McLuhan on Poker

This one's for Pi:

Games...can provide many varieties of satisfaction. Here we are looking at their role as media of communication in society as a whole. Thus, poker is a game that has often been cited as the expression of all the complex attitudes and unspoken values of a competitive society. It calls for shrewdness, aggression, trickery, and unflattering appraisals of character. It is said women cannot play poker well because it stimulates their curiosity, and curiosity is fatal in poker. Poker is intensely individualist, allowing no place for kindness and consideration, but only for the greatest good for the greatest number -- the number one. It is in this perspective that it is easy to see why war has been called the sport of kings.

Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, p. 240