Newton Einstein Hawking Poker
In the episode I was playing poker with Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton and Commander Data on the Holodeck. Because the game was interrupted by a red alert on the Enterprise, I couldn’t cash in my winnings of 140 Federation credits. I approached Paramount Studios, but they did not know the exchange rate! 42 Hawking plays himself in the opening scene, in which Lieutenant Commander Data, an android, has conjured up a holographic poker game featuring himself, Newton, Einstein, and Hawking. Newton is portrayed as insufferably arrogant, Einstein as genially fallible (he cannot keep track of the bet), Hawking as slightly aloof but very much in control. Professor Hawking appears on the holodeck playing poker with Data, Einstein and Sir Isaac Newton. Professor Hawking appeared on the British comedy in 2015.
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I hadn't paid attention to the poker play in this episode, but did this time and noticed this scene, like many others in TNG, has nonsensical poker procedure. It's so rife with error that I won’t even bother explaining it. I will say that it certainly *sounds* like a rousing game of poker! Here's the action:
Clockwise at the poker table from Data are holograms of Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, and Sir Isaac Newton.
—Einstein recalls that Hawking raised Data 4. He mistakenly calculates that the bet is 7 to him.
—Newton corrects Einstein by saying the bet is 10 to him. The sound of a clinking of chips indicates that Einstein calls.
—After some discussion, Newton says the action is to Hawking, who now raises 50.
—Newton and Data fold.
—Einstein, sensing a bluff, calls.
—Hawking shows quad 7s.
During the poker craze of the 2000s, my friend and I watched with more scrutiny over what the crew of the Enterprise-D was doing in the episode Cause and Effect. Yes, I know it's television and the writers are just trying to tell their story for the non-poker-playing masses (for extra flair, they often make the obligatory string bets). They're even playing 5 Card Stud for goodness' sake! I don't fault them for errors, but I would have been really impressed had the show got the game right. (One pet peeve was always that Worf turns over his hole card for all to see—definitely a poker faux pas!)
Because this is the Internet, here's an overanalysis of their game from an unedited transcript of the emails my friend and I exchanged. You're welcome!
So I'm watching TNG right now with a deck of cards....
Data: _ 4 9 6 9 (I'm assuming everybody has a rainbow)
Riker: _ 8 10 J 7
Worf: 3 A 7 4 J (yeah he did turn over his hole card
right before turning everything face down)
Beverly: _ Q Q 2 8
1 rd, no bet
2 rd, Bev opens with 10, everyone calls
3 rd, Bev leads with 20, Will raises 'and 50 more',
everyone calls
4 rd, Bev leads with 20, Data folds, Will raises, Worf
folds, and Bev reraises, Will reraises, and Bev calls.
Data shows a pair of 9s, I doubt he has 2 pair since
he didn't go against Bev's 2 Q's at the end, unless he
thought Bev had a Q in the hole. Why did he call
Will's first raise when he only had the first 9? If
he had a 9 in the hole, why fold at Bev's rd 4 lead?
Worf should also have folded with Will's raise, but
Klingons have gaul, so I can see him staying in.
Will was bluffing one of 2 9's (gut shot straight
draw), since Data was showing the other 2 9's. Bev
could have had either of the 2 other Q's (3 Q's), or
one of the 3 2's or one of the 2 8's (2 pair); or not
and just a pair.
My response was:
You watched that in quite detail. I wonder if the writers had each round of betting scripted. I doubt it, though.
Data's betting doesn't make much sense. He woud have needed either an A or K in the hole, and hope he pairs one of those to beat Crusher's pair of queens after the second up-card. It's possible data had a 4 in the hole, in which case he would stay in hoping for a 4 to make three-of-a-kind. But since Worf got one of his 4s, he was facing long odds to win the hand. Perhaps Riker's raise put enough money in the pot to make the 'pot odds' correct for him to try for the last 4, but I doubt it. If he had 9s and 4s after the last round (he definitely didn't have three 9s) he would have at least called Crusher on the last round, even with Riker's straight draw showing. With 2 pair, calling a bet of 20 with a pot that big is the correct play, and calling Crusher would also prevent Riker from trying to bluff *two* players.
Dr. Crusher definitely should have reraised Riker's raise of 50. At that point, he was without question trailing Crusher's 2 queens, and the correct strategy would be to make it expensive for him to try for his straight.
His response:
I would think the betting was scripted; and then the
cards were then scripted to match the 'action'. The
important part was the play between Will and Bev.
