Henry VII<\/strong>
\nKing of England, 1485 \u2013 1509<\/h3>\n![\"henry](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/henry-4.jpg\")
<\/a>Also known as Henry Tudor, Henry VII was the first Tudor king, after the Battle of Bosworth Field in August 1485 in which Richard III was defeated. Although there isn\u2019t much information delving into the King\u2019s gambling, he was known for playing cards (though not a poker player \u2013 the game hadn\u2019t been invented yet) and setting aside a good amount of money to do so.<\/p>\nAccording to historical records, on January 8, 1492 he set aside a whopping \u00a35 for an evening of gambling, which was a pretty significant amount of money to gamble away at the time, considering it was close to the average man\u2019s annual salary.<\/p>\n
However, Henry VII really let loose when he lost \u00a340 playing cards on June 30, 1492, gambling away almost eight times more than what most ordinary folks made in one year. He was also known for paying his entertainers very well, especially musicians, regularly tipping a staggering 33 pence. Okay, it doesn\u2019t sound like much, but back then it was a great sum for entertainers. I guess it paid to be King, and to sing for him too.<\/p>\n
Henry VIII<\/strong>
\nKing of England, 1509 \u2013 1547<\/h3>\n![\"henry](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/henry-8.jpg\")
<\/a>Although better known for his reformations of England\u2019s church and his many wives instead of as a poker player, Henry VIII was a fan of pretty much any betting game on offer. He played anything from dice to Bragg, often competing against both fellow monarchy and commoners. The King supposedly started gambling heavily after his second wife, Queen Anne, miscarried what should have been their first son, was arrested on suspicion of committing adultery with five men, including her own brother, and beheaded for it. I suppose becoming a gambler is one way to cope with your \u201cgrief,\u201d along with marrying your third wife less than two weeks after your second wife was disposed of.<\/p>\nHenry VIII was fond of a game called \u201cTables,\u201d which is a version of backgammon, a checker-related game known as \u201cQueek,\u201d and dice games. He also enjoyed Bragg, which was a popular game played throughout London that is believed to be a distant ancestor of poker.<\/p>\n
He regularly participated in gambling tournaments across Europe, even though he was considered one of the unluckiest gamblers of all time, known for losing tons of money and even prized possessions every time he gambled. Over the course of two years, the King lost a sum of \u00a33,250, which was a good-sized fortune back then. In addition to attending gambling tournaments, he also held tournaments that tested competitive combat skills such as archery and jousting, and betting was a regular function that the King took part in.<\/p>\n
Henry VIII\u2019s most famous gambling blunder occurred when he lost the Jesus bells of St. Paul\u2019s Church on a single roll of dice. The King claimed that the bells were worthless anyway, except for the metal they were made of, which angered and offended many of Henry VIII\u2019s subjects and decreased his popularity. In order to get back into his people\u2019s good graces, Henry VIII had Sir Miles Partridge, the man who won the bells, arrested and convicted of treason. Sir Miles was then publicly hanged on Tower Hill in full view of everyone, which apparently earned Henry VIII the respect of his people once more, but definitely discouraged others from gambling against the King again.<\/p>\n
So, now we know \u2013 if you lose a bet with a friend, just have him thrown in jail and publicly hanged, and you\u2019ll never lose to anyone else again.<\/p>\n
Mary I<\/strong>
\nQueen of England and Ireland, Queen Consort of Spain, 1553 \u2013 1558<\/h3>\n![\"queen](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/mary.jpg\")
<\/a>Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon, was technically the first queen regnant of England. She\u2019s remembered mainly for her restoration of the Roman Catholic Church in England, and the subsequent executions of 280 Protestants which gave her the posthumous nickname \u201cBloody Mary.\u201d<\/p>\nHowever, along with her apparent pleasure of burning religious dissenters at the stake, Mary also enjoyed gambling. She liked playing cards and apparently ran up significant gambling debts. After the fall of Queen Anne, when Mary was returned to favor with her father, she is reported to have spent nearly a third of her monthly income on gambling alone.<\/p>\n
According to one story, in 1540 Mary was playing a game known as \u201cBowls\u201d and during the course of the gameplay asked her servants for money. They refused, so she wagered payment for the next day\u2019s breakfast instead. As evidenced by her account book, she lost the game \u2013 there\u2019s an entry that reads, \u201cPayed for a Brekefaste loste at Bolling by my lady maryes grace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marie Antoinette<\/strong>
\nDauphine of France, 1770 \u2013 1774, Queen of France, 1774-1792<\/h3>\n![\"marie](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Antoinette.jpg\")
<\/a>Marie Antoinette was born an Archduchess of Austria, the fifteenth and youngest child of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, and eventually became the Queen of France by marrying Louis XVI. During her time as Queen, she spent extravagant amounts of money on clothing, gambling, and other luxuries, even though her country was embroiled in a serious financial crisis and the general population was suffering.<\/p>\nIn addition to ordering a rumored 300 dresses per year, Marie loved to spend money on gambling. On one occasion, she and a large group of friends spent three entire days leading up to her 21st<\/sup> birthday gambling, a fact that caused her reputation among the general public to sour, with many beginning to blame her for the economic situation. It was suggested that France\u2019s inability to settle its debts was the result of her outlandish spending.<\/p>\nEveryone knows how Marie\u2019s tale ends \u2013 not well, to say the least. But, not known by many is that the widely accepted story that in response to France\u2019s bread shortage, Marie Antoinette said, \u201cLet them eat cake!\u201d is false. The story and phrase was first attributed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau to an unnamed princess in his book Les Confessions<\/em>, which was written before Marie Antoinette arrived in France. And in the book, the princess doesn\u2019t even say \u201ccake\u201d \u2013 she says \u201cLet them eat brioche.\u201d So, yeah, she may have spent a ridiculous amount of money on dresses and playing cards while her people were starving, but she never suggested they eat cake.<\/p>\nGeorge IV<\/strong>
\nKing of the United Kingdom and Hanover, 1820 \u2013 1830<\/h3>\n![\"george](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/george.jpg\")
<\/a>Born in 1782, George IV was the eldest son of George III and became known as \u201cthe first gentleman of England\u201d for his charm and extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the time. However, taxpayers loathed him for his wasteful spending while the country was fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, including an excess of money spent on property and gambling.<\/p>\nGeorge IV was a well-known womanizer with numerous mistresses, a heavy drinker, and a wild gambler. In the 1780s, he was so deeply in debt from his extravagant lifestyle that he appealed to Parliament in an attempt to get them to bail him out. They eventually granted him the money: \u00a3161,000 to pay his debts and \u00a360,000 for renovations to his home, on top of his \u00a350,000 annual income, which obviously didn\u2019t solve the problem and only encouraged him to continue his exorbitant spending.<\/p>\n
By 1795 the Prince was \u00a3630,000 in debt \u2013 the equivalent of \u00a358,700,000 today \u2013 and once again asked Parliament for more money. His father, King George III, refused to allow the government to help him unless he married his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick. The marriage went through, although the couple lived apart after the birth of their daughter, Princess Charlotte. Parliament granted the Prince an additional \u00a365,000 (\u00a36,056,000 today) annual income, plus another \u00a360,000 eight years later. George\u2019s debts from 1795 were officially cleared in 1806, but debts incurred after 1795 remained unpaid.<\/p>\n
In other words, due to his excessive spending on fancy stuff and gambling, George IV went down in English history as the King of government handouts. Must be nice to appeal to your government to cover your debts.<\/p>\n
Edward VII<\/strong>
\nKing of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, Emperor of India, 1901 \u2013 1910<\/h3>\n![\"edward\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/edward.jpg\")
<\/a>Edward VII ascended to the throne at the age of 59, serving as heir apparent and the Prince of Wales longer than any of his predecessors. Since his mother, Queen Victoria, didn\u2019t saddle him with much governmental responsibility, Edward VII came to represent the elite, and lived a fashionable, leisurely life. This lifestyle included a love for women, horseracing, and gambling.<\/p>\nEdward VII\u2019s game of choice was baccarat. The Prince loved to play the card game so much that he carried his own set of leather counters, engraved with the badge of the Prince of Wales on one side, wherever he traveled.<\/p>\n
In 1891, Edward VII became involved in a widely known British gambling scandal known as the Royal Baccarat Scandal, or the Tranby Croft affair. The situation began during a house party in late 1890, when several people accused Sir William Gordon-Cumming, a decorated Army lieutenant colonel and a friend of Edward VII, of cheating at baccarat. The situation eventually landed in a court, and the Prince was called as a witness in a trial that the public could buy tickets to see. Sir William was found guilty, despite his lawyer\u2019s well-prepared case and the public\u2019s view that he was innocent, and Sir William was ostracized from society for the remainder of his life.<\/p>\n
The Royal Baccarat Scandal greatly diminished Edward VII\u2019s popularity among the people, but it was recovered not long after, whereas Sir William\u2019s social banishment and his bitterness lasted the rest of his days. After the trial, the Prince continued to gamble quietly, and he never played baccarat again. Instead, he took up Whist, an ancestor of bridge.<\/p>\n
I wonder what happened to those leather counters, whether he kept them or not. If he did, I\u2019m guessing it wasn\u2019t for sentimental reasons.<\/p>\n
Presidents playing poker <\/strong><\/h2>\nWarren G. Harding<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1921 \u2013 1923<\/h3>\n![\"harding\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/harding.jpg\")
<\/a>Serving as the 29th President, Warren G. Harding was an avid poker player, and was known for hosting poker games in the White House twice a week. Harding and his fellow players smoked cigars and drank whiskey while they played, despite the Prohibition that began in 1920 and lasted until 1933. The group was made up of many members of Harding\u2019s cabinet and other friends, and became known informally as the Poker Cabinet.<\/p>\nUnlike other Presidents who used their position to their advantage when they played poker in the White House, Harding insisted that people not worry about his rank and told fellow poker players to treat him like they would treat any other opponent. He\u2019s quoted saying, \u201cForget that I\u2019m President of the United States. I\u2019m Warren Harding, playing poker with friends, and I\u2019m going to beat the hell out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supposedly, Harding was a relatively loose poker player, playing more for the thrill of the game than to win. In one instance, he apparently gambled with Louise Cromwell Brooks on a game of \u201ccold hand\u201d and lost. The game is like the children\u2019s game \u201cwar,\u201d where players draw a card and whoever has the highest card wins and names the payment. Brooks won with the highest card and requested a set of White House china, which Harding had wrapped up and delivered to her the next day.<\/p>\n
The tale may be apocryphal, but it\u2019s one hell of a story for Brooks. Who else could say they won a lovely set of china in a one-card game against the President of the United States?<\/p>\n
Franklin D. Roosevelt<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1933 \u2013 1945<\/h3>\n![\"roosevelt\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/FDR.jpg\")
