Liar's Poker Rules Dollar Bills
Liar's poker is an American bar game that combines statistical reasoning with bluffing, and is played with the eight digits of the serial numbers on a U.S. dollar bill. The numbers are usually ranked with a zero counting as a ten, and a 1 being highest as 'ace'. Normally the game is played with a stack of random bills obtained from the cash register. The objective is to guess how often particular digits appear across all bills held by players, with guesses increasing in value or quantity until a player challenges the most recent guess.
'Liar`s poker,' played with the serial numbers of the dollar bills in one`s pocket, is still widespread. And many a family tavern runs a local football pool for the amusement of customers.
- My Dollar Bill has all 7’s as the Serial Number. That’s a great bill for liars poker. Please respect the rules of reddit and don't vote in the.
- The bills concept is each player gets a dollar bill out of their pocket and looks at the serial number. One player makes a claim of a poker hand based on the serial number and the next player either has with make a claim of having a better hand or accuse the first player of lying.
- I like to play the game liars poker with dollar bills. What is the probability of getting any 1,2,3,4, or 5 of the same number on a bill. If I am playing with 3 people, what is the probability of any 1 number showing up.
- The name Liar s Poker also applies to a game played with dollar bills, which involves their serial numbers and is related to Liar s Dice. Both games involve bluffing, psychology, and raising the bid, but that is where the similarity ends. What follows are the rules to my own home-brewed version of Liar s Poker.
Liar's dice is a similar game played with dice, and Commune is a similar game played with cards.
Gameplay
Each player takes a dollar bill and looks at its serial number, without letting any other players see. A player is chosen to start, and they make an opening bid on how many of a particular digit they believe appears across all serial numbers held by the group. For example, if the first player bids three 6s, he is predicting that there are at least three 6s among all the players' banknotes, including his own.
The next player can bid a higher number at that level (three 7s), any number at a higher level (four 5s) or challenge. The game continues clockwise around the table until a particular bid attracts a challenge from every player other than the bidder.
When a challenge is made, each player reveals how many of the bid number they have on their note's serial number. If the challenge was correct (and the number on the bills is lower than the challenged bid), the bidder loses a dollar to each of the other players. If the challenge was incorrect, the bidder wins a dollar from each of the other players.
Trading floor personnel of the kind to be found in Michael Lewis's book in the 1980s often played a variant on the above whereby a player who is called by all the other players can raise his own bid, thereby doubling the bet. For example, if he is called by all the other players on five fours he can then bid, say, five fives, with the bet doubled to two dollars. Called again, he might then go to five sixes, with the bet increased to four dollars. In this way, a clever player might reach his intended target of, say, five aces and win, say, sixteen or thirty-two dollars from each of the remaining players instead of merely one dollar. For this reason, many finance professionals discounted Michael Lewis's story of the 'million-dollars-no-tears' bet allegedly proposed by CEO John Gutfreund on the grounds that there can be no single-stake bet in Liar's Poker because one cannot know whether or not the bet will be escalated in this way.
In popular culture
- In the 1965 film Cat Ballou, the sheriff is confronted playing liar's poker at the barn dance.
- In the 1972 film 'The Getaway', Steve McQueen's character Doc McCoy challenges Ali MacGraw's character to a game while looking at a bill, by saying 'Five fours'.
- Elliott Gould's and Jim Bouton's characters play a round as friends in the beginning of the 1973 neo noir film, The Long Goodbye.
- In the 1977 movie Semi-Tough, Burt Reynolds' and Jill Clayburgh's characters play an ongoing game of liar's poker periodically throughout the movie.
- Characters on the show Quincy M.E. were often seen playing Liar's poker.
- In the WKRP in Cincinnati episode 'Herb's Dad', Herb's father, and later Herb himself, play liar's poker with Johnny and Venus.
- In Season 3, episode 8 of Magnum, P.I., 'Foiled Again,' Magnum and his two friends pass the time by playing liar's poker.
- In his 1989 book Liar's Poker, Michael Lewis details how Salomon Brothers traders would play liar's poker. He recounts how John Meriwether once challenged CEO John Gutfreund to a game of liar's poker for stakes of ten million dollars.
- A game of liar's poker was played in an episode of the TV series Hustle (Season 3, Episode 3) where one of the main characters plays and loses against two merchant bankers.
- In The Wire episode Dead Soldiers, Tommy Carcetti and Anthony Gray play a game.
- In the 2011 movie Hall Pass, the group of characters play a game.
- Anne O Faulk's novel Holding Out uses the game as a plot point.
1) There are several version of liar's poker. One involving bidding and another more in the spirit of poker. Because the bidding version appears to be the most popular, and because Micahel Lewis features it in his book, I will discuss the general rules for that game. As with any game, remember to clarify rules before beginning since more than a single version of the game likely exists.
2) The game requires 2 or more players and each player needs a dollar bill (several if you want to increase the uncertainty of serial numbers drawn).
3) Put all bills face down, covering the serial number, into a pile in the center of the group. Shuffle the bills.
4) Have each player take a bill. Do not show it to any other players. Keep your 'hand' covered, just like in a game of cards.
5) Look at your serial number. In general, 1's count as aces and 0's count as tens, but make sure to clarify this at the beginning of the game. Some versions play with 0 being the lowest number and 9 being the highest. Either way works out well. Count the number of times each number appears in your serial number. This is your hand. Remember it.
6) Begin the bidding. You can choose the starting player in any number of ways. If you have only two players, a coin toss works well. Otherwise, rolling dice or picking a card. Use your imagination.
7) Make a bid. That means, make a bet on how many of a certain number you believe to be among all the serial numbers. Say you have 2 5's on your serial number. You could safely bid 2 fives, as you know there to be two five's for a fact.
8) Continue to the next person. This person can now bid a higher amount of the number you last bid on, say 3 5's; or, they can bid a higher amount on a lower number, say 4 4's or 4 2's; or, they can bid on any amount of a higher number, say 2 6's or 1 ace.
9) Another option everyone after the first player has is to call the last player's bid a lie, or a bluff. Say you do not think there could possibly be 4 aces among all the serial numbers, but that was the last bid. You could call the last player's bid a bluff.
10) Now, the next person can agree with you and also call that player's bid a bluff. But if they do not believe it to be a bluff, they can also continue the bidding in the manner explained in step 8.
11) If the belief that a person has in fact bluffed becomes the consensus of the entire group, everyone must show their serial numbers.
12) Count up the serial numbers.
Liar S Poker Rules Dollar Bill
Liar's Poker Rules Dollar Bills
13) If the person being called the liar actually bid correctly (e.g. the player said there were 5 aces and there were, or there were more), then that player wins. Each player gives him a dollar, or a point, whichever has been decided upon.14) If the person is incorrect, then that player must give everyone else a dollar, or a point, whichever is decided upon. You do not have to play for dollars; playing with smaller or larger amounts works just as well.