Leading to Bev calling Will's bluff; because she
'remembered' what he had. When we first see the poker
game, the Enterprise had already exploded once
onscreen.*
And since Worf and Data ultimately folded, their hands
weren't important. Come to think of it, Worf should
have lead out with the first A (bluffing that he had
an A in the hole).
*I come up with about 46 times through the causality
loop. Worf says that their chronometers are off 17.4
hours. I assume the poker game was at 9pm and the
crash occurred just after the 6am morning meeting
(9.078hr loop).
Wait, it could be *47* times (the loop being 8.88
hrs)! Owing to the inside joke about 47 with the TNG
writers!
My response:
excellent analysis!
did you notice how Data's cards are neatly lined up in front of him, while everyone else's cards are just kind of piled about? (though, he *is* the dealer and would more likely place the cards, rather than drop them)
one last poker note: usually in stud games (5-card, 7-card), the last card is dealt face-down.
His response:
Didn't notice the neatness, but it fits Data's
character. I did notice that Data looked at his hole
card right before he folded. Not like he can forget
what card he had...
I was wondering about the amount of face up cards!
Hard to bluff when the rest of the table knows 4/5 of
you hand!
But it moves the story along much faster. A 7 card
game would have taken longer to 'play', and only
showing 3 cards would have made it harder to show that
Will was bluffing a straight. Although they could
have given him an open-ended draw. And with Bev
showing her pair [chuckle] and two hole cards, I think
it would be harder to bluff.
Also, Troi is normally at these games. I'd think she
was omitted for time.
My response:
Yeah, I remember him looking at his hole card, as well. That's probably a cultural sub-routine, where he's observed that although players clearly remember their hole card(s), they look one more time to admire their hands before folding.
Yep, they made a simplistic game even simpler with that 'house rule.' Probably not much of an exciting game in the long run.
And finally, I agree for storytelling purposes they probably kept the poker table simple. It usually takes 5 or 6 people to make poker interesting. Good poker players will fold most of the time, so 4-handed, it'll be rare to get a good pot going. Unless everyone calls like in this scene.
His response:
I'm surprised I haven't found any analysis of ST poker
games online.
[Editor's note: you have now!]
But good analysis. Well done.
As far as Data looking at the cards he would obviously have memorized, you're right in that it's a specifically programmed sub-routine. It's been mentioned throughout the series that Data has been programmed to act more human and do things he doesn't need to do to better fit in with people around him.
Before the poker boom in the early 2000's, I never played in a casual game where betting was consistent or made sense as far as raises and re-raises and all of that. Even nowadays when I (rarely) play, outside of a tournament setting or for any real money, nobody really pays attention to that stuff. Super-casual poker players like me don't think about odds or pot odds or check-raising or any of that other poker math that constitutes 'good' play, so I guess that's why I never thought the poker scenes in TNG were all that unrealistic. Keep in mind they're not playing for money, and they rarely play at that (I think Picard says in one episode something like he hasn't played in months).
As far as Data looking at the cards he would obviously have memorized, you're right in that it's a specifically programmed sub-routine. It's been mentioned throughout the series that Data has been programmed to act more human and do things he doesn't need to do to better fit in with people around him.
Picard only played in the game once, in the last scene of the finale!
Picard only played in the game once, in the last scene of the finale!
That's right... I forgot about that! So he played even less than I remembered...haha...Mission146
Picard only played in the game once, in the last scene of the finale!
Yeah, but he, 'Should have done it a long time ago.'
Yeah, but he, 'Should have done it a long time ago.'
I do always get a bit dusty at that scene...
I love the Hawking scene too. It’s the only time in ST that a cameo appearance is of someone who is playing them self.
Troi: I seem to remember her mentioning at one of the poker games, the telepath thing is something she can turn on and off, and promises to keep it off during the games. They’re all friends and such, it was accepted, and that was that.
5 card: Remember that this was before the poker boom. Most people haven’t heard of Hold Em, in fact most people haven’t heard of a game that has more than five cards. So, for an unsophisticated TV audience, 5 card makes sense.
Stud: I remember poker scenes in other episodes that were draw. Don’t know why the game in the original post was stud. In the Hawking episode it kinda makes sense since we don’t see anyone putting cards in his card holder.
Splashing the pot: Again, it’s a friendly game. Also, wasn’t it a relatively small table?
String bets: Now that’s a whole other can of worms. And again, it can happen in friendly games. And, yeah, it’s almost required whenever there’s a poker game on a TV show.
As some of you may remember me saying, I am a dealer in a pub poker league. So I have to respond to a lot of these kind of issues. I tell new players that although they see it all the time on TV, you’ll never see it on a poker show. Bottom line, when you say “I see your bet, and...” there’s no ‘and’.
Rounders: Rounders is often held as an example of a dramatic, but realistic, presentation of poker.
The biggest example of rules being broken is at the judge’s game. When Mikey starts betting for the dean, that’s two man on a hand. Absolutely forbidden.
And there are string bets. I can think of a couple But the way they did them, the way the scenes played out, they were perfect example of string bets that could have happened in real life.
There were the games vs Teddy KGB, particularly the last hand. (Everybody remembers this one.) Not only is KGB splashing the pot, he is doing it one stack at a time, string bet, while saying, “I ... bet ... it ... all.” Of course Mike isn’t gonna object, he has the nuts!
In the scene where the opponent says “I bluffed the big ringer!” Right before that he says “You’re raising me $300? I call your $300. How much is in there Whites?”
Whites replies, “Um, $1,500”
“$1,500? Here’s $1,000... $500... I bet the pot limit, kiddo.”
| 'Descent' | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Star Trek: The Next Generation episode | |||
| Episode no. | Season 6 & 7 Episode 26 & 1 | ||
| Directed by | Alexander Singer | ||
| Written by | René Echevarria (Part II) | ||
| Story by | Jeri Taylor (Part I) | ||
| Teleplay by | Ronald D. Moore (Part I) | ||
| Featured music | Jay Chattaway | ||
| Production code | 252 & 253 | ||
| Original air date | June 21, 1993 September 20, 1993 | ||
| Guest appearance(s) | |||
| |||
| Episode chronology | |||
| |||
| List of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes | |||
'Descent' is the 26th episode of the sixth season and the first episode of the seventh season of the American science fiction television seriesStar Trek: The Next Generation, the 152nd and 153rd episodes overall.
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In this episode they once again encounter the Borg aliens.
The episode, which was aired on television in 1993, features a guest appearance by astrophysicistStephen Hawking. He appears in the show's opening on the holodeck in a card game with android Data, as a holographic version of himself.
Plot[edit]
Part I[edit]
On the holodeck, Lt. Commander Data plays a game of poker with holographic representations of Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Stephen Hawking. Answering a question from Newton, Data explains that the game is an experiment for understanding 'how three of history's greatest minds would interact' in such a setting. Just as Hawking wins another hand, a red alert is issued by Riker and Data suspends the program.
The Enterprise responds to a distress call from a Starfleet outpost. On arrival, an away team consisting of Riker, Worf, Data and a security guard, they find the entire crew of the outpost dead. Suddenly they are attacked by a group of Borg. During the course of the fire fight, Riker observes that the Borg are acting differently than in previous encounters. For starters, each of them is armed with energy weapons and they refer to each other as individuals. Whilst fighting a drone, Data feels the emotion — anger — resulting in breaking the neck of the drone.
Meanwhile in orbit, an unidentified ship fires on the Enterprise and the crew returns fire. On the surface, during the firefight, one Borg begins talking to himself about the nature of the away team members, when he sees and mentions Data, he appears to signal a withdrawal. The alien ship beams up the remaining Borg from the outpost and flees with the Enterprise in pursuit. Suddenly the ship enters some kind of vortex and disappears without a trace. Back on the outpost, Riker asks Data what happened, but Data cannot explain it; he just felt angry. Admiral Nechayev arrives to take command of the situation. She reprimands Picard for not destroying the Borg when he had the chance ('I, Borg') and orders him to do so if another opportunity should present itself. Meanwhile, Data is trying to understand what caused his behavior on the outpost. He tries to experience emotion again through simulations of the event, but does not succeed.
The Borg ship reappears and attacks another outpost. Again, the Enterprise is the nearest ship, which makes Picard suspicious, given that there are now several Starfleet vessels patrolling the area. The Borg ship reenters the vortex and disappears when the Enterprise intercepts; however, this time the Enterprise is caught in its wake and follows. Once on the other side, the Borg attack, beaming drones on to the bridge. After a brief fire fight, one drone is killed and another wounded, but the distraction allows the Borg ship to escape, which again is unusual Borg behavior in that they always reclaim their drones, whether alive or dead.
The crew discover that the vortex they entered is a form of conduit allowing them to travel from one star system to another almost instantaneously. However they have yet to work out how it is activated which means, for the moment, they are unable to return to Federation space. Data is sent to speak with the Borg whom the Enterprise has captured in an attempt to gather intelligence, but the drone is able to manipulate Data into releasing him. They escape the ship in a shuttlecraft. Before the Enterprise can catch the shuttle it disappears into a conduit. However, the crew have learned how the conduits are activated. They give chase and track the shuttlecraft to a planet. An away team finds no trace of Data or the Borg and something in the planet's atmosphere is blocking their sensors, so Picard decides to conduct a ground search utilising nearly the whole crew of the Enterprise. Only a skeleton crew now remain on board under the command of Dr. Crusher.
Searching the planet, Picard, Troi, a security officer and La Forge enter a building and are surrounded by noisy Borg. Their leader, appearing on a platform, resembles Data but Troi recognizes that it is Data's brother Lore. Data then appears alongside Lore and announces that together they will destroy the Federation.
Part II[edit]
Lore has discovered a way to give Data emotions and turned him against the Federation. Lore plans to lead these breakaway Borg to destroy all organic life; they believe that Lore and Data are perfect life forms. Picard, Troi, and La Forge are taken captive. Geordi's VISOR allows him to see a carrier wave being beamed from Lore to Data and they hypothesize that this is the source of Data's emotions and Lore's control over Data. For this reason Lore orders Geordi's VISOR removed. In orbit, the Borg ship is detected and Beverly orders the away teams on the planet to be beamed back aboard. However, there isn't enough time to get them all and 47 away team members still remain on the planet. Riker orders Dr. Crusher to leave the planet and come back only when it's safe to do so since the rogue Borg vessel has detected the Enterprise. Rather than leave the system, Beverly orders the crew to take the ship into the sun. Using the technology developed by Ferengi scientist Dr. Reyga, they modify the shields to allow them to get closer to the sun than the Borg can go. They use the ship's phasers to trigger an eruption on the sun's surface which engulfs the Borg ship, destroying it.
On the planet, Lore orders Data to perform an experiment on Geordi's brain – an irreversible procedure with a '60% chance' of being lethal. Geordi tries pleading with Data, who ignores him and continues setting up the process. In their prison cell, the away team constructs a device which they believe will reactivate Data's moralsubroutines, in the hopes that he will question his unethical actions, as well as the intentions of Lore.
Meanwhile, Riker and Worf encounter Hugh, who tells them that Lore is the leader of this Borg group. He says that at one time Lore's help was necessary, but that he has since destroyed many Borg through brutal experimentation. Hugh's group are 'rebel' Borg, wanting to remove Lore from power.
The away team manages to reactivate Data's ethical programming just as Data is about to start the irreversible part of the experiment. Geordi pleads with Data, asking him to check his conscience. Data falters, claims that there are anomalies in the experiment and postpones it.
Lore begins to doubt Data's devotion, and attempts to strengthen control by threatening to remove the emotions he has provided. Data appears to be subservient, but Lore remains suspicious, and orders Data to prove his loyalty by killing Picard. Data refuses, as the rebooting of his morality subroutines is complete. Two Borg seize Data and Lore is about to execute Data, when Riker and Worf arrive, accompanied by Hugh and some of his rebel Borg. A battle commences and in the ensuing confusion, Lore flees, pursued by Data. In their ensuing confrontation, Lore attempts to talk Data into escaping with him. Unswayed, Data shoots him with a phaser then deactivates him.
In the aftermath, Hugh becomes leader of the Borg group.
The Enterprise returns to Federation space. Data reports that Lore is to be disassembled permanently and he also intends to destroy the emotion chip, as it is 'too dangerous', citing the harm he has inflicted under its influence. However Geordi intervenes, and advises him to keep the chip until he is ready. (The chip would eventually be implanted into Data during the course of the film Star Trek Generations.)
