Poker

James Bond plays poker with Le Chiffre

Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, but is particularly associated with the USA especially Texas. however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game was played with just 20 cards, today it is usually played with a standard deck, although in countries where short packs are common, it may be played with 32, 40 or 48 cards. Thus poker games vary in deck configuration, the number of cards in play, the number dealt face up or face down, and the number shared by all players, but all have rules that involve one or more rounds of betting.

In Ian Fleming's original works, Bond tends to prefer baccarat and games that are perhaps more European. EON Productions have latterly preferred poker and this reflects the continuing Americanisation of the Bond character.

Film History

Tomorrow Never Dies (film)

During the CMGN Satellite Network inaugural party, Elliot Carver denies claims that after British beef baron Sir Angus Black lost £10,000 in a game of poker to him and refused to pay up, he exacted revenge by releasing stories on Mad Cow Disease. He further retorted that there was even less truth to the rumour that the French paid him 100 million francs to keep the stories going.

Casino Royale (film)

One of the poker games at Casino Royale

Craig's version breaks with the novel and the previous two versions in changing the game from baccarat to poker. Having lost several high-ranking operatives in his organisation and needing to recoup his clients' money, Le Chiffre had set up a high-stakes poker tournament at the Casino Royale in Montenegro. Hoping that a defeat would force Le Chiffre to aid the British government in exchange for protection from his creditors, MI6 entered Bond into the tournament. He was assisted in the mission by a fellow MI6 officer named René Mathis and Vesper Lynd, a foreign liaison agent from HM Treasury's Financial Action Task Force. She was sent to make sure that Bond adequately managed the funds provided by MI6.

Skyfall (film)

Bond finds anonymous payment from Sévérine in the form of a poker chip from a casino in Macau.

Video Game History

Casino Royale Strategy Game

An MI6 team commander leads seven poker-themed agents (Ace, King, two Queens, two Jacks, and a Joker) against a rival in a quest to find the cash-filled suitcase and/or eliminate the opposition before the enemy eliminates them.

James Bond: World of Espionage

Locating Patrice, M sends Bond to bring him into custody. He follows Patrice into a tall building where the two fight, but he falls to his death before Bond can learn of his employer's identity. Bond finds a poker chip intended as payment, which leads him to a casino near Picadilly Circus in London. He is approached by Séverine, Patrice's accomplice, and asks to meet her employer. 007 wakes up on a yacht, to find its owner staring him down - Raoul Silva.

Quantum of Solace

Features poker games.

Behind the Scenes

• An early version of the script of Casino Royale (1967) by Ben Hecht featured the baccarat playing Evelyn Tremble being replaced by a poker-playing American gangster.
• During the filming of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the actors and crew were paid daily in cash. Upon seeing Bond actor George Lazenby with a briefcase full of cash, Telly Savalas invited him to a poker night he regularly held with crew members, and promptly liberated Lazenby's entire fee during those days of filming. Upon hearing this, producer Harry Saltzman challenged Savalas despite the latter's protests and won back all of Lazenby's money, threatening him not to victimise "his boy" (Lazenby) again.

Rules of the game

In most modern poker games, the first round of betting begins with one or more of the players making some form of a forced bet (the blind or ante). In standard poker, each player bets according to the rank they believe their hand is worth as compared to the other players. The action then proceeds clockwise as each player in turn must either match (or "call") the maximum previous bet, or fold, losing the amount bet so far and all further involvement in the hand. A player who matches a bet may also "raise" (increase) the bet. The betting round ends when all players have either called the last bet or folded. If all but one player folds on any round, the remaining player collects the pot without being required to reveal their hand. If more than one player remains in contention after the final betting round, a showdown takes place where the hands are revealed, and the player with the winning hand takes the pot.

With the exception of initial forced bets, money is only placed into the pot voluntarily by a player who either believes the bet has positive expected value or who is trying to bluff other players for various strategic reasons. Thus, while the outcome of any particular hand significantly involves chance, the long-run expectations of the players are determined by their actions chosen on the basis of probability, psychology, and game theory.

In casual play, the right to deal a hand typically rotates among the players and is marked by a token called a dealer button (or buck). In a casino, a house dealer handles the cards for each hand, but the button (typically a white plastic disk) is rotated clockwise among the players to indicate a nominal dealer to determine the order of betting. The cards are dealt clockwise around the poker table, one at a time.

One or more players are usually required to make forced bets, usually either an ante or a blind bet (sometimes both). The dealer shuffles the cards, the player on the chair to his or her right cuts, and the dealer deals the appropriate number of cards to the players one at a time, beginning with the player to his or her left. Cards may be dealt either face-up or face-down, depending on the variant of poker being played. After the initial deal, the first of what may be several betting rounds begins. Between rounds, the players' hands develop in some way, often by being dealt additional cards or replacing cards previously dealt. At the end of each round, all bets are gathered into the central pot.

At any time during a betting round, if one player bets, no opponents choose to call (match) the bet, and all opponents instead fold, the hand ends immediately, the bettor is awarded the pot, no cards are required to be shown, and the next hand begins. This is what makes bluffing possible. Bluffing is a primary feature of poker, distinguishing it from other vying games and from other games that use poker hand rankings.

At the end of the last betting round, if more than one player remains, there is a showdown, in which the players reveal their previously hidden cards and evaluate their hands. The player with the best hand according to the poker variant being played wins the pot. A poker hand comprises five cards; in variants where a player has more than five cards available to them, only the best five-card combination counts. There are 10 different kinds of poker hands, such as straight flush and four of a kind.

Trivia

• Although poker does not feature much in the Bond books, Fleming wrote the foreword The Education of a Poker Player. He said "while twenty million adults gamble on the football pools each week, ten million on horse-racing and five million on premium bonds, playing poker for money, a legal game over half the world including most of the British Commonwealth, is illegal. And really illegal."

See also

• Baccarat
• Blackjack
• Canasta
• Hanafuda
• Roulette
• Tarot