<\/a>The only President to serve more than two terms, Franklin D. Roosevelt was also known for his love of poker. Roosevelt held games in the White House, and players included the closest members of his inner circle, as well as other members of the cabinet, staff, and White House press. Regular players included the Vice President, Speaker of the House, Attorney General, Secretary of Commerce, and at least one Supreme Court Justice. The President\u2019s secretary, \u201cMissy\u201d LeHand, served cocktails and often joined in on the games.<\/p>\nRoosevelt\u2019s favorite game was seven-card stud, and as a poker player he was considered a great bluffer and a commander of the game, and apparently, as Walter Trohan said, \u201cNothing delighted him more than a successful bluff.\u201d However, Trohan also points out that the President didn\u2019t seem to suspect that his adversaries might have been hesitant to call him out, especially members of his staff. He was known to study his fellow poker players as much as he studied the cards, and was famous for his comebacks. Robert Jackson said the President would be down several dollars early in the game, but would invariably earn it all back right before the end. Jackson said, \u201cWe finally told him that the only way we could beat him was to break up the game\u2026about four hands before the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
While in office, President Roosevelt held an annual poker game on the night that Congress was supposed to adjourn. The rule of the game was that whoever was ahead at the moment that the Speaker called would win the game. According to one player, during one of these games the Speaker called at 9:30 p.m. to inform Roosevelt that Congress had adjourned, but the President was losing to his Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr., so he pretended the call was from someone else and continued to play. Around midnight, when Roosevelt had pulled ahead, he told an aide to bring the phone, picked it up and said, \u201cOh Mr. Speaker, you\u2019re adjourning, how fine!\u201d Then he turned to the other poker players and said, \u201cWell, boys, I guess I win!\u201d<\/p>\n
Everything was fine until the next day, when Morgenthau read the paper and learned that Congress had adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Morgenthau was actually so angry that he resigned for a few minutes, until Roosevelt charmed and persuaded him that it was all in good fun.<\/p>\n
Poker was such a familiar comfort for the President that apparently he occasionally could be heard riffling poker chips during his famous \u201cFireside Chats\u201d radio broadcasts during the war.<\/p>\n
Harry S. Truman<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1945 \u2013 1953<\/h3>\n![\"truman\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/truman.jpg\")
<\/a>Harry S. Truman became the 33rd President when Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office, and was a dedicated poker player like his predecessor. Truman learned the game as a soldier in WWI and was apparently a somewhat loose player, and encouraged things like stealing other players\u2019 poker chips and peeking at cards. While in office, Truman\u2019s regular weekend games had a $500 buy-in, with an option to buy more if a player lost all his chips, and 10 percent of each pot was put into a \u201cpoverty bowl\u201d to fund players for their second buy-in.<\/p>\nTruman was such an avid poker player that he had a presidential poker chip set made, in which all the chips featured the presidential seal. He also had a sign on his desk that read \u201cThe Buck Stops Here\u201d, which was given to him by another poker player and became the phrase associated with him and his presidency. The phrase refers to the use of a knife with a buckhorn handle to designate position in poker games during the frontier days. James McManus, author of Cowboys Full, said the phrase was Truman\u2019s way of \u201cletting Americans know he was responsible for what happened on his watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
In August 1945, during WWII, Truman is said to have played poker with members of the press on the U.S.S. Augusta during the days when the decision was made to drop the atomic bombs in Japan. And while the first bomb was dropped from a plane named the Enola Gay, the other two planes that accompanied it for weather reconnaissance had gambling related names \u2013 the Straight Flush and Full House.<\/p>\n
Seven months after the war ended, Truman boarded a train with Winston Churchill bound for Missouri, where Churchill would deliver his famous \u201cIron Curtain\u201d speech. On the way, the two men played poker with members of Truman\u2019s staff. Seeing that Churchill was a green poker player, the President encouraged the others to \u201cgo easy\u201d on him, contrary to what the Americans agreed on before the game started. While it probably didn\u2019t affect world politics, that poker game may have been a symbol of the alliance between the U.S. and the U.K. during the Cold War period that followed.<\/p>\n
Dwight D. Eisenhower<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1953 \u2013 1961<\/h3>\n![\"eisenhower\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/Eisenhower.jpg\")
<\/a>Dwight D. Eisenhower learned to play poker in his youth, from an old frontiersman in Kansas. The future President was known as a serious player, who won much more often than he lost \u2013 he won so often that he had to stop playing while in the military, to stop his fellow soldiers from losing money.<\/p>\nEisenhower became friends with fellow officer George Patton during WWII, and the two hosted poker games with fellow soldiers a few times a week. In one of these poker games, one of the soldiers lost a significant amount of money to Eisenhower, and paid him with bonds that his wife had saved. Eisenhower accepted the bonds, but conspired with the other poker players to lose the next night in order to give back the money the man had lost. \u201cOne of the hardest things known to man,\u201d Eisenhower said of the game, \u201cis to make a fellow win in poker who plays as if bent on losing every nickel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eisenhower then urged his friend Colonel Patton to prohibit poker playing for money among the soldiers, but in the end the two decided to ban gambling all together. Eisenhower never played poker while in the army again, but was still incredibly successful \u2013 he ended up becoming a five-star general, and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Troops during WWII.<\/p>\n
Though Eisenhower stopped playing in the military, he resumed playing while he was President, occasionally hosting poker games in the Treaty Room of the White House.<\/p>\n
Richard Nixon<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1969 \u2013 1974<\/h3>\n![\"Nixon\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/nixon.jpg\")
<\/a>Richard Nixon became a poker player while in the Navy, when his fellow naval officer James Stewart taught him to play five-card stud. Known as \u201cThe Big Bluffer,\u201d Nixon was supposedly a great poker player who played a tight game but wasn\u2019t afraid of taking chances. James Udall, a lieutenant who served with Nixon, said he once saw the future President \u201cbluff a lieutenant commander out of fifteen hundred dollars with a pair of deuces.\u201d<\/p>\nHowever, Nixon apparently rarely won big, bug never lost, pocketing from $30 to $60 a game. Nixon\u2019s friend, Lester Wroble, said that it \u201cdidn\u2019t look like showy winnings, but when you multiplied it day after day, I\u2019d say he did all right.\u201d And he did \u2013 in 1946, Nixon used $5,000 of his poker winnings while in the military to fund his first congressional run, which was successful.<\/p>\n
While he was considered a great poker player while in the Navy, others beg to differ while he was in the White House. Not much is written about Nixon playing poker as President, but Tip O\u2019Neill said that while he was Vice-President under Eisenhower, he \u201cthought of himself as a good poker player, but he talked too much and didn\u2019t follow the cards. Moreover, he used the fact that he was the highest-ranking person at the game to his advantage.\u201d Sounds like the power of the Vice-Presidency went to his head and affected his gameplay \u2013 if that isn\u2019t a perfect example of foreshadowing, I don\u2019t know what is.<\/p>\n
In 1983, Nixon told Frank Gannon that while the President doesn\u2019t have to be a great poker player, \u201cit helps.\u201d He said, \u201cThe Russians, of course, are chess players. I never understood chess, it\u2019s much more complicated, much more complex. But many of the things you do in poker<\/a> are very useful in politics, and are very useful in foreign affairs.\u201d<\/p>\nMaybe Nixon should\u2019ve paid more attention to chess, and then he might\u2019ve felt the pieces closing in on him, backing him into a corner. But, his poker prowess came into play in the end \u2013 he knew the right time to fold, becoming the first and only President to ever resign from office.<\/p>\n
Barack Obama<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 2009 \u2013 2017<\/h3>\n![\"obama](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/obama.jpg\")
<\/a>Our most recent ex-President, Barack Obama has been a poker player since he was a teenager. While he was a green senator in Illinois, he and Terry Links, a fellow Democratic senator, co-hosted a regular Wednesday night game that came to be known as the Committee Meeting. The group started out with four players, then grew to eight regulars, and even developed a waiting list. And the game wasn\u2019t exclusive \u2013 players included Democrats, Republicans, and lobbyists.<\/p>\nBut the games were strictly for fun, with no talk about serious talk allowed. In James McManus\u2019s Cowboys Full, Link said, \u201cYou hung up your guns at the door. Nobody talked about politics or their jobs, and certainly no \u2018influence\u2019 was bartered or discussed. It was boys\u2019 night out \u2013 a release from our legislative responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obama agreed, describing the regular poker games as \u201ca fun way for people to relax and share stories and give each other a hard time over friendly competition.\u201d And even more importantly, the games provided the future President a way to network, even across the aisle. They were \u201can easy way to get to know other senators,\u201d he said, \u201cincluding Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among his old poker group in Illinois, Obama had a reputation as a cautious player who always left the table a winner. He played a tight game, and was known for his \u201cstone face.\u201d Link said that when Obama stayed in, \u201cyou pretty much figured he\u2019s got a good hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there isn\u2019t much known about the former President\u2019s poker playing habits during his time in the White House, he made it known that he did he carry a lucky poker chip that was given to him while campaigning in 2007. It isn\u2019t the only keepsake he kept with him, but one that I\u2019m sure reminded him of his political beginnings in Illinois.<\/p>\n
You may not be a kind, queen or head of state<\/a>, but remember, it’s never too late to get it in the game!<\/p>\n
<\/a>Also known as Henry Tudor, Henry VII was the first Tudor king, after the Battle of Bosworth Field in August 1485 in which Richard III was defeated. Although there isn\u2019t much information delving into the King\u2019s gambling, he was known for playing cards (though not a poker player \u2013 the game hadn\u2019t been invented yet) and setting aside a good amount of money to do so.<\/p>\nAccording to historical records, on January 8, 1492 he set aside a whopping \u00a35 for an evening of gambling, which was a pretty significant amount of money to gamble away at the time, considering it was close to the average man\u2019s annual salary.<\/p>\n
However, Henry VII really let loose when he lost \u00a340 playing cards on June 30, 1492, gambling away almost eight times more than what most ordinary folks made in one year. He was also known for paying his entertainers very well, especially musicians, regularly tipping a staggering 33 pence. Okay, it doesn\u2019t sound like much, but back then it was a great sum for entertainers. I guess it paid to be King, and to sing for him too.<\/p>\n
Henry VIII<\/strong>
\nKing of England, 1509 \u2013 1547<\/h3>\n<\/a>Although better known for his reformations of England\u2019s church and his many wives instead of as a poker player, Henry VIII was a fan of pretty much any betting game on offer. He played anything from dice to Bragg, often competing against both fellow monarchy and commoners. The King supposedly started gambling heavily after his second wife, Queen Anne, miscarried what should have been their first son, was arrested on suspicion of committing adultery with five men, including her own brother, and beheaded for it. I suppose becoming a gambler is one way to cope with your \u201cgrief,\u201d along with marrying your third wife less than two weeks after your second wife was disposed of.<\/p>\nHenry VIII was fond of a game called \u201cTables,\u201d which is a version of backgammon, a checker-related game known as \u201cQueek,\u201d and dice games. He also enjoyed Bragg, which was a popular game played throughout London that is believed to be a distant ancestor of poker.<\/p>\n
He regularly participated in gambling tournaments across Europe, even though he was considered one of the unluckiest gamblers of all time, known for losing tons of money and even prized possessions every time he gambled. Over the course of two years, the King lost a sum of \u00a33,250, which was a good-sized fortune back then. In addition to attending gambling tournaments, he also held tournaments that tested competitive combat skills such as archery and jousting, and betting was a regular function that the King took part in.<\/p>\n