Production[edit]
At a screening for the 1991 documentary film A Brief History of Time, which was based on the book of the same name by British theoretical physicistStephen Hawking, Hawking was introduced to the audience by veteran Trek actor Leonard Nimoy. A Brief History executive producer Gordon Freedman told Nimoy that Hawking was an avid Star Trek fan. It was subsequently arranged for Hawking to visit the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which included an opportunity for him to sit in the captain's chair. Freedman told the show's executive producer, Rick Berman, that Hawking would appear on the show if asked. Hawking accepted the ensuing offer, marking the first time a guest star played himself on an episode of any Star Trek series. After he was sent the script, he made some modifications to it, including improving a humorous line of dialogue to make it funnier, which Berman called 'delightful'.[1]
Later, when actor Brent Spiner, who appeared in the scene with Hawking, first read the script and saw that Hawking was a character in it, he imagined that he might be asked to play the scientist, as he had played multiple roles in episodes before. Spiner was excited, however, to learn that Hawking had agreed to play himself, leading Spiner to remark, 'But I still think the guy cost me an Emmy'. Filming of the scene drew a crowd of staffpersons, including some who screenwriter Ronald D. Moore said were not working on the scene but pretended to have a work-related reason to be there. Between camera setups, Hawking was placed in a closet-sized room at his request, because such solitude allowed him to think without distractions. Berman related that of all the notable people he had met through the course of his career, including presidents and business magnates, the visitor who stood out above the rest was Hawking.[1]
This episode is the only episode to have the episode title and opening credits listed during the cold open, before the title sequence. Normally, the episode title and all guest stars, producers/director are listed after the opening title sequence.
Novel[edit]
A novelization of this episode was published by Pocket Books. It was one of five novelizations to be made of The Next Generation episodes, along with 'Encounter at Farpoint', 'Unification', 'Relics', and 'All Good Things...'.[2]
Reception[edit]
In 2017, Den of Geek ranked Jonathan Del Arco as one of the top ten guest star roles on Star Trek: The Next Generation.[3] He also appears in the role of Third of Five (i.e. Hugh), in 'I, Borg' and 'Descent, Part II',[3] and reprised the role in the series Star Trek: Picard.
Medium.com ranked this the 62nd best episode Star Trek: The Next Generation in 2017.[4]
In 2019, ScreenRant recommended 'Descent' as background on the character Data, for the series Star Trek: Picard.[5]
Film Daily ranked Stephen Hawking as one of the greatest Star Trek guest stars.[6]
In 2020, Space.com recommended watching this episode as background for Star Trek: Picard.[7]
In 2020, Cnet noted 'Descent' for featuring the return of the characters Hugh and Lore, and described it as 'fun' but not as good as 'Best of Both Worlds'.[8]
Watch guides[edit]
The Nerdist suggested this episode as the conclusion of a story arc of this TV show.[9] They propose a story arc with the Enterprise 1701-D confronting the Borg, that would include 'Q Who?', 'The Best of Both Worlds', 'I, Borg', and 'Descent'.[9]
In 2020, Gamespot recommended 'Descent' parts I & II for background on the character of Data.[10]
See also[edit]
- 'I, Borg', the fifth season episode where Hugh is first encountered.
- 'Suspicions', the sixth season episode where the metaphasic shields were first introduced.
References[edit]
Newton Einstein Hawking Poker Table
- ^ abSpiegel, Danny (June 8, 2015). 'Brilliant Mind Games'. TV Guide. p. 84.
- ^Ayers 2006, pp. 317-318.
- ^ ab'Star Trek: The Next Generation — 10 Great Guest Performances'. Den of Geek. Retrieved 2020-07-03.
- ^Andrew (2019-09-21). 'Ranking All The Star Trek: The Next Generation Episodes (Part 5)'. Medium. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
- ^'Star Trek: Data's Most Important Episodes For Picard'. ScreenRant. 2019-12-26. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
- ^Roberts, Amy (2019-06-12). 'Tom Hardy in space: The greatest 'Star Trek' guest stars ever'. Film Daily. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
- ^Snowden 2020-01-23T13:39:29Z, Scott. 'A complete guide to what 'Star Trek' to watch before 'Star Trek: Picard''. Space.com. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
- ^Trenholm, Richard. 'Star Trek: Picard -- the essential Trek episodes to watch before the new show'. CNET. Retrieved 2020-01-24.
- ^ ab'A Guide to Binge Watching 7 Great STAR TREK Arcs'. Nerdist. Retrieved 2019-06-20.
- ^'Star Trek Picard: 10 Next Generation Episodes That Will Catch You Up On Data'. GameSpot. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
- Ayers, Jeff (2006). Voyages of Imagination. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN978-1-41650349-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
External links[edit]
- 'Descent, Part I' on IMDb
- 'Descent, Part II' on IMDb
- 'Descent, Part I' at TV.com
- 'Descent, Part II' at TV.com
- Descent, Part I at Memory Alpha (a Star Trekwiki)
- Descent, Part II at Memory Alpha (a Star Trekwiki)
- Descent, Part I at StarTrek.com
- Descent, Part II at StarTrek.com