History Main / TheGambler

[[caption-width-right:350:I never play nice, I'm the Devil's right-hand man.]]

* The aptly named ComicBook/{{Gambit}} (pictured above), from ''ComicBook/XMen'', energizes playing cards to explode on impact and tosses them with precision at his targets. He ''could'' use ''anything'' if he felt like it (various incarnations have used chains, billiard balls, and ''an overturned bus''), but playing cards are both convenient and stylish. The explosion is proportional to the size of the object, so cards, poker chips and other thematic objects are consistent and controllable.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=ega80v00t0naswb6i6ajmm1b
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[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/{{Gambit}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gambit_5226.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''[[VideoGame/XMenNextDimension Losin's not my style!]]'']]

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': Steinhart from "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS3E72TheGrave The Grave]]". When he joins Johnny Robb in betting that Conny won't visit the grave, he describes gambling as his business. He seems to be good at it, as Mothershed says that the reason he can't bet either way is because Steinhart won too much of his money in a card game before Conny arrived.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission'' has Spider, who has the look of a gambler with a "well-dressed card shark" design motif with gloves, folded 'sleeves', tailcoat, and his nice hat. He also uses cards as his weapon, and his LimitBreak requires a combination of luck and knowledge of five-card poker. The better your hand, the better the resulting attack will be. Oddly enough, he is never shown actually gambling, and while he'll make references to his cards, he mercifully spares us from any [[IncrediblyLamePun bad gambling puns]].

The entire theme around the gambler makes him usually either an AntiHero or an AntiVillain, due to a view that they usually revere luck and chance over pledged allegiances, and that they will usually be too chaotic to be too specifically good or evil, with ComicBook/TheJoker being a rather brutal exception to this rule. This trope is almost entirely populated by men, and it has been increasingly common as time goes by. See also: DeathDealer (using playing cards as weapons), as well as BornLucky and WindsOfDestinyChange (when the character has actual powers over luck).

* Ezekial Clench of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'' was a WildWest style villain with a slight playing card motif; The spurs on his boots were shaped like spades, he had a card in his hat... Oh, and his cybernetic hands, the wrists of which had the playing card suits on them. The hands had a special ability depending on which suit was facing up. He's also a bounty hunter, and on the run from his ex-wife, so luck is a big deal to him.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'', gambling is a frequent bad habit of [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact2 Kyosuke Nanbu]]. He doesn't really use card-based attacks, but his HumongousMecha's strongest attack is called "Trump Card" and his CatchPhrase is ''"[[MillionToOneChance I don't mind betting]] [[ILikeThoseOdds on the tough odds!]]"'' Of course, "the devil's luck" is practically his superpower, and he's frequently [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat seen surviving impossible odds]]. Presumably, {{Fanon}} dictates he doesn't do too badly in poker either.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': Nivi Rhombodazzle is the goddess of gamblers and games of chance, reveling in the thrill of uncertainty in the moment when a wager is made and the dice are cast. Her worship is most common among those for whom chance and uncertainty are major factors in life, and she's worshipped and prayed to through real or symbolic bets and wagers.

* Renard of ''Literature/{{Oktober}}''.

** [[VideoGame/LuigisMansion King Boo]] seems to have a love of gambling. In his debut in ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion'' the keys to the various parts of the mansion have playing card suit motifs. Later, in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'', he hides in Hotel Delfino's casino, where he battles Mario while holding a water-powered slot machine that can summon enemies, coins, or fruit.

-->-- '''Mr. Burt''', ''Series/TheXFiles'' ("Improbable")

** The D'Arby brothers from ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'', whose [[FightingSpirit Stand]] powers allow them to take the souls of losers. Interestingly, the two use opposing styles: the elder brother, Daniel J. D'Arby, mostly makes use of cheating to win, and is very good at recognizing attempts by others to cheat as well. Daniel considers cheating to be an integral part of gambling, and that this still results in a perfectly fair game since his opponent (if they were good enough) could also catch ''him'' cheating and/or cheat themselves in a way subtle enough to avoid his detection. He's defeated by Jotaro performing the mother of all bluffs against him (no cheating happening). The younger brother, Terence T. D'Arby, relies more on actual skill at games and is a LivingLieDetector, so bluffing against him is impossible. So Jotaro beats him by cheating at the game and rubbing salt into the wound by saying Daniel would have seen through the cheat easily.
** Kaato Higashikata from ''Manga/{{JoJolion}}'', while never shown gambling, has several playing card motifs, such as her outfit having the back of playing cards on it, and her Stand taking the form of a deck of playing cards. [[MeaningfulName Her name even sounds similar to the Japanese pronunciation of the word "card"]].

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

The gambler follows a [[PlayingCardMotifs card]] (or UsefulNotes/{{dice}}) theme, uses [[DeathDealer cards]], dice, darts, [[HeadsOrTails coins]] and gambling implements as weapons, and is very well-versed in blackjack, TabletopGame/{{poker}}, craps, slots, and all sorts of casino games. They rely much more on luck and cunning than on skill or outright power, and very seldom take it too hard on the occasions they lose, usually due to believing it was due to chance.

%%* ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}'': Card Shark, and Blackjack from ''European Enemies''.

