Poker
Poker was a traditional Earth card game of chance and skill. 

The game or match had many variations but all forms of poker were games of incomplete information in which the players wagered on the strength of their playing cards relative to those of the other players, at least some of whose cards are hidden from the other players at the poker table. Bets were made with casino chips. 

An alert player could increase their chances of winning by observing opponents and judging by their expressions and actions the value of the cards they held. Conversely, part of the game was for players to disguise that value, called "bluffing" and/or provide as little information for their opponents as possible, such as a strictly emotionless facial expressions, called a "poker face."  

Frederick La Rouque was an experienced gambler in the 1890s. ()

Jonathan Archer played at least one hand of poker at Jupiter Station sometime prior to 2151. ()

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. ()

In 2266, Commander Spock compared the "game" between Captain James T. Kirk and First Federation Commander Balok to chess, however Kirk commented that it was not chess, but poker. Spock was unfamiliar with poker, and Leonard McCoy offered to teach it to him. ()

The senior staff of the  held a weekly poker game every Tuesday evening. Typically five-card stud was played. 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. ()

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: , , and Stephen Hawking. () By 2367, Commander William T. Riker, a notoriously good player, acknowledged that Data's skill was comparable to his own. () 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 San Francisco in the 1890s and raised needed funds by joining a poker game and apparently cleaning his opponents out of their money (which included two known card sharks) and even some clothing. ()

Data once compared Picard's refusal to retreat from a Romulan Warbird to the tactic of bluffing, describing, "In the game of poker, there is a moment when a player must decide if an opponent is being deceptive or actually holds a winning hand. This decision is based not only on the odds, but also on an appraisal of the man. Is he bluffing or does he have the cards?" ()

In 2366, Federation Negotiator Mendoza recognized right away that Commander Riker was a poker player and Picard said that Riker conducted masterclasses in poker. ()

In 2368, Deanna Troi experienced memories about a poker evening with William Riker. Due to the telepathic memory invasion performed by the Ullian Jev she had no good feelings about this event. In her experienced memories, several poker chips fell on the ground and Riker/Jev then raped her. ()

During one game in 2368, 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". ()

Although the games on the Enterprise-D were usually played for common clay chips, one game between 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. ()

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. ()

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 , a waiter in Ten Forward. It is also revealed during their game that they mirrored their bosses. Riker and Lavelle were caught bluffing, Taurik and Geordi were the dealer, Sito and Worf were betting big and talking about the promotions, Doctor Crusher and Nurse Ogawa were talking about Lt. Powell, and Troi and Ben were swapping rumors. ()

Jake Sisko taught his friend Nog, a Ferengi, how to play poker in 2369. ()

When Worf was assigned to Deep Space 9, Miles O'Brien jokingly described darts as "like poker, but with pointy tips". ()

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". ()

Apparently, during long away missions, several members of the 's crew also played Poker, even at one point teaching the game to Neelix, who was seemingly 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. ()

In 2380, newly-promoted Lieutenant Beckett Mariner was forced to play executive poker with the senior staff of the . During the game, Captain Carol Freeman, Commander Jack Ransom and Dr. T'Ana each fold and wanting to end the game quickly and leave, Mariner goes all in and then shows she's got no winning hand and she loses, but Lieutenant Shaxs scolds her by saying they don't go all in as it's a friendly game. ()

Appendices

Appearances 
  (Season 2)
 
  (Season 2)
 
 
  (Season 3)
 
  (Season 4)
  (Season 5)
 
 
  (Season 6)
 
 
  (Season 7)
 
 
 
  (Season 1)
  (Season 4)
  (Season 7)
 
  (Season 6)

Background information 
Poker, which was first introduced in the episode , was, in fact, writer Melinda M. Snodgrass' second choice for a leisure activity in the episode's teaser. Her original treatment had Data attempting to learn to swim, but was informed by producer Maurice Hurley that the cost of locating a swimming pool and (presumably) full-body make-up for Brent Spiner was prohibitively expensive.  ("The Measure Of A Man" audio commentary, TNG Season 2 Blu-ray special features)

Ronald D. Moore commented that it was a running joke among the writers that Worf could never win at poker.   However, this joke started after season 2, since the Klingon totally dominated the game seen in . 

Marina Sirtis has noted that her character, Deanna Troi, should not have been allowed to play poker, due to her empathic abilities. 

From the , "The weekly Enterprise-D poker game [...] became something of a metaphor for Star Trek's human adventure. It therefore seems appropriate that our final television glimpse of our Next Generation friends was around the poker table in Riker's quarters, where Picard fittingly noted that "the sky's the limit"."

Apocrypha 
In the novel The Big Game, Quark hosted a poker tournament on Deep Space 9 in 2370 and invited a number of poker players throughout known space to come to the station to compete. Commander Riker was also invited to participate in the tournament, and planned to play. However, an emergency prevented him from taking leave, and Riker was forced to cancel his visit. Shortly before the tournament was set to begin, a Romulan player was murdered and Odo deduced that the murderer was another player who had come to play poker so he decided to enter the tournament to keep an eye out for the murderer, and keep him from striking again. After apprehending the murderer, a Human named L'sthwan that was wanted for a variety of charges by a number of different races, Odo continued to play in the tournament, doing amazingly well for someone who had never played poker before. Eventually, he and Grand Nagus Zek were the last two players in the tournament. Odo was able to defeat Zek in the final hand with a Straight Flush, Queen High. Odo then donated his winnings from the tournament to charity, much to Quark's horror.

In the novel The Wounded Sky, Commodore Katha'sat was fond of poker, as well as other card games, and constantly taunted Kirk about it.

In the novel Planet of Judgment, McCoy's favorite variation of poker was five-card stud. In 2269, he faced a telepathic confrontation with an Irapina through the illusion of a poker game played on a riverboat in the 19th century. The Irapina cheated, manifesting nonexistent cards. One card was the Seven of Diamonds at the moment McCoy dealt it, but it had changed into the King of Green Eggs by the time it hit the table. To win, McCoy had to cheat more creatively. To save his life, McCoy was able to generate a razor-sharp playing card that killed the Irapina.

External links

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Recreation