In-Universe:
Eftersom federationen inte gör pengar är satsningarna väsentligen meningslösa. Spel verkar vara för braggingrätterna om vem som vann eller förlorade, det roliga elementet i spelet och det psykologiska fokuset på strategiskt tänkande .
Undantaget från detta i TNG är från avsnittet Livskvalitet där Beverley Crusher tarunts Kommer rikaren att satsa sitt skägg på det slutliga resultatet:
BEVERLY : Okay... what do you say we up the stakes a little? If I win this hand... you all shave off your beards [and] if one of you wins -- I become a brunette. Are we on?
GEORDI : We'll take that bet.
n.b. script edited for brevity
Och i Voyager-avsnittet Kollektivt :
NEELIX: I don't know what you're talking about. I've, I've, this is the first time I've played. What is it called?
ALL: Poker.
PARIS: Look, why don't we make things a little more interesting. Forget the chips. Let's bet on tomorrow's work detail, all right? Whoever wins this hand gets the morning off.
CHAKOTAY: I'm in.
Mirroring Crusher i TNG, säger Paris att glömma chipsen (som uppenbarligen inte har något värde) och erbjuder en fysisk satsning istället.
Utanför universum
Det är ganska klart att skådespelarna och författarna inte hade någon aning heller. Trots skriptet hänvisar konstant Gen Roddenbärs påstående om att federationen är ett "efterskarps" samhälle utan pengar, skådespelerskan spelar Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) klart kände annorlunda :
Generally, with most beings, I could just sense what they were feeling, so I was empathic.
Why I was in the poker game, I will never know, because poker's about sensing when people are bluffing, and there I was in a poker game every week. I don't think you ever actually saw me win bundles of money but I'm sure, off screen, at some point that was what I did.
liksom showrunner Ronald D. Moore :
It is a strange platitude that we used on the show, the need for money was gone and everything was about bettering yourself. It was no longer about any kind of material gain or personal gain, everyone was just trying to be a better person So none of us could understand what that mean or how that society functioned. It all seemed very vague. None of the writers took it seriously. We all kind of laughed about it and joked about it. We all had to pay homage to it because that was something that was built into the structure of the show. At every opportunity we tried to sneak in ways. How do you play poker if you don’t have currency? Again The Original Series had credits and currency and we never understood why they could do all these great things and we couldn’t. It was very odd.