Pi Card Maneuver

A technique in certain games of poker whereby a player replaces the three of clubs with the π card as he or she exposes his or her hand at the end of a bet. If well executed—that is, no one notices the maneuver until the cards hit the table—then the player is entitled to 20% of the pot if he or she loses; however, if his or her hand is the winning one, he or she forfeits 20%.

Since this maneuver opens the game up to abuse (for instance, any player possessing the pi card may play it even though this player does not actually have the three of clubs), once the card is played, the other members of the game must gather all the cards and search for the three of clubs all at once in sight of everyone. If it is found, the person who attempted the chicanery is fined 60% of the pot and may no longer possess the pi card. Also, this person is often shot dead—but they may still continue playing if they so desire.

The pi card owes its existence to a crafty mathematical magician with a penchant for gambling. During a typical poker night with friends, this magician realized that he was about to lose the game and with it his magician's hat; yet, just before he laid down his hand, he remembered a set of special cards he had printed up for a show—these very cards were also currently residing in his jacket pocket.

So he reached into his pocket, and, as he displayed his cards, he switched the three of clubs with the pi card—hoping, as all magicians do, that this diversion would distract everyone long enough for him to grab his hat and leave. His competitor, however, was not amused, and, more importantly, was armed—so this magician met an untimely end at the tip of a gun barrel.

Despite the deception, the victor did not want this (now deceased) friend to have died in vein, so that night the person with the gun declared a new rule pertaining to the introduction of the pi card, and decided the 20% figure based upon the value of the hat—no one present had any objections to the rule; they were all quite eager to accept it. However, after the rule began to spread, pedantic mathematicians pointed out that π wasn't really an integral part of this rule—one could very well call it the "powder blue card maneuver" without affecting much.

So, mathematicians gathered at the Arithmetic and Multiplication Symposium (AMS) and came up with a modified version that they claimed not only tightly tied the maneuver to π, but also honored the magician more (seeing as he was a mathematician himself). This new form decreed that "sucessful execution of the π card maneuver (as defined by the gun-yielding magician's friend) will result in the table being rotated by 180°; or, at the π card renderer's option, any object within the room being rotated 180°—including, but not limited to, open-backed blouses that any women in the room may be wearing. Furthermore due to the legal implications of murder, shooting of the π card player is hereby prohibited"

Pi card purists immediately objected—claiming abolishing the killing violated the sanctity of the pi card maneuver and would lead to the introduction of numerous other undesirable maneuvers (such as the 'torturing animals maneuver' or the 'attacking children maneuver').

Mathematicians retorted by saying they didn't get enough action as it is, so they have to open up as many opportunities as they can. To this, the pi card purists had no rebuttal, and so the battle quieted down and the AMS form of the π card maneuver was universally adopted.