If the Mane 6 Held a Poker Night...

[Daring Do 195]

Pinkie Pie would only have a chance to win because she is Pinkie Pie. She probably can see through your cards with her physics-breaking ways. Also, Twilight would have a great chance to win not only because of her knowledge of body language, but because she can actually weigh out probabilities much better than the rest of them... She is pretty smart!

[Yellow Diamond 7,564]

We've seen in The Last Roundup how excellent a liar Applejack can be. She can show it off in Texas Hold Em.

 

Or economical with the truth, as the case may be. Funny how the pony who embodies the Element of Honesty is pretty crafty in that regard.

[I used to be a stranger 7,989]

This is something explored in Ivory Piano's Keeping it Simple although it only has a few characters in it.

 

"Applejack had the most obvious strategy, usually just playing a straightforward game. She raised a great hand, called a good hand, and folded a bad hand. She wasn’t much for bluffing for the obvious reason that bluffing was a kind of lying and her lying face was so horrible it was outright painful, and hilarious, to watch. But she also had a damning tell. Whenever she felt confident, a small smile crept across her lips when she took a peek at her cards. It only lasted a moment, but it was enough.

 

Rainbow Dash was quite the opposite. She played a loose game, almost never folding and almost always raising. Even when her hand looked the lowest on the table, even when her hand actually was the lowest on the table. Her only saving grace was her impeccable poker face. No matter how much she bluffed Big Macintosh just couldn’t see any tells on the mare, not on her wings, eyes, mouth, hooves, or ears.

 

Pinkie Pie…well, she was really in a league of her own. Her behavior was completely unpredictable. She would smooth call a pair of kings on fifth street one hand and fold the same several rounds later, but only after raising. She didn’t have a tell, if only because it was hard to separate it from the flurry of other activities she was prone to partake in. If she wasn’t bouncing she was talking, or singing, or humming, or standing on her head and playing her hand with her hind hooves. At first, Big Mac thought it was Pinkie Pie being random until the game went on and her share of bits became larger and larger.

 

Big Macintosh himself wasn’t one for complicated strategies. He only relied on his blank expression and a quick calculation of pot odds, expected value, and equity. He didn’t bother with bluffing since it wouldn’t be very effective against Rainbow Dash. Instead he played a passive game, allowing the other three to pick each other off."

 

Personally the game I'd fear would be Twilight in a hand of Blackjack. She'd be able to figure out card-counting faster than you can say "Algorithm".

Edited March 4, 2012 by Blue

[TheKoalaNextDoor 1]

I'd say it'd be a toss-up between applejack and rainbow dash. Dashy is deffinantly a gambling gal, and would be very good at bluffing, demoralizing opponants, and just constantly raising the pot so much and so often you can't help but question if your cards are good enough. But AJ would probably be practically immune to any intimidation from Rainbowdash, and wouldn't fall to scare tactics. Of course, that stubborn attitude could work against her. If Dashy would raise the pot by hefty amounts with a bad hand, imagine what she would do with a great one. AJ could be too stubborn to admit defeat and dashy could wring a lot of money out of her before she finally showed her cards, especially if Rainbowdash accused Apple Jack of being scared everytime she hesitated in anteing up, and if the stacks were high, Apple Jack might not be able to keep a cool head. I could really go either way, and i'm still not entirely decided. but because the name of the game is TEXAS holdem, i voted AJ.

[Jokuc 8,172]

We've seen in The Last Roundup how excellent a liar Applejack can be. She can show it off in Texas Hold Em.

 

Hm you made me change my mind

[Pony Joe 582]

Twilight would do everything by the numbers, betting the exact amount that's most statistically ideal for her hand, eventually leading to frustration when she proves to be an extremely easy player to read.

 

Rainbow would try to exploit every dirty trick she could find, bluffing ridiculous amounts and staring down other players until they crack. Still, she would know what she was doing and not forget that playing the wrong hand would cost her greatly. Her natural competitiveness would last her until the end, being her downfall when she realizes that her money had dwindled down to a pitiful hooffull of bits when she wasn't paying attention.

 

Fluttershy would hardly play any hands, and would stick to the safest bet (no pun intended) when she would. If she got into a betting match with another player, she would fold, no matter what hand she had. Naturally, she would be the first to go.

 

Rarity would have the best poker face of the bunch wait what the hay am I saying. Her squeals of excitement would be enough to wake up Spike, and would bet what she thought a professional would bet, based on what little she knows about poker. Though she was constantly downtalk the other players whenever she won a hand, her amateur technique would leave her in the game only slightly longer than Fluttershy.

