their beards, and if any of the men won, Beverly would dye her hair brown. The game was unfortunately not finished. (TNG: "The Quality of Life")
Geordi was a regular poker player, and his VISOR gave him the ability to read through the cards held by his opponents; he claimed that he never looked until the hand was over. (TNG: "Ethics")
On the Enterprise-D, some of the junior officers held a weekly poker night as well. Among the regular players were Sam Lavelle, Taurik, Sito Jaxa, Alyssa Ogawa, and Ben, a waiter in Ten Forward. (TNG: "Lower Decks")
Jake Sisko taught his friend Nog, a Ferengi, how to play poker in 2369. (DS9: "Progress")
When Worf was assigned to Deep Space 9, Miles O'Brien jokingly described darts as "like poker, but with pointy tips". (DS9: "The Way of the Warrior")
Admiral William Ross also played the game. After Colonel Kira Nerys was successful in removing Romulan plasma torpedo launchers from Derna, he told her to remind him "never to play poker with you". (DS9: "Shadows and Symbols")
Apparently, during long away missions, several members of Voyager's crew also played Poker, even at one point teaching the game to Neelix, who was less than proficient at the game. At one point, Chakotay, Tom Paris, Harry Kim and Neelix played for a morning off instead of chips. Unfortunately, before Tom could reveal his winning hand, a Borg Cube appeared and interrupted the game. (VOY: "Collective")
While infected with a silicon-based virus, Hoshi Sato confessed to Charles Tucker that she had been discharged for breaking her CO's arm over a dispute about organizing a weekend-poker game for new recruits. (ENT: "Observer Effect")
[edit] Background
Ronald D. Moore commented that it was a running joke among the writers that Worf could never win at poker. [1]
Marina Sirtis has noted that her character, Deanna Troi, should not have been allowed to play poker, due to her empathic abilities. [2]
[edit] Other references
- TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver"
- TNG:
- DS9: "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang"
- VOY:
- "Pathfinder"
- "Collective"
- ENT: "Observer Effect"