Henry VIII\u2019s most famous gambling blunder occurred when he lost the Jesus bells of St. Paul\u2019s Church on a single roll of dice. The King claimed that the bells were worthless anyway, except for the metal they were made of, which angered and offended many of Henry VIII\u2019s subjects and decreased his popularity. In order to get back into his people\u2019s good graces, Henry VIII had Sir Miles Partridge, the man who won the bells, arrested and convicted of treason. Sir Miles was then publicly hanged on Tower Hill in full view of everyone, which apparently earned Henry VIII the respect of his people once more, but definitely discouraged others from gambling against the King again.<\/p>\n
So, now we know \u2013 if you lose a bet with a friend, just have him thrown in jail and publicly hanged, and you\u2019ll never lose to anyone else again.<\/p>\n
Mary I<\/strong>
\nQueen of England and Ireland, Queen Consort of Spain, 1553 \u2013 1558<\/h3>\n<\/a>Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon, was technically the first queen regnant of England. She\u2019s remembered mainly for her restoration of the Roman Catholic Church in England, and the subsequent executions of 280 Protestants which gave her the posthumous nickname \u201cBloody Mary.\u201d<\/p>\nHowever, along with her apparent pleasure of burning religious dissenters at the stake, Mary also enjoyed gambling. She liked playing cards and apparently ran up significant gambling debts. After the fall of Queen Anne, when Mary was returned to favor with her father, she is reported to have spent nearly a third of her monthly income on gambling alone.<\/p>\n
According to one story, in 1540 Mary was playing a game known as \u201cBowls\u201d and during the course of the gameplay asked her servants for money. They refused, so she wagered payment for the next day\u2019s breakfast instead. As evidenced by her account book, she lost the game \u2013 there\u2019s an entry that reads, \u201cPayed for a Brekefaste loste at Bolling by my lady maryes grace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marie Antoinette<\/strong>
\nDauphine of France, 1770 \u2013 1774, Queen of France, 1774-1792<\/h3>\n<\/a>Marie Antoinette was born an Archduchess of Austria, the fifteenth and youngest child of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, and eventually became the Queen of France by marrying Louis XVI. During her time as Queen, she spent extravagant amounts of money on clothing, gambling, and other luxuries, even though her country was embroiled in a serious financial crisis and the general population was suffering.<\/p>\nIn addition to ordering a rumored 300 dresses per year, Marie loved to spend money on gambling. On one occasion, she and a large group of friends spent three entire days leading up to her 21st<\/sup> birthday gambling, a fact that caused her reputation among the general public to sour, with many beginning to blame her for the economic situation. It was suggested that France\u2019s inability to settle its debts was the result of her outlandish spending.<\/p>\nEveryone knows how Marie\u2019s tale ends \u2013 not well, to say the least. But, not known by many is that the widely accepted story that in response to France\u2019s bread shortage, Marie Antoinette said, \u201cLet them eat cake!\u201d is false. The story and phrase was first attributed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau to an unnamed princess in his book Les Confessions<\/em>, which was written before Marie Antoinette arrived in France. And in the book, the princess doesn\u2019t even say \u201ccake\u201d \u2013 she says \u201cLet them eat brioche.\u201d So, yeah, she may have spent a ridiculous amount of money on dresses and playing cards while her people were starving, but she never suggested they eat cake.<\/p>\nGeorge IV<\/strong>
\nKing of the United Kingdom and Hanover, 1820 \u2013 1830<\/h3>\n<\/a>Born in 1782, George IV was the eldest son of George III and became known as \u201cthe first gentleman of England\u201d for his charm and extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the time. However, taxpayers loathed him for his wasteful spending while the country was fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, including an excess of money spent on property and gambling.<\/p>\nGeorge IV was a well-known womanizer with numerous mistresses, a heavy drinker, and a wild gambler. In the 1780s, he was so deeply in debt from his extravagant lifestyle that he appealed to Parliament in an attempt to get them to bail him out. They eventually granted him the money: \u00a3161,000 to pay his debts and \u00a360,000 for renovations to his home, on top of his \u00a350,000 annual income, which obviously didn\u2019t solve the problem and only encouraged him to continue his exorbitant spending.<\/p>\n
By 1795 the Prince was \u00a3630,000 in debt \u2013 the equivalent of \u00a358,700,000 today \u2013 and once again asked Parliament for more money. His father, King George III, refused to allow the government to help him unless he married his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick. The marriage went through, although the couple lived apart after the birth of their daughter, Princess Charlotte. Parliament granted the Prince an additional \u00a365,000 (\u00a36,056,000 today) annual income, plus another \u00a360,000 eight years later. George\u2019s debts from 1795 were officially cleared in 1806, but debts incurred after 1795 remained unpaid.<\/p>\n
In other words, due to his excessive spending on fancy stuff and gambling, George IV went down in English history as the King of government handouts. Must be nice to appeal to your government to cover your debts.<\/p>\n
Edward VII<\/strong>
\nKing of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, Emperor of India, 1901 \u2013 1910<\/h3>\n<\/a>Edward VII ascended to the throne at the age of 59, serving as heir apparent and the Prince of Wales longer than any of his predecessors. Since his mother, Queen Victoria, didn\u2019t saddle him with much governmental responsibility, Edward VII came to represent the elite, and lived a fashionable, leisurely life. This lifestyle included a love for women, horseracing, and gambling.<\/p>\nEdward VII\u2019s game of choice was baccarat. The Prince loved to play the card game so much that he carried his own set of leather counters, engraved with the badge of the Prince of Wales on one side, wherever he traveled.<\/p>\n
In 1891, Edward VII became involved in a widely known British gambling scandal known as the Royal Baccarat Scandal, or the Tranby Croft affair. The situation began during a house party in late 1890, when several people accused Sir William Gordon-Cumming, a decorated Army lieutenant colonel and a friend of Edward VII, of cheating at baccarat. The situation eventually landed in a court, and the Prince was called as a witness in a trial that the public could buy tickets to see. Sir William was found guilty, despite his lawyer\u2019s well-prepared case and the public\u2019s view that he was innocent, and Sir William was ostracized from society for the remainder of his life.<\/p>\n
The Royal Baccarat Scandal greatly diminished Edward VII\u2019s popularity among the people, but it was recovered not long after, whereas Sir William\u2019s social banishment and his bitterness lasted the rest of his days. After the trial, the Prince continued to gamble quietly, and he never played baccarat again. Instead, he took up Whist, an ancestor of bridge.<\/p>\n
I wonder what happened to those leather counters, whether he kept them or not. If he did, I\u2019m guessing it wasn\u2019t for sentimental reasons.<\/p>\n
Presidents playing poker <\/strong><\/h2>\nWarren G. Harding<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1921 \u2013 1923<\/h3>\n<\/a>Serving as the 29th President, Warren G. Harding was an avid poker player, and was known for hosting poker games in the White House twice a week. Harding and his fellow players smoked cigars and drank whiskey while they played, despite the Prohibition that began in 1920 and lasted until 1933. The group was made up of many members of Harding\u2019s cabinet and other friends, and became known informally as the Poker Cabinet.<\/p>\nUnlike other Presidents who used their position to their advantage when they played poker in the White House, Harding insisted that people not worry about his rank and told fellow poker players to treat him like they would treat any other opponent. He\u2019s quoted saying, \u201cForget that I\u2019m President of the United States. I\u2019m Warren Harding, playing poker with friends, and I\u2019m going to beat the hell out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supposedly, Harding was a relatively loose poker player, playing more for the thrill of the game than to win. In one instance, he apparently gambled with Louise Cromwell Brooks on a game of \u201ccold hand\u201d and lost. The game is like the children\u2019s game \u201cwar,\u201d where players draw a card and whoever has the highest card wins and names the payment. Brooks won with the highest card and requested a set of White House china, which Harding had wrapped up and delivered to her the next day.<\/p>\n
The tale may be apocryphal, but it\u2019s one hell of a story for Brooks. Who else could say they won a lovely set of china in a one-card game against the President of the United States?<\/p>\n
Franklin D. Roosevelt<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1933 \u2013 1945<\/h3>\n<\/a>The only President to serve more than two terms, Franklin D. Roosevelt was also known for his love of poker. Roosevelt held games in the White House, and players included the closest members of his inner circle, as well as other members of the cabinet, staff, and White House press. Regular players included the Vice President, Speaker of the House, Attorney General, Secretary of Commerce, and at least one Supreme Court Justice. The President\u2019s secretary, \u201cMissy\u201d LeHand, served cocktails and often joined in on the games.<\/p>\nRoosevelt\u2019s favorite game was seven-card stud, and as a poker player he was considered a great bluffer and a commander of the game, and apparently, as Walter Trohan said, \u201cNothing delighted him more than a successful bluff.\u201d However, Trohan also points out that the President didn\u2019t seem to suspect that his adversaries might have been hesitant to call him out, especially members of his staff. He was known to study his fellow poker players as much as he studied the cards, and was famous for his comebacks. Robert Jackson said the President would be down several dollars early in the game, but would invariably earn it all back right before the end. Jackson said, \u201cWe finally told him that the only way we could beat him was to break up the game\u2026about four hands before the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
While in office, President Roosevelt held an annual poker game on the night that Congress was supposed to adjourn. The rule of the game was that whoever was ahead at the moment that the Speaker called would win the game. According to one player, during one of these games the Speaker called at 9:30 p.m. to inform Roosevelt that Congress had adjourned, but the President was losing to his Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr., so he pretended the call was from someone else and continued to play. Around midnight, when Roosevelt had pulled ahead, he told an aide to bring the phone, picked it up and said, \u201cOh Mr. Speaker, you\u2019re adjourning, how fine!\u201d Then he turned to the other poker players and said, \u201cWell, boys, I guess I win!\u201d<\/p>\n
Everything was fine until the next day, when Morgenthau read the paper and learned that Congress had adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Morgenthau was actually so angry that he resigned for a few minutes, until Roosevelt charmed and persuaded him that it was all in good fun.<\/p>\n
Poker was such a familiar comfort for the President that apparently he occasionally could be heard riffling poker chips during his famous \u201cFireside Chats\u201d radio broadcasts during the war.<\/p>\n
Harry S. Truman<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1945 \u2013 1953<\/h3>\n<\/a>Harry S. Truman became the 33rd President when Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office, and was a dedicated poker player like his predecessor. Truman learned the game as a soldier in WWI and was apparently a somewhat loose player, and encouraged things like stealing other players\u2019 poker chips and peeking at cards. While in office, Truman\u2019s regular weekend games had a $500 buy-in, with an option to buy more if a player lost all his chips, and 10 percent of each pot was put into a \u201cpoverty bowl\u201d to fund players for their second buy-in.<\/p>\nTruman was such an avid poker player that he had a presidential poker chip set made, in which all the chips featured the presidential seal. He also had a sign on his desk that read \u201cThe Buck Stops Here\u201d, which was given to him by another poker player and became the phrase associated with him and his presidency. The phrase refers to the use of a knife with a buckhorn handle to designate position in poker games during the frontier days. James McManus, author of Cowboys Full, said the phrase was Truman\u2019s way of \u201cletting Americans know he was responsible for what happened on his watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