 

Applejack... well...

Applejack: Stubborn and confident. While Applejack grasp of the exact numbers wouldn’t be outstanding, her ability to read players based on the way they were betting and playing their cards would be uncanny. With only a few exceptional cases, AJ would not spend frivolously; her style would be strong and steady, built to last until the deciding hand. She might become exceedingly competitive and aggressive if properly goaded, and would have a hard time keeping her emotions in check if she went up against a player akin to Dash. In addition, Applejack would at times fail to back down from a hand she could not win. Yet nopony could assume that her straightforward nature is indicative of a poor card player. On the contrary, AJ might leave you high and dry.

 

Pinkie Pie would be extremely unppredictable, making moves that the other ponies would often call "random," but would stay in the game for an amazingly long time due to the impossibility to read her moves as well as her inexplicable ability to make the exact right random moves to catch her opponents off-guard, yet still leave her ahead. Obviously, since she' not exactly playing to win, she would leave the table when everypony least expects it, when she's the chip... er, bit leader.

 

So, my elimination order would be:

Fluttershy, Rarity, Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow, Applejack.

[Chigens and Kay 3,831]

At least Rarity has one vote in the poll now...

[Pinkazoid 3,493]

Brains says Applejack, my hand types Pinkie, I'll just go with the hand

 

I feel bad for Rarity, a good (overused) twist would be that she wins

[Why-Gnome-Ear-Fifty 400]

Considering Pinkie doesn't need physics at all, she could probably win some way or another...If we rule out cheating (since Pinkie would be able to do anything if she wanted to), it's a little closer but I think she could still win off of pure luck, Pinkie Sense, or bluffing.

[Yellow Diamond 7,564]

In a more comical setting, Twilight would likely win and then explain matter-of-factly that she counted the cards, not knowing such a tactic is frowned upon in poker. Cue a large groan from Dash and a disapproving frown from AJ.

[Marcusaralius76 150]

 

 

That is all.

 

...yep, Dash is a cheater. look at her wing.

[Boofyhooves 78]

Apple jack, hooves down! She's got it going on!

[Shankveld 4,945]

Aj is the element of honesty and a bad liar to boot :/ (party of one)

so I don't know why she has so many votes ~

[Vicke 3,187]

.....Poker Texa....

APPLEJACK!

[Yellow Diamond 7,564]

Aj is the element of honesty and a bad liar to boot :/ (party of one)

so I don't know why she has so many votes ~

 

A lot of people are using the basis of her "southern" country roots as the primary reason for her success at game associated with the south and midwest.

 

For my part, though, I consider AJ's superb judge of other ponies as the reason why she would excel at poker.

[zenthebrony 0]

I give this the derpy seal of approval

[KakeiTheWolf 652]

Pinkie can break physics. Poker can't be that much a challenge to break.

[Batbrony 15,994]

I'm a huge Applejack fan, and I think that she'd do great at Texas Hold'Em, but ultimately, I think that Pinkie Pie would do the best of all of 'em. I'll go through each one and measure their chances:

 

Rarity: She'd be extremely competitive, especially if she started losing a lot, but probably wouldn't understand the finer niceties of Texas Hold'Em, so ultimately, she probably wouldn't do that well. Plus, the more she lost, the more frustrated she'd get, and as she did so, she'd probably start making more rash/cautious decisions with her gambles, and also have a less convincing poker face.

 

Fluttershy: I highly doubt that unless the money at stake is going towards an animal shelter of some sort that Fluttershy would be competitive at all. The poor dear is simply too kind, and being so timid, she'd probably fold each round, even if she had a great hand, since she might not know what the best hands are. Love you Fluttershy.

 

Twilight: Honestly, she might do the worst of the whole bunch. Since Twilight thinks that anything can be solved or learned by reading a good book, she'd obviously read beforehand something like "The Beginners Guide to Texas Hold'Em," or something like that. With her newly gained knowledge, Twilight would be very confident in her abilities, but, being a rookie still, most likely wouldn't win that many hands. As her losses started to mount more and more, Twilight would become increasingly frustrated. However, whereas Rarity and Fluttershy would be able to accept that they just aren't very good players, not being that experienced, Twilight would be convinced that her books hold the key to success, and would increasingly turn to them for aid. As her frustration mounted, her poker face would get worse, she'd take more irrational gambles, and she'd start to panic more and more, possibly eventually devolving into the wrecked, insane mess that we saw in 'Lesson Zero' (for all our sakes, I hope not, lol).

