What would you do with three Jacks?

[Vanyel]

Ok, while passing time posting lines from The Best of Both World, we came to the scene where Wesley is playing poker with the senior staff, minus his mother and including Lt. Cmndr. Shelby.

The game seems to be 5 Card Stud. Troi seems to have folded before the scene begins, LaForge and Data both fold during the game scene. This leaves Wesley with 3 Jacks showing, Shelby has "a pair of deuces" and Riker has either a flush, possibly a straight flush.

Riker is the only one who stood a chance at beating Wesley, but Riker stared Wesley down. Wesley folds with 3 Jacks. If I were in the game, I would be looking to see if my hand beats Wesley's. Riker wouldn't enter the picture since a Straight Flush is rare (0.0015%) as is a Flush (0.20%) LINK.

So let's assume we don't know what's Riker's face down card is. If you held 3 Jacks, would you call his raise of 100, raise the bet, or fold?

I was just as surprised as LaForge was at Wesley folding. I would have called Riker's bet.

 

[Disruptor]

Raise the bet.

There's no money involved anyway.

 

[Hedbergian]

I'd call. But once someone stares me down, telling me "time for the long pants", I'm all in.

 

[Skellington]

Call. Everyone knows that the rules of poker have changed and that the winning hand is now the one with the most Jacks.
[/Jack Bauer Fact.]

 

[Trekker4747]

I'd raise the bet to see how far Riker would be willing to push his bluff. Three Jacks is a fairly large hand to hold compared to seeing that Riker maybe has a straight let alone a straight flush.

 

[Alrik]

I'd call. But once someone stares me down, telling me "time for the long pants", I'm all in.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Destructor]

Crazy question. Three jacks? Raise, no question. It's a fucking killer hand. Wesley is a moron.

 

[Trekker4747]

Eh, he was probably still all flustered and horny from being called "handsome" by Troi.

 

[Vanyel]

Hmmmmm. People would challenge the second in command. Good thing he's good natured, otherwise all of us who would call or raise would be working triple shifts in Waste Management.

 

[Jerikka Dawn]

I was just as surprised as LaForge was at Wesley folding. I would have called Riker's bet.

The problem I have with this scene is I wonder how much booze Laforge was drinking. 12 seconds prior to admonishing Wesley for folding, he was convinced Riker had the straight flush.

 

[7thsealord]

Friendly game, no money or personal stake (other than machismo) riding on the bets.

Three Jacks? RAISE, baby. Maybe even consider All In.

 

[WillsBabe]

Jack Reacher; Jack O'Neill and Jack Harkness... what would I do with them? Oh, wait, as to the original question, I'm afraid I have no idea!

 

[Bisz]

Crazy question. Three jacks? Raise, no question. It's a fucking killer hand. Wesley is a moron.

I'll call that response!

Five card stud, you have three Jacks and the opponent has a chance at a flush? You raise, raise, raise!

Especially since its Riker, and knowing him as we do he's got balls so you know he'll be trying to push you around.

 

[T'Girl]

Friendly game, no money or personal stake (other than machismo) riding on the bets.

Really? While I don't recall that particular scene, the impression I received through watching the various poker games it that money was on the table. We know that Beverly had money, she used it in the first episode.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

[George Takei] Oh my! [/George Takei]

Sorry, that's what pops into my sick mind when I see the thread title.

 

[7thsealord]

Friendly game, no money or personal stake (other than machismo) riding on the bets.

Really? While I don't recall that particular scene, the impression I received through watching the various poker games it that money was on the table. We know that Beverly had money, she used it in the first episode.

But not since.

 

[Destructor]

Oh lawd, let's not let this thread devolve into 'does the federation use money' again!

I once had a 2 and a 7, bet into it for no reason, and the last two cards to come out on the flop were both twos. Everyone else wanted to kill me, since there was no reasonable reason to bet into the literally worst hand, yet I still dominated everyone at the table. The moral of the story is: always raise, no matter what.

Any other tall poker stories out there?

 

[sonak]

I was just as surprised as LaForge was at Wesley folding. I would have called Riker's bet.

The problem I have with this scene is I wonder how much booze Laforge was drinking. 12 seconds prior to admonishing Wesley for folding, he was convinced Riker had the straight flush.

yes! My reaction to this scene is very similar to yours. It's kind of a "huh?" moment, like do they realize what Geordi had just said ten seconds ago?

 

[Vanyel]

I took it that Riker knew That Wesley was: New to the game, An Ensign, Still a bit naive, and nervous. LaForge new that too, but also knew that this would be the perfect time for Riker to show Wesley that even though the odds were heavily in Wesley's favor - to quote Jim Croce - "You don't mess around with Jim."

Wesley's should have been listening to the Gambler and "know when to hold 'em."