* Setzer, from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'' uses cards, dices, darts and slots in his attacks. His airship is named Blackjack. And he joins the party by losing a (rigged) coin toss. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb2lnpKtl9k#t=2m13s This clip]] shows how badass a Setzer can be: he's a wispy, Silver-Haired {{Bishonen}} that sails his airship at top speed, unfazed by the wind as he stands at the rudder, who ''destroys a heavily-armed gunship'' by tossing a few sharpened cards at it. Ante up, indeed.

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' has Corsairs, who are gambler ''{{pirate}}s''. WordOfGod claims that they went this route due to market research revealing that gambling has a negative connotation in the US. Their Phantom Rolls boost specific stats by random amounts, and can be improved through a blackjack-like mechanic.

* Oswald of ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' uses playing cards to cut his opponents. The names of his special moves are the names of suits and some cards (up to the level of ShapedLikeItself in the official movesets). The name of his Leader Desperation Move is Joker, and one version of his Four Suits DM hits, ideally, 21 times (an important number in Blackjack, a card game). Furthermore, his color scheme is the one of playing cards: Black suit, red shirt (not [[RedShirt that kind]] of red shirt) and glasses, white hair, and yellow tie for the details in the figure cards.

* On the ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'', Quackity plays into this throughout his "[[TheCasino Las Nevadas]]" arc, being a cunning, manipulative man who takes high risks for high rewards, and is associated with TabletopGame/{{poker}} to boot, though it should also be noted his persona during this arc is at least partially crafted on trauma.

The gambler follows a [[PlayingCardMotifs card]] (or UsefulNotes/{{dice}}) theme, uses [[DeathDealer cards]], dice, darts, [[HeadsOrTails coins]] and gambling implements as [[WeaponOfChoice weapons]], and is very well-versed in blackjack, TabletopGame/{{poker}}, craps, slots, and all sorts of casino games. They rely much more on luck and cunning than on skill or outright power, and very seldom take it too hard on the occasions they lose, usually due to believing it was due to chance.

* A custom car set in a ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeed'' title has the four aces as a paint job.

** In UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}, two gambling aliens named Rokk and Sorban force {{Superman}} and ComicBook/TheFlash to race to the edge of the galaxy and back, so they can settle a bet on which one is fastest. To keep things interesting, they imprison the rest of the Franchise/{{Justice League|of America}}, and promise to destroy the home city of the loser. (It turns out these are actually two of the Flash's arch-enemies, disguised as the aliens--who are back on their home planet betting on volcanic eruptions.)

* ''VideoGame/BugFables'' gives us Carmina, a [[SeldomSeenSpecies velvet ant]] ProfessionalGambler who has gambling as her primary motif. Besides her design featuring the PlayingCardMotifs, she also uses [[DeathDealer playing cards]] and dice as a weapon, and she uses a roulette to determine what happens at the start of her turn.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' - Luxord, the Gambler of Fate fits this trope to a T. He uses card based attacks, minigames which award currency, and his power to control time to engage Sora in a very unorthodox time-based battle involving timed [[ActionCommands reaction commands]]. He also possesses an advanced vocabulary and a classy British accent, which give him an air of sophistication. If one is skilled enough in his minigames, he can be defeated easily even in his data rematch in the game's remake, as his normal attacks are not much of a threat, and losing the minigames results in BalefulPolymorph. Of course, as the minigames in the data rematch can be quite difficult, CuttingTheKnot may be advisable in some cases by just attacking him normally and/or using Reflega when he tries to lure you into a minigame.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManXCommandMission'' has Spider, who has the look of a gambler with a "well-dressed card shark" design motif with gloves, folded 'sleeves', tailcoat, and his NiceHat. He also uses cards as his weapon, and his LimitBreak requires a combination of luck and knowledge of five-card poker. The better your hand, the better the resulting attack will be. Oddly enough, he is never shown actually gambling, and while he'll make references to his cards, he mercifully spares us from any [[IncrediblyLamePun bad gambling puns]].

** Mat is almost a subversion of this, noting that he's ''so'' supernaturally lucky that games of chance don't really qualify as gambling. He's naturally pretty good, but a side effect of his WeirdnessMagnet trait ramps this UpToEleven, so much so that none of his friends will play cards or dice with him.

* Nero from ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry 4'' has several moves named after gambling terms (Double Down, Maximum Bet, Roulette Spin, High Roller), so he could technically count. Plus, he's the only one who has to play [[ThatOneLevel that damn dice game]]...

[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/XTremeXMen https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gambit_5226.jpg]]]]

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** ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsThirdEdition 3rd Edition]]'' has the Fatespinner and Luckstealer {{Prestige Class}}es. Both require training in the Profession (gambler) skill and have class features that revolve around manipulating both the players' and DM's dice rolls (which usually involves increasing/decreasing the difficulty of rolls or simply forcing rerolls).
** ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragonsFifthEdition 5th Edition]]'' has the Wild Card subclass for Rogue, which is centered around gaming sets that grant a Wild Card's Gambit to benefit the Rogue in various ways. The subclass also, at later levels, allows the Rogue to both escape while damaging their enemies within range and swap initiative orders with any one character they can see.