In August 1945, during WWII, Truman is said to have played poker with members of the press on the U.S.S. Augusta during the days when the decision was made to drop the atomic bombs in Japan. And while the first bomb was dropped from a plane named the Enola Gay, the other two planes that accompanied it for weather reconnaissance had gambling related names \u2013 the Straight Flush and Full House.<\/p>\n
Seven months after the war ended, Truman boarded a train with Winston Churchill bound for Missouri, where Churchill would deliver his famous \u201cIron Curtain\u201d speech. On the way, the two men played poker with members of Truman\u2019s staff. Seeing that Churchill was a green poker player, the President encouraged the others to \u201cgo easy\u201d on him, contrary to what the Americans agreed on before the game started. While it probably didn\u2019t affect world politics, that poker game may have been a symbol of the alliance between the U.S. and the U.K. during the Cold War period that followed.<\/p>\n
Dwight D. Eisenhower<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1953 \u2013 1961<\/h3>\n<\/a>Dwight D. Eisenhower learned to play poker in his youth, from an old frontiersman in Kansas. The future President was known as a serious player, who won much more often than he lost \u2013 he won so often that he had to stop playing while in the military, to stop his fellow soldiers from losing money.<\/p>\nEisenhower became friends with fellow officer George Patton during WWII, and the two hosted poker games with fellow soldiers a few times a week. In one of these poker games, one of the soldiers lost a significant amount of money to Eisenhower, and paid him with bonds that his wife had saved. Eisenhower accepted the bonds, but conspired with the other poker players to lose the next night in order to give back the money the man had lost. \u201cOne of the hardest things known to man,\u201d Eisenhower said of the game, \u201cis to make a fellow win in poker who plays as if bent on losing every nickel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eisenhower then urged his friend Colonel Patton to prohibit poker playing for money among the soldiers, but in the end the two decided to ban gambling all together. Eisenhower never played poker while in the army again, but was still incredibly successful \u2013 he ended up becoming a five-star general, and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Troops during WWII.<\/p>\n
Though Eisenhower stopped playing in the military, he resumed playing while he was President, occasionally hosting poker games in the Treaty Room of the White House.<\/p>\n
Richard Nixon<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1969 \u2013 1974<\/h3>\n<\/a>Richard Nixon became a poker player while in the Navy, when his fellow naval officer James Stewart taught him to play five-card stud. Known as \u201cThe Big Bluffer,\u201d Nixon was supposedly a great poker player who played a tight game but wasn\u2019t afraid of taking chances. James Udall, a lieutenant who served with Nixon, said he once saw the future President \u201cbluff a lieutenant commander out of fifteen hundred dollars with a pair of deuces.\u201d<\/p>\nHowever, Nixon apparently rarely won big, bug never lost, pocketing from $30 to $60 a game. Nixon\u2019s friend, Lester Wroble, said that it \u201cdidn\u2019t look like showy winnings, but when you multiplied it day after day, I\u2019d say he did all right.\u201d And he did \u2013 in 1946, Nixon used $5,000 of his poker winnings while in the military to fund his first congressional run, which was successful.<\/p>\n
While he was considered a great poker player while in the Navy, others beg to differ while he was in the White House. Not much is written about Nixon playing poker as President, but Tip O\u2019Neill said that while he was Vice-President under Eisenhower, he \u201cthought of himself as a good poker player, but he talked too much and didn\u2019t follow the cards. Moreover, he used the fact that he was the highest-ranking person at the game to his advantage.\u201d Sounds like the power of the Vice-Presidency went to his head and affected his gameplay \u2013 if that isn\u2019t a perfect example of foreshadowing, I don\u2019t know what is.<\/p>\n
In 1983, Nixon told Frank Gannon that while the President doesn\u2019t have to be a great poker player, \u201cit helps.\u201d He said, \u201cThe Russians, of course, are chess players. I never understood chess, it\u2019s much more complicated, much more complex. But many of the things you do in poker<\/a> are very useful in politics, and are very useful in foreign affairs.\u201d<\/p>\nMaybe Nixon should\u2019ve paid more attention to chess, and then he might\u2019ve felt the pieces closing in on him, backing him into a corner. But, his poker prowess came into play in the end \u2013 he knew the right time to fold, becoming the first and only President to ever resign from office.<\/p>\n
Barack Obama<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 2009 \u2013 2017<\/h3>\n<\/a>Our most recent ex-President, Barack Obama has been a poker player since he was a teenager. While he was a green senator in Illinois, he and Terry Links, a fellow Democratic senator, co-hosted a regular Wednesday night game that came to be known as the Committee Meeting. The group started out with four players, then grew to eight regulars, and even developed a waiting list. And the game wasn\u2019t exclusive \u2013 players included Democrats, Republicans, and lobbyists.<\/p>\nBut the games were strictly for fun, with no talk about serious talk allowed. In James McManus\u2019s Cowboys Full, Link said, \u201cYou hung up your guns at the door. Nobody talked about politics or their jobs, and certainly no \u2018influence\u2019 was bartered or discussed. It was boys\u2019 night out \u2013 a release from our legislative responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obama agreed, describing the regular poker games as \u201ca fun way for people to relax and share stories and give each other a hard time over friendly competition.\u201d And even more importantly, the games provided the future President a way to network, even across the aisle. They were \u201can easy way to get to know other senators,\u201d he said, \u201cincluding Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among his old poker group in Illinois, Obama had a reputation as a cautious player who always left the table a winner. He played a tight game, and was known for his \u201cstone face.\u201d Link said that when Obama stayed in, \u201cyou pretty much figured he\u2019s got a good hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there isn\u2019t much known about the former President\u2019s poker playing habits during his time in the White House, he made it known that he did he carry a lucky poker chip that was given to him while campaigning in 2007. It isn\u2019t the only keepsake he kept with him, but one that I\u2019m sure reminded him of his political beginnings in Illinois.<\/p>\n
You may not be a kind, queen or head of state<\/a>, but remember, it’s never too late to get it in the game!<\/p>\n
<\/a>Although better known for his reformations of England\u2019s church and his many wives instead of as a poker player, Henry VIII was a fan of pretty much any betting game on offer. He played anything from dice to Bragg, often competing against both fellow monarchy and commoners. The King supposedly started gambling heavily after his second wife, Queen Anne, miscarried what should have been their first son, was arrested on suspicion of committing adultery with five men, including her own brother, and beheaded for it. I suppose becoming a gambler is one way to cope with your \u201cgrief,\u201d along with marrying your third wife less than two weeks after your second wife was disposed of.<\/p>\nHenry VIII was fond of a game called \u201cTables,\u201d which is a version of backgammon, a checker-related game known as \u201cQueek,\u201d and dice games. He also enjoyed Bragg, which was a popular game played throughout London that is believed to be a distant ancestor of poker.<\/p>\n
He regularly participated in gambling tournaments across Europe, even though he was considered one of the unluckiest gamblers of all time, known for losing tons of money and even prized possessions every time he gambled. Over the course of two years, the King lost a sum of \u00a33,250, which was a good-sized fortune back then. In addition to attending gambling tournaments, he also held tournaments that tested competitive combat skills such as archery and jousting, and betting was a regular function that the King took part in.<\/p>\n
Henry VIII\u2019s most famous gambling blunder occurred when he lost the Jesus bells of St. Paul\u2019s Church on a single roll of dice. The King claimed that the bells were worthless anyway, except for the metal they were made of, which angered and offended many of Henry VIII\u2019s subjects and decreased his popularity. In order to get back into his people\u2019s good graces, Henry VIII had Sir Miles Partridge, the man who won the bells, arrested and convicted of treason. Sir Miles was then publicly hanged on Tower Hill in full view of everyone, which apparently earned Henry VIII the respect of his people once more, but definitely discouraged others from gambling against the King again.<\/p>\n
So, now we know \u2013 if you lose a bet with a friend, just have him thrown in jail and publicly hanged, and you\u2019ll never lose to anyone else again.<\/p>\n
Mary I<\/strong>
\nQueen of England and Ireland, Queen Consort of Spain, 1553 \u2013 1558<\/h3>\n<\/a>Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon, was technically the first queen regnant of England. She\u2019s remembered mainly for her restoration of the Roman Catholic Church in England, and the subsequent executions of 280 Protestants which gave her the posthumous nickname \u201cBloody Mary.\u201d<\/p>\nHowever, along with her apparent pleasure of burning religious dissenters at the stake, Mary also enjoyed gambling. She liked playing cards and apparently ran up significant gambling debts. After the fall of Queen Anne, when Mary was returned to favor with her father, she is reported to have spent nearly a third of her monthly income on gambling alone.<\/p>\n
According to one story, in 1540 Mary was playing a game known as \u201cBowls\u201d and during the course of the gameplay asked her servants for money. They refused, so she wagered payment for the next day\u2019s breakfast instead. As evidenced by her account book, she lost the game \u2013 there\u2019s an entry that reads, \u201cPayed for a Brekefaste loste at Bolling by my lady maryes grace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marie Antoinette<\/strong>
\nDauphine of France, 1770 \u2013 1774, Queen of France, 1774-1792<\/h3>\n<\/a>Marie Antoinette was born an Archduchess of Austria, the fifteenth and youngest child of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, and eventually became the Queen of France by marrying Louis XVI. During her time as Queen, she spent extravagant amounts of money on clothing, gambling, and other luxuries, even though her country was embroiled in a serious financial crisis and the general population was suffering.<\/p>\nIn addition to ordering a rumored 300 dresses per year, Marie loved to spend money on gambling. On one occasion, she and a large group of friends spent three entire days leading up to her 21st<\/sup> birthday gambling, a fact that caused her reputation among the general public to sour, with many beginning to blame her for the economic situation. It was suggested that France\u2019s inability to settle its debts was the result of her outlandish spending.<\/p>\nEveryone knows how Marie\u2019s tale ends \u2013 not well, to say the least. But, not known by many is that the widely accepted story that in response to France\u2019s bread shortage, Marie Antoinette said, \u201cLet them eat cake!\u201d is false. The story and phrase was first attributed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau to an unnamed princess in his book Les Confessions<\/em>, which was written before Marie Antoinette arrived in France. And in the book, the princess doesn\u2019t even say \u201ccake\u201d \u2013 she says \u201cLet them eat brioche.\u201d So, yeah, she may have spent a ridiculous amount of money on dresses and playing cards while her people were starving, but she never suggested they eat cake.<\/p>\nGeorge IV<\/strong>
\nKing of the United Kingdom and Hanover, 1820 \u2013 1830<\/h3>\n<\/a>Born in 1782, George IV was the eldest son of George III and became known as \u201cthe first gentleman of England\u201d for his charm and extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the time. However, taxpayers loathed him for his wasteful spending while the country was fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, including an excess of money spent on property and gambling.<\/p>\nGeorge IV was a well-known womanizer with numerous mistresses, a heavy drinker, and a wild gambler. In the 1780s, he was so deeply in debt from his extravagant lifestyle that he appealed to Parliament in an attempt to get them to bail him out. They eventually granted him the money: \u00a3161,000 to pay his debts and \u00a360,000 for renovations to his home, on top of his \u00a350,000 annual income, which obviously didn\u2019t solve the problem and only encouraged him to continue his exorbitant spending.<\/p>\n
