In movies, there’s big money on the line, but in anime, players might bet their lives, magical castles, or even a personal assistant’s freedom. In movies, humans play against humans, but in anime poker, you might be up against a demon or a robot.
Even going back to early manga and anime, poker can show the audience a character’s mysterious and analytical side. Since the game is so popular, plenty of poker games pop up in comic books, manga, anime, and cartoon series. The further back you go, the more draw poker games you’ll see. Nowadays, anything made for American eyes uses the game we all recognize; Texas Holdem.
Here’s a selection of cartoons and anime poker scenes you probably haven’t seen.
Simpsons Poker Scenes
The longest-running American animated series is guaranteed to have poker storylines. One of the creators, Sam Simon, was very fond of the game. He finished 6 times in the money at the World Series of Poker (2007-2011) and was featured on the High Stakes Poker Show in 2009.
Maybe it’s no coincidence that poker appeared several times in the show Simon co-created.
The Simpsons must have dozens, but these two are of the best poker scenes.
1. In one clip, Mr Burns uses his assistant, Smithers, as a bet.
After raising “$1 million,” Mr Burns throws in his loyal assistant Smithers.
“If we’re betting people, I’ve got a whole herd of them!”
His tycoon opponent bets the entire Austin Celtics team, which doesn’t seem like a fair trade.
The two were playing 5-Card Draw and when it went to showdown, neither player had anything premium. Burns won with 9-high, narrowly beating 8-high. In poker lingo, that’s known as “thin value”.
2. In another episode, Lisa runs up her bankroll and loses it all.
Bart was using Lisa’s college fund to play online poker, without having any success. When his sister takes over, she hits quad Queens and goes on a sun run.
From $4,000, she goes over $400,000 and her Aces get cracked by the quad Threes of Sideshow Bob. Luckily, this was actually Bart behind the screenname. Unluckily, the poker site withheld his winnings because he broke the rules by playing underage.
Don’t be like Lisa. Manage your bankroll when you play on the best poker sites.
Death Poker
In the Devil May Cry series, you can watch a whole episode of anime poker. So, what’s the twist this time?
In this game, losing your stack means losing your life.
Everyone is surprisingly brave about this new rule, as many traditional anime characters are.
5-Card single draw seems to be the game and the final hand reaches Casino Royale levels of ridiculousness. One player shoves with four-fifths of a royal flush and draws the they need. The hero does the same and completes a higher royal flush – winning the hand.
His deceased opponent would have agreed that it was a killer hand.
Yu-Gi-Oh Parody: Poker Night
Parodies of Yu-Gi-Oh poker seem to be more popular than poker clips in the real show – and this one is worth watching.
If you watched Yu-Gi-Oh, you know he can be dramatic.
Some talented animators made a short clip about Yu-Gi-Oh getting too intense during a casual poker game with friends.
When Yu-Gi-Oh’s trips beat two-pair he goes into one of his speeches and destroys the room. Luckily, this doesn’t happen in the private online poker games you can set up.
Futurama
Penn and Teller’s heads commentate this Futurama poker scene. Bender and Fry are heads-up in some kind of futuristic poker tournament.
Bender goes for the no-look all-in.
Fry has pocket Aces, and nit-rolls Bender for a little, meaning that he thought for way too long with a very strong hand.
But, Bender couldn’t care less. The board gives Fry quad Aces, but Bender makes five-of-a-kind Kings with a “King of Beers” coaster from a nearby bar.
The first and last five-of-a-kind wins and Bender flies off with his she-robot to Space Tahiti.
Sora and Shiro No Game No Life
This next clip is for the true anime poker fans. No Game No Life has magic, over-the-top action, cheating, and the classic smart vs arrogant theme.
A mysterious man sits down with a wealthy woman.
They chit-chat about the poker tournament going on beside them, before she offers him a game of poker.
Then, he bets his entire life, plus the life of his step-sister, on a single hand of poker. The two swear some kind of magical pledge and deal a very important hand of poker. This is going to be 5-Card Draw, meaning there will be an exchange before showdown.
Lights flash, the woman smacks the deck way too hard, and she produces a specific card. In this case “produces” means that she deals herself a card waiting in her clenched palm.
But, our hero makes a royal flush anyway. Have you noticed that theme in poker moves and anime yet?
Family Guy
We’ve got to include Family Guy poker clips on this list. There are probably countless poker scenes from this long-running show. We’ll tell you about three of the greats, but you’ll need to do some searching for the rest.
1. Chris falls through the floor into the Dogs Play Poker scene.
Family Guy even got the details right, like one of the poker dogs holding a card below the table, which is a in both works.
Mayor Adam West sits with the poker dogs in the short clip, taking the game and a pizza delivery seriously.
2. Then Peter exposed cards and secrets with reflective glasses.
Every live poker player has thought about this, but we still see professionals with reflective shades to this day. Perhaps it’s all about the angles. Peter Griffin may have gotten them wrong here.
After giving up his poker hand ranking to the enemy, Peter makes another serious blunder. You'll have to watch the clip to find out what it is.
3. Peter has never seen Charlie Carrel videos on poker tells.
Peter Griffin either gives off tells left and right like we see here...
Or he shows a world-class poker face that would impress legends like Patrik Antonius.
Constantine Gets Cheated by Demons
The classic theme of cleverness against arrogance is on display in this clip. For a few minutes, the Justice League superhero series is about to turn into a high-stakes poker game.
John Constantine sits across from three demons.
As usual in anime poker, the game is 5-Card draw. The demon looks down at , which isn’t going to beat much. Like Doug Polk in his Lodge Club, the demon decides to bend the rules. Using some kind of magic, the rags turn to .
For some reason, anime and poker movies can't get enough of the strongest poker hand rankings.
Anyway, there’s a bet, a shove, and a re-shove. Both players are all-in, to different degrees.
Constantine will lose his magical floating castle (The House of Mystery), while the demons wager a box of enchanted items they pulled from a portal.
Constantine turns over just a pair of deuces. The demon laughs and proudly flips over the royal flush – but it glows… and changes back to the Ace-high it was before.
The demons were sore losers, of course.