If the Mane 6 Held a Poker Night...

[Yellow Diamond 7,569]

My poll is gone. That stinks.

 

As I said before, poker isn't always about bluffing; a good player will need to exercise insight into the motives of other players. Given that AJ is levelheaded and thoughtful, her abilities at the poker table should not be underestimated.

[NavelColt 22,880]

Awwww yeah! I got this one in the bag!

Rainbow Dash, you're supposed to hold your expressions and keep a straight face when gambling~

Ah must admit I never thought I'd hear Rarity explain how to give a poker face while gamblin'. Let alone expect to see her gamblin' at all.

Oh...umm...I'm so very confused about this game...c-can we go through the rules again? I mean, if it's okay.

Of course Fluttershy, I have the Ultimate Gambling Card Games Guide for Ponies right here!

Hehe, I raise all the money in the pot, girls!

Really, Pinkie? You're that sure of your hoof?

Absolutely, Twilight! Teehee!

 

Pinkie Pie then proceeds to put down five aces. Pinkie wins through lack of game knowledge and breaking the laws of physics yet again. While the other ponies gawk at how she possibly had five of them, she runs off with the money.

 

[discorded 234]

rainbow dash would have the best poker face but if they made an episode about them playing poker then it would teach kids to gamble at a young age so might not be the best idea

Edited July 10, 2012 by giordano

[TheHouseholdWarrior 12]

Pinkie Pie. Her Pinkie Sense can tell her when she's about to have a winning hand. Back itches FTW.

[One 498]

Rainbow dash I think would have the best poker face, and Good poker face + ability to make everything 20% cooler in 10 seconds flat = win

So yea... Rainbow dash.

[murkyx 904]

My opinions on how each would play, and their performance out of 10:

 

Twilight 8/10

Coming from her inexperience with the game, she may take the day before to study up on the rules and strategies of the game, giving her a logical advantage as she's also a very quick learner. Her calculating mind could most likely predict the possibilities of the hands she may be playing against, and her attentive eye could easily see the slightest reactions of body language from her fellow players. Out of the entire mane 6, she would have one of the best long-term strategies. However, her paranoia and her habits of getting over involved may play against her should luck turn against her and her calculations fail more than a few times. She may suddenly abandon logic and become more desperate in her strategies if she starts loosing money, winning some hands and loosing others at random. She may also be very likely to accidentally cheat by counting cards if she didn't know that was against the rules.

 

Fluttershy 5/10

A very weak and unsure player, especially when she's not as experenced. She would only play to spend time with her friends, and no matter what will keep to the minimal bets and will more often than not fold out of habit. However, that masks her hand quite well, and if Angel (who I feel would be a very aggressive player) was helping her, or if she learned from her mistakes as she became more experienced and used a bit of her assertiveness training the more she played, she may surprise everypony with the size of her pot at the end of the game.

 

Rarity 9/10

Rarity's attention to detail, manipulative personality, and urges of greed make her automatically a formidable opponent. She would be very precise in her strategies, being a master at bluffing; misleading body language, and keeping her own bets small and manipulating others into false senses of security before playing a crushing hand and raking in the bits she made them bet. She'd also use that precise eye to analyze the emotions and body language of her opponents to know what she is up against. She is merciless towards the other players, showing no relent when the time to strike comes, but if she begins to loose and her pile begins to run thin, you better watch out because her strategies will shift to target players and more towards winning more hands out of desperation. She also may resort to cheating if the situation gets dire.

 

http://mlpforums.com/public/style_emoticons/default/dry.png Rainbow Dash 7.5/10

Rainbow Dash is most likely to be the more experienced player of this game, and thus will have her own time-tested strategies under her wing to try out, and has a very good feel for the rules. However, she will still be the most readable character of them all, near constantly displaying confidence when she feels she has a good hand or anger or anguish when she has a bad one, the reactions becoming more or less severe according to how many bits she has left. She may more often than not, play by her gut instead of playing to logic, playing crapshoot hands in hopes that it's any good. While she may be experienced enough in the rules to call out somepony for cheating, she may intentionally cheat herself whenever she feels as if she may run dry, or to match somepony else who is messing with the cards to even out the odds.

 

Applejack 7.5/10

A strong and steady player who may also be experienced in the game. She may not have a total grasp of numbers and strategies, but her natural ability of seeing past lies give her a distinct advantage to see the true intentions of her opponents. She won't vary too much on how much she bets, nor will she display much of a noticeable reaction to her hand, giving her a fairly good poker face. (Unlike her transparent reaction when she intentionally lies; she's neither saying truth or fiction, so she is easily capable of hiding her emotions) She may become very competitive when stakes get higher, however, especially towards Rainbow Dash if she was playing, but overall she'll remain the most level-headed of the group. Even if she has the lowest pot at the end of the game, she'll be happy nonetheless for the time together with friends.

 

Pinkie Pie "Srew the rating scale! She's Pinkie Pie!"

A very unpredictable player. Pinkie's intentions will never be clear, both inside and outside the game, so you can never be certain of her hand. All strategies are rendered invalid against this wild card, physics breaking powers and pinkie sense or not. She'd only be in the game for the game itself, and having a good time. Her bets will be erratic, sometimes raising above everypony else or keeping her bits to a minimum, and it would be of no relation to her hand. If the Pinkie Sense came into play here, however, it could quickly turn against her with the anilytical ponies she's playing against such as Rarity and Twilight. (They would see her twitching in a specific way and could determine after a few plays whether her hand is good or not for the rest of the game) However, she would be more likely to be the lucky player with the best hands of the game. A considerable foe in any game that will make it so that nopony will expect who will end up with what.

 

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And as an added bonus, I'll do some other characters to see how they would play.

 

Big Macintosh 9.5/10

Three words: Ultimate Poker Face. Big Macintosh's quiet and normally blank expression would give him a distinct advantage in any game. Not to mention, being down-to-earth as he is, he would be very serious and observant in his games, both providing him boosts of intimidation and clues into what the other players are thinking. Something also tells me he may also be quite experienced in the game, (and if not, he would gain a feel of the game rather quickly) so provided the combination of his natural poker appearance, he would be a very difficult player to go against. His strategies would be similar to Applejack, but more conservative, and more solid and steady from beginning to end. He would be the type with the goal that no matter what, he will leave a game with more bits than he brought in.

 

Princess Luna 4/5

Unfortunately for Luna fans, I don't think that Luna would be the strongest, nor smartest player. Despite her age, Luna would be very aggressive and haphazard in her strategies after she takes time to learn the rules of the game. (along with coping with other things due to her 1000 year absence) She would take too many things seriously, and thus would become enraged and even ragequit when she looses too many hands. Her temper and jealousy would become huge downsides of her playing strategy, and she may not have any grasp of what the other players are thinking. Against experienced players, she would be no match.

 

Princess Celestia 10/10

Unlike her sister, Celestia, on the other hoof, would be a near undefeated poker player. Not only does she have millennia of wisdom and collective intellect at her disposal, she has been shown to be very manipulative (though more often than not to teach a lesson) and can orchestrate the events of something quite unpredictable to her favor. She would always win in the long term, using her knowledge of the other pony's personalties and her eye for body language to play the others out of their money. However, she is merciful, and she may intentionally fold for a friend. (Or a severely frustrated sister)

 

I may do more background characters later on.