By 1795 the Prince was \u00a3630,000 in debt \u2013 the equivalent of \u00a358,700,000 today \u2013 and once again asked Parliament for more money. His father, King George III, refused to allow the government to help him unless he married his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick. The marriage went through, although the couple lived apart after the birth of their daughter, Princess Charlotte. Parliament granted the Prince an additional \u00a365,000 (\u00a36,056,000 today) annual income, plus another \u00a360,000 eight years later. George\u2019s debts from 1795 were officially cleared in 1806, but debts incurred after 1795 remained unpaid.<\/p>\n
In other words, due to his excessive spending on fancy stuff and gambling, George IV went down in English history as the King of government handouts. Must be nice to appeal to your government to cover your debts.<\/p>\n
Edward VII<\/strong>
\nKing of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, Emperor of India, 1901 \u2013 1910<\/h3>\n<\/a>Edward VII ascended to the throne at the age of 59, serving as heir apparent and the Prince of Wales longer than any of his predecessors. Since his mother, Queen Victoria, didn\u2019t saddle him with much governmental responsibility, Edward VII came to represent the elite, and lived a fashionable, leisurely life. This lifestyle included a love for women, horseracing, and gambling.<\/p>\nEdward VII\u2019s game of choice was baccarat. The Prince loved to play the card game so much that he carried his own set of leather counters, engraved with the badge of the Prince of Wales on one side, wherever he traveled.<\/p>\n
In 1891, Edward VII became involved in a widely known British gambling scandal known as the Royal Baccarat Scandal, or the Tranby Croft affair. The situation began during a house party in late 1890, when several people accused Sir William Gordon-Cumming, a decorated Army lieutenant colonel and a friend of Edward VII, of cheating at baccarat. The situation eventually landed in a court, and the Prince was called as a witness in a trial that the public could buy tickets to see. Sir William was found guilty, despite his lawyer\u2019s well-prepared case and the public\u2019s view that he was innocent, and Sir William was ostracized from society for the remainder of his life.<\/p>\n
The Royal Baccarat Scandal greatly diminished Edward VII\u2019s popularity among the people, but it was recovered not long after, whereas Sir William\u2019s social banishment and his bitterness lasted the rest of his days. After the trial, the Prince continued to gamble quietly, and he never played baccarat again. Instead, he took up Whist, an ancestor of bridge.<\/p>\n
I wonder what happened to those leather counters, whether he kept them or not. If he did, I\u2019m guessing it wasn\u2019t for sentimental reasons.<\/p>\n
Presidents playing poker <\/strong><\/h2>\nWarren G. Harding<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1921 \u2013 1923<\/h3>\n<\/a>Serving as the 29th President, Warren G. Harding was an avid poker player, and was known for hosting poker games in the White House twice a week. Harding and his fellow players smoked cigars and drank whiskey while they played, despite the Prohibition that began in 1920 and lasted until 1933. The group was made up of many members of Harding\u2019s cabinet and other friends, and became known informally as the Poker Cabinet.<\/p>\nUnlike other Presidents who used their position to their advantage when they played poker in the White House, Harding insisted that people not worry about his rank and told fellow poker players to treat him like they would treat any other opponent. He\u2019s quoted saying, \u201cForget that I\u2019m President of the United States. I\u2019m Warren Harding, playing poker with friends, and I\u2019m going to beat the hell out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supposedly, Harding was a relatively loose poker player, playing more for the thrill of the game than to win. In one instance, he apparently gambled with Louise Cromwell Brooks on a game of \u201ccold hand\u201d and lost. The game is like the children\u2019s game \u201cwar,\u201d where players draw a card and whoever has the highest card wins and names the payment. Brooks won with the highest card and requested a set of White House china, which Harding had wrapped up and delivered to her the next day.<\/p>\n
The tale may be apocryphal, but it\u2019s one hell of a story for Brooks. Who else could say they won a lovely set of china in a one-card game against the President of the United States?<\/p>\n
Franklin D. Roosevelt<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1933 \u2013 1945<\/h3>\n<\/a>The only President to serve more than two terms, Franklin D. Roosevelt was also known for his love of poker. Roosevelt held games in the White House, and players included the closest members of his inner circle, as well as other members of the cabinet, staff, and White House press. Regular players included the Vice President, Speaker of the House, Attorney General, Secretary of Commerce, and at least one Supreme Court Justice. The President\u2019s secretary, \u201cMissy\u201d LeHand, served cocktails and often joined in on the games.<\/p>\nRoosevelt\u2019s favorite game was seven-card stud, and as a poker player he was considered a great bluffer and a commander of the game, and apparently, as Walter Trohan said, \u201cNothing delighted him more than a successful bluff.\u201d However, Trohan also points out that the President didn\u2019t seem to suspect that his adversaries might have been hesitant to call him out, especially members of his staff. He was known to study his fellow poker players as much as he studied the cards, and was famous for his comebacks. Robert Jackson said the President would be down several dollars early in the game, but would invariably earn it all back right before the end. Jackson said, \u201cWe finally told him that the only way we could beat him was to break up the game\u2026about four hands before the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
While in office, President Roosevelt held an annual poker game on the night that Congress was supposed to adjourn. The rule of the game was that whoever was ahead at the moment that the Speaker called would win the game. According to one player, during one of these games the Speaker called at 9:30 p.m. to inform Roosevelt that Congress had adjourned, but the President was losing to his Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr., so he pretended the call was from someone else and continued to play. Around midnight, when Roosevelt had pulled ahead, he told an aide to bring the phone, picked it up and said, \u201cOh Mr. Speaker, you\u2019re adjourning, how fine!\u201d Then he turned to the other poker players and said, \u201cWell, boys, I guess I win!\u201d<\/p>\n
Everything was fine until the next day, when Morgenthau read the paper and learned that Congress had adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Morgenthau was actually so angry that he resigned for a few minutes, until Roosevelt charmed and persuaded him that it was all in good fun.<\/p>\n
Poker was such a familiar comfort for the President that apparently he occasionally could be heard riffling poker chips during his famous \u201cFireside Chats\u201d radio broadcasts during the war.<\/p>\n
Harry S. Truman<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1945 \u2013 1953<\/h3>\n<\/a>Harry S. Truman became the 33rd President when Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office, and was a dedicated poker player like his predecessor. Truman learned the game as a soldier in WWI and was apparently a somewhat loose player, and encouraged things like stealing other players\u2019 poker chips and peeking at cards. While in office, Truman\u2019s regular weekend games had a $500 buy-in, with an option to buy more if a player lost all his chips, and 10 percent of each pot was put into a \u201cpoverty bowl\u201d to fund players for their second buy-in.<\/p>\nTruman was such an avid poker player that he had a presidential poker chip set made, in which all the chips featured the presidential seal. He also had a sign on his desk that read \u201cThe Buck Stops Here\u201d, which was given to him by another poker player and became the phrase associated with him and his presidency. The phrase refers to the use of a knife with a buckhorn handle to designate position in poker games during the frontier days. James McManus, author of Cowboys Full, said the phrase was Truman\u2019s way of \u201cletting Americans know he was responsible for what happened on his watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
In August 1945, during WWII, Truman is said to have played poker with members of the press on the U.S.S. Augusta during the days when the decision was made to drop the atomic bombs in Japan. And while the first bomb was dropped from a plane named the Enola Gay, the other two planes that accompanied it for weather reconnaissance had gambling related names \u2013 the Straight Flush and Full House.<\/p>\n
Seven months after the war ended, Truman boarded a train with Winston Churchill bound for Missouri, where Churchill would deliver his famous \u201cIron Curtain\u201d speech. On the way, the two men played poker with members of Truman\u2019s staff. Seeing that Churchill was a green poker player, the President encouraged the others to \u201cgo easy\u201d on him, contrary to what the Americans agreed on before the game started. While it probably didn\u2019t affect world politics, that poker game may have been a symbol of the alliance between the U.S. and the U.K. during the Cold War period that followed.<\/p>\n
Dwight D. Eisenhower<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1953 \u2013 1961<\/h3>\n<\/a>Dwight D. Eisenhower learned to play poker in his youth, from an old frontiersman in Kansas. The future President was known as a serious player, who won much more often than he lost \u2013 he won so often that he had to stop playing while in the military, to stop his fellow soldiers from losing money.<\/p>\nEisenhower became friends with fellow officer George Patton during WWII, and the two hosted poker games with fellow soldiers a few times a week. In one of these poker games, one of the soldiers lost a significant amount of money to Eisenhower, and paid him with bonds that his wife had saved. Eisenhower accepted the bonds, but conspired with the other poker players to lose the next night in order to give back the money the man had lost. \u201cOne of the hardest things known to man,\u201d Eisenhower said of the game, \u201cis to make a fellow win in poker who plays as if bent on losing every nickel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eisenhower then urged his friend Colonel Patton to prohibit poker playing for money among the soldiers, but in the end the two decided to ban gambling all together. Eisenhower never played poker while in the army again, but was still incredibly successful \u2013 he ended up becoming a five-star general, and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Troops during WWII.<\/p>\n
Though Eisenhower stopped playing in the military, he resumed playing while he was President, occasionally hosting poker games in the Treaty Room of the White House.<\/p>\n
Richard Nixon<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1969 \u2013 1974<\/h3>\n<\/a>Richard Nixon became a poker player while in the Navy, when his fellow naval officer James Stewart taught him to play five-card stud. Known as \u201cThe Big Bluffer,\u201d Nixon was supposedly a great poker player who played a tight game but wasn\u2019t afraid of taking chances. James Udall, a lieutenant who served with Nixon, said he once saw the future President \u201cbluff a lieutenant commander out of fifteen hundred dollars with a pair of deuces.\u201d<\/p>\nHowever, Nixon apparently rarely won big, bug never lost, pocketing from $30 to $60 a game. Nixon\u2019s friend, Lester Wroble, said that it \u201cdidn\u2019t look like showy winnings, but when you multiplied it day after day, I\u2019d say he did all right.\u201d And he did \u2013 in 1946, Nixon used $5,000 of his poker winnings while in the military to fund his first congressional run, which was successful.<\/p>\n
While he was considered a great poker player while in the Navy, others beg to differ while he was in the White House. Not much is written about Nixon playing poker as President, but Tip O\u2019Neill said that while he was Vice-President under Eisenhower, he \u201cthought of himself as a good poker player, but he talked too much and didn\u2019t follow the cards. Moreover, he used the fact that he was the highest-ranking person at the game to his advantage.\u201d Sounds like the power of the Vice-Presidency went to his head and affected his gameplay \u2013 if that isn\u2019t a perfect example of foreshadowing, I don\u2019t know what is.<\/p>\n
In 1983, Nixon told Frank Gannon that while the President doesn\u2019t have to be a great poker player, \u201cit helps.\u201d He said, \u201cThe Russians, of course, are chess players. I never understood chess, it\u2019s much more complicated, much more complex. But many of the things you do in poker<\/a> are very useful in politics, and are very useful in foreign affairs.\u201d<\/p>\nMaybe Nixon should\u2019ve paid more attention to chess, and then he might\u2019ve felt the pieces closing in on him, backing him into a corner. But, his poker prowess came into play in the end \u2013 he knew the right time to fold, becoming the first and only President to ever resign from office.<\/p>\n