 

Rainbow Dash: Probably would be a pretty good player, #3 of the bunch in my opinion. She'd be very competitive, probably has played the game before, most likely would have a good poker face, and would know when to take a risky gamble, at least initially. Her shortcoming, however, would be her ego; if she initially didn't do well, she'd just keep taking more and more risky gambles out of frustration, but even if she did do well initially, she'd probably become so arrogant about her chances of success, that eventually she'd take too risky of a gamble, or maybe even too many risky gambles, and might even lose everything in one hand. Bottom line, I don't think she'd be a good Texas Hold'Em player in the long run of a single game.

 

Applejack: Most likely would be the 2nd best player of the whole group. Probably the most experienced with a game like Texas Hold'Em, is as competitive as Rainbow Dash, probably has a fairly good poker face despite her honest nature, and would be both risky when appropriate but also practical and cautious when necessary. While I still question just how good her poker face would be being such an honest pony, I bet her competitive streak, especially with Rainbow Dash, would help push her to maintain a pretty good poker face, and she'd make up for it by being a far more practical and modest player than Rainbow Dash.

 

Pinkie Pie: Finally, the wild card. I highly doubt that Pinkie Pie has any experience with Texas Hold'Em whatsoever. However, she is easily the most random and unreadable of all of the characters. She wouldn't let competitiveness or frustration get in the way, since she wouldn't be displaying any of those traits; she'd just be there to have a good time with her friends. Thus, she'd always have the best poker face, making up somewhat in that regard for what she lacks in skill. But, as Pinkie has shown us again and again, the laws of physics, even in Equestria, clearly don't apply to her. As such, she'd easily be the luckiest player of the whole group, routinely coming up again and again with ridiculous winning hands, simply because she's Pinkie Pie. Even if going into the final hand some player was ridiculously far ahead of her, I have no doubt that somehow, Pinkie Pie would come up with a hand that would win her the whole pot in the end.

 

Thus, after a careful analyzation, I have to say that Pinkie Pie would most likely be the best Texas Hold'Em player of the Mane 6.

Edited April 24, 2012 by Batbrony

[XMark 18]

Wow, I'm surprised Applejack is taking first place in the poll. Did everyone forget how bad her poker face is? Fluttershy would be too nervous to take any major risks. Rainbow Dash would lose for the opposite reason, playing way too risky and betting too much.

 

So that leaves the other three as the main competitors in this match.

 

Twilight's got the smarts to calculate odds. She could conceivably cheat with magic, but I don't think it's in her nature. Both because she's good-natured and because she's obsessive-compulsive about doing things by the book. She could probably spend the entire game running her brain like a calculator and separating emotions out. But if she started winning too much she'd get all giggly and proud and start slipping.

 

Pinkie Pie's memory is incredibly good, as evidenced in a Friend in Deed. Her social natures combined with her photographic memory means she can read the other ponies like a book. Pinkie Sense may also figure into it, though I guess she doesn't have conscious control over it.

 

Rarity managed to get the diamond dogs to give her wagons full of gems with nothing but her voice. She could bluff like nopony else, feign some false tells to throw off anyone attempting to read her, and some subtle emotional manipulation to seal the deal.

 

Rarity wins, Pinkie Pie in second place, Twilight in Third. The other three are broke.

[Crystal Sparkle 344]

Pinkie Pie, by just being Pinkie Pie. She can win anything!

[Lumen 106]

I think Applejack would win even though she doesn't have the best poker face. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie would probably play pretty risky, Rarity is a bit greedy sometimes, Fluttershy being the total opposite of Rarity and Twilight Sparkle would be too overconfident.

That's how I imagine a poker night with the mane 6.

[PixiGlow 36]

I voted for Rainbow Dash because I think she would be good at bluffing and she'd have the guts to pull it off.

I think Pinkie Pie might win also, she'd be excellent at distracting everyone else from the game.

Applejack couldn't bluff very well.

Fluttershy probably wouldn't have a good poker face.

Rarity would probably have a major tell also, even though she'd be decent at bluffing.

Twilight Sparkle is kind of a wild card...she may have read a book on the game and she'd likely be good at the statistics.

But I'd bet that Rainbow would have the luck and skill to win in the end.

Edited April 29, 2012 by PixiGlow

[Proctra Music 335]

I voted for rainbow dash merely because:

Pokerface .

Edited April 29, 2012 by Derpy Mooves

[Zerul 554]

Pinkie pie's twitch sense> Every possible outcome

[Krystal 1,468]

Well I'm sure Applejack would loose, due to this being her pokerface: