Cross-posted from Progressive Junction
I'm a poker dealer, and so I've seen this play so many times it makes my head spin. A player will make an enormous raise on a bet with a horrible hand in the hopes that his opponent folds a better hand. This play sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, because it is completely dependent on the strength of the opponent's hand. The play itself is not inherently good nor bad. It is just one tool in a poker player's toolbox. But the thing with tools is, you have to know how to fucking use them.
At this table sits the governor of Illinois, the legislature of Illinois, the prosecutors, the President-Elect, and we the American people, who happen to be the dealer. By revealing the tapes and the corruption the prosecutors in effect made a big bet. That caught everybody's attention and Obama immediately folded. Seeing this, the legislature immediately began stacking their chips in the hopes that the governor would stay in and they could beat him. Obama is pleading with the governor to just fold his crappy hand. But what does Blagojevich do?
He makes the big play, he goes all-in! He puts himself in a much more worse position by not folding and now all his chips are in the middle. Maybe he even seriously believes that he has the winning hand. Bad poker players always do this and it is quite hilarious. And at the end, when all their chips are gone, they blame all the opponents and the dealer. Yeah, I've seen this hand many times. Let me tell you exactly what's going to happen now.
First of all, Obama is pissed because he realizes that despite the fact that he's not in the hand, he is sitting at the table, and the governor's play reflects the image of the entire table, especially towards the American people. Furthermore, he has seen part or all of the prosecutors' hand after he folded. They have a tendency to show him their hand, so he knows better than anyone that Blagojevich is holding a losing hand.
But now it's the legislature's turn and all of a sudden, they have a much bigger decision to make. It's not that they don't have a good hand, it's that they misjudged the strength of their hand and are now caught flat footed. They will obviously and reluctantly stay in the hand.
But in the end, the best hand always wins, and the prosecutors have the best hand. This is great for us as the dealer, because the prosecutors are good tippers. They tip justice.