Barack Obama<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 2009 \u2013 2017<\/h3>\n<\/a>Our most recent ex-President, Barack Obama has been a poker player since he was a teenager. While he was a green senator in Illinois, he and Terry Links, a fellow Democratic senator, co-hosted a regular Wednesday night game that came to be known as the Committee Meeting. The group started out with four players, then grew to eight regulars, and even developed a waiting list. And the game wasn\u2019t exclusive \u2013 players included Democrats, Republicans, and lobbyists.<\/p>\nBut the games were strictly for fun, with no talk about serious talk allowed. In James McManus\u2019s Cowboys Full, Link said, \u201cYou hung up your guns at the door. Nobody talked about politics or their jobs, and certainly no \u2018influence\u2019 was bartered or discussed. It was boys\u2019 night out \u2013 a release from our legislative responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obama agreed, describing the regular poker games as \u201ca fun way for people to relax and share stories and give each other a hard time over friendly competition.\u201d And even more importantly, the games provided the future President a way to network, even across the aisle. They were \u201can easy way to get to know other senators,\u201d he said, \u201cincluding Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among his old poker group in Illinois, Obama had a reputation as a cautious player who always left the table a winner. He played a tight game, and was known for his \u201cstone face.\u201d Link said that when Obama stayed in, \u201cyou pretty much figured he\u2019s got a good hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there isn\u2019t much known about the former President\u2019s poker playing habits during his time in the White House, he made it known that he did he carry a lucky poker chip that was given to him while campaigning in 2007. It isn\u2019t the only keepsake he kept with him, but one that I\u2019m sure reminded him of his political beginnings in Illinois.<\/p>\n
You may not be a kind, queen or head of state<\/a>, but remember, it’s never too late to get it in the game!<\/p>\n
<\/a>Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon, was technically the first queen regnant of England. She\u2019s remembered mainly for her restoration of the Roman Catholic Church in England, and the subsequent executions of 280 Protestants which gave her the posthumous nickname \u201cBloody Mary.\u201d<\/p>\nHowever, along with her apparent pleasure of burning religious dissenters at the stake, Mary also enjoyed gambling. She liked playing cards and apparently ran up significant gambling debts. After the fall of Queen Anne, when Mary was returned to favor with her father, she is reported to have spent nearly a third of her monthly income on gambling alone.<\/p>\n
According to one story, in 1540 Mary was playing a game known as \u201cBowls\u201d and during the course of the gameplay asked her servants for money. They refused, so she wagered payment for the next day\u2019s breakfast instead. As evidenced by her account book, she lost the game \u2013 there\u2019s an entry that reads, \u201cPayed for a Brekefaste loste at Bolling by my lady maryes grace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marie Antoinette<\/strong>
\nDauphine of France, 1770 \u2013 1774, Queen of France, 1774-1792<\/h3>\n<\/a>Marie Antoinette was born an Archduchess of Austria, the fifteenth and youngest child of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, and eventually became the Queen of France by marrying Louis XVI. During her time as Queen, she spent extravagant amounts of money on clothing, gambling, and other luxuries, even though her country was embroiled in a serious financial crisis and the general population was suffering.<\/p>\nIn addition to ordering a rumored 300 dresses per year, Marie loved to spend money on gambling. On one occasion, she and a large group of friends spent three entire days leading up to her 21st<\/sup> birthday gambling, a fact that caused her reputation among the general public to sour, with many beginning to blame her for the economic situation. It was suggested that France\u2019s inability to settle its debts was the result of her outlandish spending.<\/p>\nEveryone knows how Marie\u2019s tale ends \u2013 not well, to say the least. But, not known by many is that the widely accepted story that in response to France\u2019s bread shortage, Marie Antoinette said, \u201cLet them eat cake!\u201d is false. The story and phrase was first attributed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau to an unnamed princess in his book Les Confessions<\/em>, which was written before Marie Antoinette arrived in France. And in the book, the princess doesn\u2019t even say \u201ccake\u201d \u2013 she says \u201cLet them eat brioche.\u201d So, yeah, she may have spent a ridiculous amount of money on dresses and playing cards while her people were starving, but she never suggested they eat cake.<\/p>\nGeorge IV<\/strong>
\nKing of the United Kingdom and Hanover, 1820 \u2013 1830<\/h3>\n<\/a>Born in 1782, George IV was the eldest son of George III and became known as \u201cthe first gentleman of England\u201d for his charm and extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the time. However, taxpayers loathed him for his wasteful spending while the country was fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, including an excess of money spent on property and gambling.<\/p>\nGeorge IV was a well-known womanizer with numerous mistresses, a heavy drinker, and a wild gambler. In the 1780s, he was so deeply in debt from his extravagant lifestyle that he appealed to Parliament in an attempt to get them to bail him out. They eventually granted him the money: \u00a3161,000 to pay his debts and \u00a360,000 for renovations to his home, on top of his \u00a350,000 annual income, which obviously didn\u2019t solve the problem and only encouraged him to continue his exorbitant spending.<\/p>\n
By 1795 the Prince was \u00a3630,000 in debt \u2013 the equivalent of \u00a358,700,000 today \u2013 and once again asked Parliament for more money. His father, King George III, refused to allow the government to help him unless he married his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick. The marriage went through, although the couple lived apart after the birth of their daughter, Princess Charlotte. Parliament granted the Prince an additional \u00a365,000 (\u00a36,056,000 today) annual income, plus another \u00a360,000 eight years later. George\u2019s debts from 1795 were officially cleared in 1806, but debts incurred after 1795 remained unpaid.<\/p>\n
In other words, due to his excessive spending on fancy stuff and gambling, George IV went down in English history as the King of government handouts. Must be nice to appeal to your government to cover your debts.<\/p>\n
Edward VII<\/strong>
\nKing of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, Emperor of India, 1901 \u2013 1910<\/h3>\n<\/a>Edward VII ascended to the throne at the age of 59, serving as heir apparent and the Prince of Wales longer than any of his predecessors. Since his mother, Queen Victoria, didn\u2019t saddle him with much governmental responsibility, Edward VII came to represent the elite, and lived a fashionable, leisurely life. This lifestyle included a love for women, horseracing, and gambling.<\/p>\nEdward VII\u2019s game of choice was baccarat. The Prince loved to play the card game so much that he carried his own set of leather counters, engraved with the badge of the Prince of Wales on one side, wherever he traveled.<\/p>\n
In 1891, Edward VII became involved in a widely known British gambling scandal known as the Royal Baccarat Scandal, or the Tranby Croft affair. The situation began during a house party in late 1890, when several people accused Sir William Gordon-Cumming, a decorated Army lieutenant colonel and a friend of Edward VII, of cheating at baccarat. The situation eventually landed in a court, and the Prince was called as a witness in a trial that the public could buy tickets to see. Sir William was found guilty, despite his lawyer\u2019s well-prepared case and the public\u2019s view that he was innocent, and Sir William was ostracized from society for the remainder of his life.<\/p>\n
The Royal Baccarat Scandal greatly diminished Edward VII\u2019s popularity among the people, but it was recovered not long after, whereas Sir William\u2019s social banishment and his bitterness lasted the rest of his days. After the trial, the Prince continued to gamble quietly, and he never played baccarat again. Instead, he took up Whist, an ancestor of bridge.<\/p>\n
I wonder what happened to those leather counters, whether he kept them or not. If he did, I\u2019m guessing it wasn\u2019t for sentimental reasons.<\/p>\n
Presidents playing poker <\/strong><\/h2>\nWarren G. Harding<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1921 \u2013 1923<\/h3>\n<\/a>Serving as the 29th President, Warren G. Harding was an avid poker player, and was known for hosting poker games in the White House twice a week. Harding and his fellow players smoked cigars and drank whiskey while they played, despite the Prohibition that began in 1920 and lasted until 1933. The group was made up of many members of Harding\u2019s cabinet and other friends, and became known informally as the Poker Cabinet.<\/p>\nUnlike other Presidents who used their position to their advantage when they played poker in the White House, Harding insisted that people not worry about his rank and told fellow poker players to treat him like they would treat any other opponent. He\u2019s quoted saying, \u201cForget that I\u2019m President of the United States. I\u2019m Warren Harding, playing poker with friends, and I\u2019m going to beat the hell out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supposedly, Harding was a relatively loose poker player, playing more for the thrill of the game than to win. In one instance, he apparently gambled with Louise Cromwell Brooks on a game of \u201ccold hand\u201d and lost. The game is like the children\u2019s game \u201cwar,\u201d where players draw a card and whoever has the highest card wins and names the payment. Brooks won with the highest card and requested a set of White House china, which Harding had wrapped up and delivered to her the next day.<\/p>\n
The tale may be apocryphal, but it\u2019s one hell of a story for Brooks. Who else could say they won a lovely set of china in a one-card game against the President of the United States?<\/p>\n
Franklin D. Roosevelt<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1933 \u2013 1945<\/h3>\n<\/a>The only President to serve more than two terms, Franklin D. Roosevelt was also known for his love of poker. Roosevelt held games in the White House, and players included the closest members of his inner circle, as well as other members of the cabinet, staff, and White House press. Regular players included the Vice President, Speaker of the House, Attorney General, Secretary of Commerce, and at least one Supreme Court Justice. The President\u2019s secretary, \u201cMissy\u201d LeHand, served cocktails and often joined in on the games.<\/p>\nRoosevelt\u2019s favorite game was seven-card stud, and as a poker player he was considered a great bluffer and a commander of the game, and apparently, as Walter Trohan said, \u201cNothing delighted him more than a successful bluff.\u201d However, Trohan also points out that the President didn\u2019t seem to suspect that his adversaries might have been hesitant to call him out, especially members of his staff. He was known to study his fellow poker players as much as he studied the cards, and was famous for his comebacks. Robert Jackson said the President would be down several dollars early in the game, but would invariably earn it all back right before the end. Jackson said, \u201cWe finally told him that the only way we could beat him was to break up the game\u2026about four hands before the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n
While in office, President Roosevelt held an annual poker game on the night that Congress was supposed to adjourn. The rule of the game was that whoever was ahead at the moment that the Speaker called would win the game. According to one player, during one of these games the Speaker called at 9:30 p.m. to inform Roosevelt that Congress had adjourned, but the President was losing to his Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr., so he pretended the call was from someone else and continued to play. Around midnight, when Roosevelt had pulled ahead, he told an aide to bring the phone, picked it up and said, \u201cOh Mr. Speaker, you\u2019re adjourning, how fine!\u201d Then he turned to the other poker players and said, \u201cWell, boys, I guess I win!\u201d<\/p>\n
Everything was fine until the next day, when Morgenthau read the paper and learned that Congress had adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Morgenthau was actually so angry that he resigned for a few minutes, until Roosevelt charmed and persuaded him that it was all in good fun.<\/p>\n
