"The One With All The Poker"
Friends episode
The friends playing poker.
Season	1x18
Episode no.	18
Written by	Jeff Astrof Mike Sikowitz
Directed by	James Burrows
Guest stars	Beverly Garland as Aunt Iris James Michael Tyler as Gunther (uncredited)
Original airdate	March 2, 1995
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"The One With All The Poker" is the eighteenth episode of the first season of Friends, which aired on March 2, 1995.

PlotEdit

The guys teach poker to the girls, who lose spectacularly. They ask Monica's aunt, Iris, a professional poker player, for help, which makes them improve, albeit slightly, their poker skills. The girls keep playing the guys in the hope of winning one over them.

Tired of serving coffee at Central Perk and being called "excuse me" by people, Rachel sends out résumés for job opportunities. She gets an interview at Saks, Fifth Avenue, about a vacancy as personal shopper.

Ross picks up an old subject with Chandler and Joey - his love for Rachel. Ross tries to deny his feelings for Rachel, but the guys are skeptical about this. Determined to prove them wrong, he gets unusually hard on Rachel during the poker games. The two keep on bickering during a poker game, where things start to go well for Rachel when she wins a hand on Ross. In the middle of a dealt hand, she receives a call from Saks informing her that she hasn't been picked out for the job.

Instead of abandoning the game, she decides to take it out on Ross, raising the bets over the limit and making everyone fold. Ross decides to fold too, but she reminds him of his comments about not being a nice guy during poker, so he sits out the rest of the hand. The bets keep rising through the roof, and Rachel wins with a full house. Ross accepts the defeat, realizing that it made Rachel happy during a difficult moment. Unluckily for him, Joey and Chandler now definitely confirm that he's in love with Rachel.

Cast and CrewEdit

Main CastEdit

Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green
Courteney Cox - Monica Geller
Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay
Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani
Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing
David Schwimmer - Ross Geller

Supporting CastEdit

Beverly Garland - Aunt Iris
James Michael Tyler - Gunther (uncredited)

CrewEdit

Directed By:
James Burrows

Written By:
Jeff Astrof & Mike Sikowitz

TriviaEdit

• Jennifer Aniston described this episode as one of her favorite moments on the show in The One With All The Other Ones.
• Monica's competitiveness takes a hit in this episode as she's revealed not to be a good poker player. In other games she's not the best at, such as Pictionary, the guys had suffered her rage when she threw a plate at them. At the end of this episode, the group is playing pictionary and they all duck when she goes to pick up her glass.
• This is the first time Rachel tries to get a job in the fashion sector. Until The One Where Rachel Quits, this would also be the last time.

GoofsEdit

• While Chandler is saying "three," he is actually gesturing to the 5 card.
• When the group is sitting around the table in Monica's apartment playing poker, Monica is making something to eat. When she puts it on the table and sits back, we can see a pile of plates on the table on her right side. But in the next shot, the plates are gone.

When Rachel says "loser" at the final card game, Phoebe backs up and there is a cold water bottle at her feet.

Episode NavigationEdit