Nixon's Poker Skills Helped Launch His Political Career

Before he was making history in the Oval Office, Richard Nixon was making money at the card table. During World War II, the future president became such a skilled poker player that his winnings helped bankroll his entry into politics.

Learning from the Best

Nixon didn't just jump into the game. Stationed in the Pacific, he spent weeks watching other officers play before approaching Lieutenant Commander James Stewart—widely considered the best player on base—for lessons.

"Nick" (as his Navy buddies called him) had a theory: poker could be beaten systematically. He was right.

A Killer Instinct with Cards

Nixon specialized in five-card stud, a game that rewards patience and psychological warfare. Fellow officer James Udall later recalled in Life magazine: "He was the finest poker player I have ever played against. I once saw him bluff a lieutenant commander out of $1,500 with a pair of deuces."

That $1,500 bluff alone would be worth over $20,000 today.

Nixon himself reflected on his poker education in his memoirs: "I learned that the people who have the cards are usually the ones who talk the least and the softest; those who are bluffing tend to talk loudly and give themselves away." A lesson he'd later apply to politics.

The Numbers

By the time Nixon's tour ended in July 1944, he'd accumulated between $6,000 and $8,000 in poker winnings. In today's dollars, that's roughly $100,000 to $111,000.

• Nixon originally planned to use the money for a house
• Combined with his wife Pat's income and Navy savings, the couple had about $10,000 total
• When opportunity knocked, that poker money went to politics instead

From Card Table to Campaign Trail

In 1946, California banker Herman Perry encouraged Nixon to run for Congress against Democratic incumbent Jerry Voorhis. Nixon took the leap—and his poker winnings came with him.

According to biographer Jonathan Aitken, Nixon's gambling stake covered approximately 20% of his entire congressional campaign costs. "Very few candidates then or now contribute 20 percent of a Congressional campaign costs personally," Aitken noted.

Nixon won that race, defeating Voorhis and beginning a political ascent that would eventually take him to the White House.

The Poker President

Nixon never forgot where his political career started. Biographer Stephen Ambrose put it simply: "Poker gave Nixon the financial means to launch his career."

It's a fitting origin story for a politician who'd later become famous for his calculated bluffs and strategic maneuvering. The man who stared down Khrushchev learned his poker face in the Pacific—and it paid off in more ways than one.