Poker was such a familiar comfort for the President that apparently he occasionally could be heard riffling poker chips during his famous \u201cFireside Chats\u201d radio broadcasts during the war.<\/p>\n
Harry S. Truman<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1945 \u2013 1953<\/h3>\n<\/a>Harry S. Truman became the 33rd President when Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office, and was a dedicated poker player like his predecessor. Truman learned the game as a soldier in WWI and was apparently a somewhat loose player, and encouraged things like stealing other players\u2019 poker chips and peeking at cards. While in office, Truman\u2019s regular weekend games had a $500 buy-in, with an option to buy more if a player lost all his chips, and 10 percent of each pot was put into a \u201cpoverty bowl\u201d to fund players for their second buy-in.<\/p>\nTruman was such an avid poker player that he had a presidential poker chip set made, in which all the chips featured the presidential seal. He also had a sign on his desk that read \u201cThe Buck Stops Here\u201d, which was given to him by another poker player and became the phrase associated with him and his presidency. The phrase refers to the use of a knife with a buckhorn handle to designate position in poker games during the frontier days. James McManus, author of Cowboys Full, said the phrase was Truman\u2019s way of \u201cletting Americans know he was responsible for what happened on his watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
In August 1945, during WWII, Truman is said to have played poker with members of the press on the U.S.S. Augusta during the days when the decision was made to drop the atomic bombs in Japan. And while the first bomb was dropped from a plane named the Enola Gay, the other two planes that accompanied it for weather reconnaissance had gambling related names \u2013 the Straight Flush and Full House.<\/p>\n
Seven months after the war ended, Truman boarded a train with Winston Churchill bound for Missouri, where Churchill would deliver his famous \u201cIron Curtain\u201d speech. On the way, the two men played poker with members of Truman\u2019s staff. Seeing that Churchill was a green poker player, the President encouraged the others to \u201cgo easy\u201d on him, contrary to what the Americans agreed on before the game started. While it probably didn\u2019t affect world politics, that poker game may have been a symbol of the alliance between the U.S. and the U.K. during the Cold War period that followed.<\/p>\n
Dwight D. Eisenhower<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1953 \u2013 1961<\/h3>\n<\/a>Dwight D. Eisenhower learned to play poker in his youth, from an old frontiersman in Kansas. The future President was known as a serious player, who won much more often than he lost \u2013 he won so often that he had to stop playing while in the military, to stop his fellow soldiers from losing money.<\/p>\nEisenhower became friends with fellow officer George Patton during WWII, and the two hosted poker games with fellow soldiers a few times a week. In one of these poker games, one of the soldiers lost a significant amount of money to Eisenhower, and paid him with bonds that his wife had saved. Eisenhower accepted the bonds, but conspired with the other poker players to lose the next night in order to give back the money the man had lost. \u201cOne of the hardest things known to man,\u201d Eisenhower said of the game, \u201cis to make a fellow win in poker who plays as if bent on losing every nickel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eisenhower then urged his friend Colonel Patton to prohibit poker playing for money among the soldiers, but in the end the two decided to ban gambling all together. Eisenhower never played poker while in the army again, but was still incredibly successful \u2013 he ended up becoming a five-star general, and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Troops during WWII.<\/p>\n
Though Eisenhower stopped playing in the military, he resumed playing while he was President, occasionally hosting poker games in the Treaty Room of the White House.<\/p>\n
Richard Nixon<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1969 \u2013 1974<\/h3>\n<\/a>Richard Nixon became a poker player while in the Navy, when his fellow naval officer James Stewart taught him to play five-card stud. Known as \u201cThe Big Bluffer,\u201d Nixon was supposedly a great poker player who played a tight game but wasn\u2019t afraid of taking chances. James Udall, a lieutenant who served with Nixon, said he once saw the future President \u201cbluff a lieutenant commander out of fifteen hundred dollars with a pair of deuces.\u201d<\/p>\nHowever, Nixon apparently rarely won big, bug never lost, pocketing from $30 to $60 a game. Nixon\u2019s friend, Lester Wroble, said that it \u201cdidn\u2019t look like showy winnings, but when you multiplied it day after day, I\u2019d say he did all right.\u201d And he did \u2013 in 1946, Nixon used $5,000 of his poker winnings while in the military to fund his first congressional run, which was successful.<\/p>\n
While he was considered a great poker player while in the Navy, others beg to differ while he was in the White House. Not much is written about Nixon playing poker as President, but Tip O\u2019Neill said that while he was Vice-President under Eisenhower, he \u201cthought of himself as a good poker player, but he talked too much and didn\u2019t follow the cards. Moreover, he used the fact that he was the highest-ranking person at the game to his advantage.\u201d Sounds like the power of the Vice-Presidency went to his head and affected his gameplay \u2013 if that isn\u2019t a perfect example of foreshadowing, I don\u2019t know what is.<\/p>\n
In 1983, Nixon told Frank Gannon that while the President doesn\u2019t have to be a great poker player, \u201cit helps.\u201d He said, \u201cThe Russians, of course, are chess players. I never understood chess, it\u2019s much more complicated, much more complex. But many of the things you do in poker<\/a> are very useful in politics, and are very useful in foreign affairs.\u201d<\/p>\nMaybe Nixon should\u2019ve paid more attention to chess, and then he might\u2019ve felt the pieces closing in on him, backing him into a corner. But, his poker prowess came into play in the end \u2013 he knew the right time to fold, becoming the first and only President to ever resign from office.<\/p>\n
Barack Obama<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 2009 \u2013 2017<\/h3>\n<\/a>Our most recent ex-President, Barack Obama has been a poker player since he was a teenager. While he was a green senator in Illinois, he and Terry Links, a fellow Democratic senator, co-hosted a regular Wednesday night game that came to be known as the Committee Meeting. The group started out with four players, then grew to eight regulars, and even developed a waiting list. And the game wasn\u2019t exclusive \u2013 players included Democrats, Republicans, and lobbyists.<\/p>\nBut the games were strictly for fun, with no talk about serious talk allowed. In James McManus\u2019s Cowboys Full, Link said, \u201cYou hung up your guns at the door. Nobody talked about politics or their jobs, and certainly no \u2018influence\u2019 was bartered or discussed. It was boys\u2019 night out \u2013 a release from our legislative responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Obama agreed, describing the regular poker games as \u201ca fun way for people to relax and share stories and give each other a hard time over friendly competition.\u201d And even more importantly, the games provided the future President a way to network, even across the aisle. They were \u201can easy way to get to know other senators,\u201d he said, \u201cincluding Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among his old poker group in Illinois, Obama had a reputation as a cautious player who always left the table a winner. He played a tight game, and was known for his \u201cstone face.\u201d Link said that when Obama stayed in, \u201cyou pretty much figured he\u2019s got a good hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
While there isn\u2019t much known about the former President\u2019s poker playing habits during his time in the White House, he made it known that he did he carry a lucky poker chip that was given to him while campaigning in 2007. It isn\u2019t the only keepsake he kept with him, but one that I\u2019m sure reminded him of his political beginnings in Illinois.<\/p>\n
You may not be a kind, queen or head of state<\/a>, but remember, it’s never too late to get it in the game!<\/p>\n
<\/a>Marie Antoinette was born an Archduchess of Austria, the fifteenth and youngest child of Empress Maria Theresa and Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, and eventually became the Queen of France by marrying Louis XVI. During her time as Queen, she spent extravagant amounts of money on clothing, gambling, and other luxuries, even though her country was embroiled in a serious financial crisis and the general population was suffering.<\/p>\nIn addition to ordering a rumored 300 dresses per year, Marie loved to spend money on gambling. On one occasion, she and a large group of friends spent three entire days leading up to her 21st<\/sup> birthday gambling, a fact that caused her reputation among the general public to sour, with many beginning to blame her for the economic situation. It was suggested that France\u2019s inability to settle its debts was the result of her outlandish spending.<\/p>\n Everyone knows how Marie\u2019s tale ends \u2013 not well, to say the least. But, not known by many is that the widely accepted story that in response to France\u2019s bread shortage, Marie Antoinette said, \u201cLet them eat cake!\u201d is false. The story and phrase was first attributed by Jean-Jacques Rousseau to an unnamed princess in his book Les Confessions<\/em>, which was written before Marie Antoinette arrived in France. And in the book, the princess doesn\u2019t even say \u201ccake\u201d \u2013 she says \u201cLet them eat brioche.\u201d So, yeah, she may have spent a ridiculous amount of money on dresses and playing cards while her people were starving, but she never suggested they eat cake.<\/p>\n George IV was a well-known womanizer with numerous mistresses, a heavy drinker, and a wild gambler. In the 1780s, he was so deeply in debt from his extravagant lifestyle that he appealed to Parliament in an attempt to get them to bail him out. They eventually granted him the money: \u00a3161,000 to pay his debts and \u00a360,000 for renovations to his home, on top of his \u00a350,000 annual income, which obviously didn\u2019t solve the problem and only encouraged him to continue his exorbitant spending.<\/p>\n By 1795 the Prince was \u00a3630,000 in debt \u2013 the equivalent of \u00a358,700,000 today \u2013 and once again asked Parliament for more money. His father, King George III, refused to allow the government to help him unless he married his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick. The marriage went through, although the couple lived apart after the birth of their daughter, Princess Charlotte. Parliament granted the Prince an additional \u00a365,000 (\u00a36,056,000 today) annual income, plus another \u00a360,000 eight years later. George\u2019s debts from 1795 were officially cleared in 1806, but debts incurred after 1795 remained unpaid.<\/p>\n In other words, due to his excessive spending on fancy stuff and gambling, George IV went down in English history as the King of government handouts. Must be nice to appeal to your government to cover your debts.<\/p>\n Edward VII\u2019s game of choice was baccarat. The Prince loved to play the card game so much that he carried his own set of leather counters, engraved with the badge of the Prince of Wales on one side, wherever he traveled.<\/p>\n In 1891, Edward VII became involved in a widely known British gambling scandal known as the Royal Baccarat Scandal, or the Tranby Croft affair. The situation began during a house party in late 1890, when several people accused Sir William Gordon-Cumming, a decorated Army lieutenant colonel and a friend of Edward VII, of cheating at baccarat. The situation eventually landed in a court, and the Prince was called as a witness in a trial that the public could buy tickets to see. Sir William was found guilty, despite his lawyer\u2019s well-prepared case and the public\u2019s view that he was innocent, and Sir William was ostracized from society for the remainder of his life.<\/p>\n The Royal Baccarat Scandal greatly diminished Edward VII\u2019s popularity among the people, but it was recovered not long after, whereas Sir William\u2019s social banishment and his bitterness lasted the rest of his days. After the trial, the Prince continued to gamble quietly, and he never played baccarat again. Instead, he took up Whist, an ancestor of bridge.<\/p>\n I wonder what happened to those leather counters, whether he kept them or not. If he did, I\u2019m guessing it wasn\u2019t for sentimental reasons.