And then, when the bid is finally agreed upon, when the last volley has been fired, the merchandise, the fact of power, the deepest wound, is once and for all revealed. And to the victor belongs the spoils. Everything the victor has risked is returned to him, along with everything everybody else has risked. Thus the size of the victory is directly contingent upon the amount each player can get the others to risk. What is recovered on the shores of the metaphor is not the riches of a new land, but the penalties exacted of those who are less fortunate, of the meek and of the foolhardy.
Poker is the archtypical confidence game.
It is a contest of claims, a battle of bravado, a showdown between the rich and the clever. The opportunity for deception is augmented by the use of symbolic money - those little colored chips which breath an air of playful innocence, until they are cashed in. On the other hand, we have that most famous and painfully enduring of children's showdown games, War. The cards are divided equally among the players, and placed, face down in a pile, in front of each player. Then, simultaneously, each player reveals the card on top of his pile.