what is liar s poker 
 liar s poker is a betting game often associated with wall street traders it involves wagering on the frequency of digits appearing in the serial numbers of u s paper currency in each round players take turns proposing an ever increasing number of digits e g a sequence may involve three 5s three 6s four 5s etc the game proceeds until somebody calls out the previous proposal as being a lie if such a sequence exists e g there are four or more 5s between all the serial numbers held the person who announced the proposal wins if there are not that many i e there are only three 5s then the one who called out the hand wins liar s poker is also the title of a bestselling finance book by author michael lewis which is about bond trading at salomon bros in the late 1980s understanding liar s pokerliar s poker like the game poker itself relies on a mix of statistical reasoning chance and psychological tactics the rules are fairly similar to those of the card game cheat players hold randomly drawn dollar bills with close attention to the serial numbers on their respective bills the objective of the game is to bluff opponents into believing that your bid does not exceed the combined sum of all of the serial numbers among the bills in play in liar s poker if one proposes say three fours they are predicting that among all of the dollar serial numbers held by all players there are at least three fours if the player s bluff is not called the next player must either bid a higher frequency of any other digit five twos or can bid a higher number at the same frequency level three sixes the game continues until somebody thinks the prior player is lying and calls the bluff if correct the one who called the bluff wins if not the player who proposed the sequence wins strategies used in liar s pokerthe number of players in the game can affect the probability of winning though the game itself largely rewards and benefits those who employ deception and trickery to win rather than merely bidding as accurately as possible the players are taking turns at coaxing their rivals to make a mistake as they play the rules of the game require bids to continue escalating thereby increasing the game s stakes with more than two players it is a frequent strategy to continue to raise the bid given the likelihood of being challenged and the related likelihood of losing when challenging the strategy relies on continuous bluffing in hopes of potentially winning if you or someone you know has a gambling problem call the national problem gambling helpline at 1 800 522 4700 or visit ncpgambling org chat to chat with a helpline specialist 12