<\/p>\n Unlike other Presidents who used their position to their advantage when they played poker in the White House, Harding insisted that people not worry about his rank and told fellow poker players to treat him like they would treat any other opponent. He\u2019s quoted saying, \u201cForget that I\u2019m President of the United States. I\u2019m Warren Harding, playing poker with friends, and I\u2019m going to beat the hell out of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Supposedly, Harding was a relatively loose poker player, playing more for the thrill of the game than to win. In one instance, he apparently gambled with Louise Cromwell Brooks on a game of \u201ccold hand\u201d and lost. The game is like the children\u2019s game \u201cwar,\u201d where players draw a card and whoever has the highest card wins and names the payment. Brooks won with the highest card and requested a set of White House china, which Harding had wrapped up and delivered to her the next day.<\/p>\n The tale may be apocryphal, but it\u2019s one hell of a story for Brooks. Who else could say they won a lovely set of china in a one-card game against the President of the United States?<\/p>\n Roosevelt\u2019s favorite game was seven-card stud, and as a poker player he was considered a great bluffer and a commander of the game, and apparently, as Walter Trohan said, \u201cNothing delighted him more than a successful bluff.\u201d However, Trohan also points out that the President didn\u2019t seem to suspect that his adversaries might have been hesitant to call him out, especially members of his staff. He was known to study his fellow poker players as much as he studied the cards, and was famous for his comebacks. Robert Jackson said the President would be down several dollars early in the game, but would invariably earn it all back right before the end. Jackson said, \u201cWe finally told him that the only way we could beat him was to break up the game\u2026about four hands before the finish.\u201d<\/p>\n While in office, President Roosevelt held an annual poker game on the night that Congress was supposed to adjourn. The rule of the game was that whoever was ahead at the moment that the Speaker called would win the game. According to one player, during one of these games the Speaker called at 9:30 p.m. to inform Roosevelt that Congress had adjourned, but the President was losing to his Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau Jr., so he pretended the call was from someone else and continued to play. Around midnight, when Roosevelt had pulled ahead, he told an aide to bring the phone, picked it up and said, \u201cOh Mr. Speaker, you\u2019re adjourning, how fine!\u201d Then he turned to the other poker players and said, \u201cWell, boys, I guess I win!\u201d<\/p>\n Everything was fine until the next day, when Morgenthau read the paper and learned that Congress had adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Morgenthau was actually so angry that he resigned for a few minutes, until Roosevelt charmed and persuaded him that it was all in good fun.<\/p>\n Poker was such a familiar comfort for the President that apparently he occasionally could be heard riffling poker chips during his famous \u201cFireside Chats\u201d radio broadcasts during the war.<\/p>\n Truman was such an avid poker player that he had a presidential poker chip set made, in which all the chips featured the presidential seal. He also had a sign on his desk that read \u201cThe Buck Stops Here\u201d, which was given to him by another poker player and became the phrase associated with him and his presidency. The phrase refers to the use of a knife with a buckhorn handle to designate position in poker games during the frontier days. James McManus, author of Cowboys Full, said the phrase was Truman\u2019s way of \u201cletting Americans know he was responsible for what happened on his watch.\u201d<\/p>\n In August 1945, during WWII, Truman is said to have played poker with members of the press on the U.S.S. Augusta during the days when the decision was made to drop the atomic bombs in Japan. And while the first bomb was dropped from a plane named the Enola Gay, the other two planes that accompanied it for weather reconnaissance had gambling related names \u2013 the Straight Flush and Full House.<\/p>\n Seven months after the war ended, Truman boarded a train with Winston Churchill bound for Missouri, where Churchill would deliver his famous \u201cIron Curtain\u201d speech. On the way, the two men played poker with members of Truman\u2019s staff. Seeing that Churchill was a green poker player, the President encouraged the others to \u201cgo easy\u201d on him, contrary to what the Americans agreed on before the game started. While it probably didn\u2019t affect world politics, that poker game may have been a symbol of the alliance between the U.S. and the U.K. during the Cold War period that followed.<\/p>\n Eisenhower became friends with fellow officer George Patton during WWII, and the two hosted poker games with fellow soldiers a few times a week. In one of these poker games, one of the soldiers lost a significant amount of money to Eisenhower, and paid him with bonds that his wife had saved. Eisenhower accepted the bonds, but conspired with the other poker players to lose the next night in order to give back the money the man had lost. \u201cOne of the hardest things known to man,\u201d Eisenhower said of the game, \u201cis to make a fellow win in poker who plays as if bent on losing every nickel.\u201d<\/p>\n Eisenhower then urged his friend Colonel Patton to prohibit poker playing for money among the soldiers, but in the end the two decided to ban gambling all together. Eisenhower never played poker while in the army again, but was still incredibly successful \u2013 he ended up becoming a five-star general, and the Supreme Commander of the Allied Troops during WWII.<\/p>\n Though Eisenhower stopped playing in the military, he resumed playing while he was President, occasionally hosting poker games in the Treaty Room of the White House.<\/p>\n However, Nixon apparently rarely won big, bug never lost, pocketing from $30 to $60 a game. Nixon\u2019s friend, Lester Wroble, said that it \u201cdidn\u2019t look like showy winnings, but when you multiplied it day after day, I\u2019d say he did all right.\u201d And he did \u2013 in 1946, Nixon used $5,000 of his poker winnings while in the military to fund his first congressional run, which was successful.<\/p>\n While he was considered a great poker player while in the Navy, others beg to differ while he was in the White House. Not much is written about Nixon playing poker as President, but Tip O\u2019Neill said that while he was Vice-President under Eisenhower, he \u201cthought of himself as a good poker player, but he talked too much and didn\u2019t follow the cards. Moreover, he used the fact that he was the highest-ranking person at the game to his advantage.\u201d Sounds like the power of the Vice-Presidency went to his head and affected his gameplay \u2013 if that isn\u2019t a perfect example of foreshadowing, I don\u2019t know what is.<\/p>\n In 1983, Nixon told Frank Gannon that while the President doesn\u2019t have to be a great poker player, \u201cit helps.\u201d He said, \u201cThe Russians, of course, are chess players. I never understood chess, it\u2019s much more complicated, much more complex. But many of the things you do in poker<\/a> are very useful in politics, and are very useful in foreign affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n Maybe Nixon should\u2019ve paid more attention to chess, and then he might\u2019ve felt the pieces closing in on him, backing him into a corner. But, his poker prowess came into play in the end \u2013 he knew the right time to fold, becoming the first and only President to ever resign from office.<\/p>\n But the games were strictly for fun, with no talk about serious talk allowed. In James McManus\u2019s Cowboys Full, Link said, \u201cYou hung up your guns at the door. Nobody talked about politics or their jobs, and certainly no \u2018influence\u2019 was bartered or discussed. It was boys\u2019 night out \u2013 a release from our legislative responsibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Obama agreed, describing the regular poker games as \u201ca fun way for people to relax and share stories and give each other a hard time over friendly competition.\u201d And even more importantly, the games provided the future President a way to network, even across the aisle. They were \u201can easy way to get to know other senators,\u201d he said, \u201cincluding Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n Among his old poker group in Illinois, Obama had a reputation as a cautious player who always left the table a winner. He played a tight game, and was known for his \u201cstone face.\u201d Link said that when Obama stayed in, \u201cyou pretty much figured he\u2019s got a good hand.\u201d<\/p>\n While there isn\u2019t much known about the former President\u2019s poker playing habits during his time in the White House, he made it known that he did he carry a lucky poker chip that was given to him while campaigning in 2007. It isn\u2019t the only keepsake he kept with him, but one that I\u2019m sure reminded him of his political beginnings in Illinois.<\/p>\n You may not be a kind, queen or head of state<\/a>, but remember, it’s never too late to get it in the game!<\/p>\nGeorge IV<\/strong>
\nKing of the United Kingdom and Hanover, 1820 \u2013 1830<\/h3>\n<\/a>Born in 1782, George IV was the eldest son of George III and became known as \u201cthe first gentleman of England\u201d for his charm and extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the time. However, taxpayers loathed him for his wasteful spending while the country was fighting in the Napoleonic Wars, including an excess of money spent on property and gambling.<\/p>\nEdward VII<\/strong>
\nKing of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, Emperor of India, 1901 \u2013 1910<\/h3>\n<\/a>Edward VII ascended to the throne at the age of 59, serving as heir apparent and the Prince of Wales longer than any of his predecessors. Since his mother, Queen Victoria, didn\u2019t saddle him with much governmental responsibility, Edward VII came to represent the elite, and lived a fashionable, leisurely life. This lifestyle included a love for women, horseracing, and gambling.<\/p>\nPresidents playing poker <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Warren G. Harding<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1921 \u2013 1923<\/h3>\n<\/a>Serving as the 29th President, Warren G. Harding was an avid poker player, and was known for hosting poker games in the White House twice a week. Harding and his fellow players smoked cigars and drank whiskey while they played, despite the Prohibition that began in 1920 and lasted until 1933. The group was made up of many members of Harding\u2019s cabinet and other friends, and became known informally as the Poker Cabinet.<\/p>\nFranklin D. Roosevelt<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1933 \u2013 1945<\/h3>\n<\/a>The only President to serve more than two terms, Franklin D. Roosevelt was also known for his love of poker. Roosevelt held games in the White House, and players included the closest members of his inner circle, as well as other members of the cabinet, staff, and White House press. Regular players included the Vice President, Speaker of the House, Attorney General, Secretary of Commerce, and at least one Supreme Court Justice. The President\u2019s secretary, \u201cMissy\u201d LeHand, served cocktails and often joined in on the games.<\/p>\nHarry S. Truman<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1945 \u2013 1953<\/h3>\n<\/a>Harry S. Truman became the 33rd President when Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office, and was a dedicated poker player like his predecessor. Truman learned the game as a soldier in WWI and was apparently a somewhat loose player, and encouraged things like stealing other players\u2019 poker chips and peeking at cards. While in office, Truman\u2019s regular weekend games had a $500 buy-in, with an option to buy more if a player lost all his chips, and 10 percent of each pot was put into a \u201cpoverty bowl\u201d to fund players for their second buy-in.<\/p>\nDwight D. Eisenhower<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1953 \u2013 1961<\/h3>\n<\/a>Dwight D. Eisenhower learned to play poker in his youth, from an old frontiersman in Kansas. The future President was known as a serious player, who won much more often than he lost \u2013 he won so often that he had to stop playing while in the military, to stop his fellow soldiers from losing money.<\/p>\nRichard Nixon<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 1969 \u2013 1974<\/h3>\n<\/a>Richard Nixon became a poker player while in the Navy, when his fellow naval officer James Stewart taught him to play five-card stud. Known as \u201cThe Big Bluffer,\u201d Nixon was supposedly a great poker player who played a tight game but wasn\u2019t afraid of taking chances. James Udall, a lieutenant who served with Nixon, said he once saw the future President \u201cbluff a lieutenant commander out of fifteen hundred dollars with a pair of deuces.\u201d<\/p>\nBarack Obama<\/strong>
\nPresident of the United States, 2009 \u2013 2017<\/h3>\n<\/a>Our most recent ex-President, Barack Obama has been a poker player since he was a teenager. While he was a green senator in Illinois, he and Terry Links, a fellow Democratic senator, co-hosted a regular Wednesday night game that came to be known as the Committee Meeting. The group started out with four players, then grew to eight regulars, and even developed a waiting list. And the game wasn\u2019t exclusive \u2013 players included Democrats, Republicans, and lobbyists.<\/p>\n