Sam: An extra card up your sleeve never hurts.
Max: Except when the other guy catches you with it and decides to riddle every inch of your body with high-caliber bullets and then dump your mutilated corpse in an empty field.
Sam: Yeah. Except then.
-Max derailing one one of Sam's analogies.
Max is a lagomorph who originates from the comic turned point and click series Sam & Max: Freelance Police. In Poker Night at the Inventory, he plays after The Player and before Strong Bad. He returns in Poker Night 2 as Sam's helper.
Background
One half of the Freelance Police Duo, Max made his debut in the first Sam & Max comic, "Monkeys Violating The Heavenly Temple". He went on to co-star in the video games Sam & Max Hit the Road, Sam & Max Save the World, Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space, and Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse.
Max spends his days shooting things, mauling suspects, highway surfing, and picking his belly button (not in that order necessarily). The most knowledge Max has of poker is Indian Poker, which he learned while at Ted E. Bear's Mafia-Free Playland & Casino.
By Poker Night 2, Max has been banned from competing in the Inventory's tournaments because he kept eating the poker chips, Because he is always hungry.
Poker Strategy
Despite his claims of knowing nothing about Poker, Max is actually tied with Tycho as the most intelligent player in the first game. However, his aggression level is completely random and changes every hand - one hand he'll go all-in with a terrible hand, the next he'll fold with a great one.
Max's Tells
- When Max's left hand quivers while betting he is bluffing.
- If Max's right hand quivers while betting, then he has a good hand.
- If Max slaps his hand against his head when the flop is dealt, he has a bad hand.
- If Max stands on his chair & does a gesture (but not talking about beating someone like a piñata), then he has a good hand.
- If Max shakes his head after the cards are dealt, he has a bad hand and will often fold after shaking his head.
Max's Collateral - Crimestomper Combo (Lugermorph & License to Maim)
His trusty Luger and badge he uses throughout Sam & Max: Freelance Police and puts them both up for a buy in rather than one of them. When you beat him while he has them up for collateral, he simply bids you farewell and warns you that they aren't safe to put in your mouth. A close inspection of the badge reveals that it's actually Sam's badge (Sam's has a #1 while Max's has a #2 on it)
Max's Relationships With Other Characters:
- Heavy: Max seems to have a good strong friendship with the Heavy, asking him about how his career is going and what kind of weapon he could recommend.
- Strong Bad: Mostly casual, having the odd talk with Strong Bad when Max is compelled to tell some sort of story.
- Tycho: His relationship with Tycho seems to be, again, a casual friendship. They share many of the same interests, although from time to time Max will be slightly put off by Tycho's odd behavior.
- The Player: Max often thinks The Player plays too conservatively, especially when not calling a huge bet of Max's.
- Sam: Max is obviously very close to the big guy, being Sam's long-time partner, best friend, and sidekick.
- Brock Samson: Max seems to think of Brock pretty neutrally. However, he does praise him sometimes for his remarks and (in the Sam and Max 25th anniversary eliminations) he clamps down on Brock’s head and says “Die! Die! Die!”, perhaps this suggests that Max views Brock as some sort of competition, perhaps for Sam or for mere strength.
- Claptrap: Much like Sam, Claptrap is a fan of Max for their games and comics. He seems closer to Max than Sam due to the fact that Max isn't as annoyed by him as Sam is. Max's love for violence makes the robot think he would fit in very well on Pandora. If Claptrap is knocked out before Sam, he will often sit next to Max for a while. Also, during a Showdown, Max will stand right next to Claptrap, wondering what the next card will be.
- Ash Williams: Max seems to think of Ash highly in some sort of way. For example, he (in the Sam and Max 25th anniversary eliminations) excitedly proclaims that he is a “tree surgeon” (to which, he is not) when he picks up Ash’s chainsaw just before swinging it at him. Additionally, he owns all of Ash's action figures, including an "ultra rare naked Ash variant".
- GLaDOS: Max doesn't seem to mind the murderous AI as much as the other characters and occasionally joins in when she insults or annoys the other characters (primarily Sam).
Max Trivia
- Max is the only character to physically appear prominently in both Poker Night games, as opposed to Sam who only had a split second cameo in the first game, or Strong Bad, Tycho Brahe, and RED Heavy, who only appear on a picture in Poker Night 2.
- Max is voiced by William Kasten in Poker Night at the Inventory and the other Telltale games. He is voiced by Dave Boat in Poker Night 2.
- Max is not a rabbit. He claims to be a "hyperkinetic rabbity thing" or a lagomorph (the family that rabbits and hares belong to).
- Max buys in with two items instead of one unlike the other poker players. The Lugermorph and License to Maim are his collateral.
- When you enter the Inventory, you can see Max's partner, Sam, on the top floor. He adjusts his tie and then walks off to the right. This could be a reference to the G-Man from the Half-Life games made by Valve, who also adjusts his tie and walks away.
- After Max is beaten and he leaves the table, he wanders around the Inventory. He goes to Flint Paper and watches Strong Bad play on Bluster Blaster. He also chews on a wooden pole on the stair case just above Bluster Blaster. (NOTE: Telltale Games's engine doesn't properly support animation blending, so he'll do it very quickly.)
- It is now rumored that you can win Max's Severed Head. This is unconfirmed but fueled by Valve's recent blog post. It has been confirmed by that collecting all achievements will not do this.
- This is the second time the Lugermorph has been up for grabs as a Team Fortress 2 cosmetic. The first time was with The Devil's Playhouse. The first set of Lugermorphs got upgraded to Vintage status.
- The Telltale team have Vintage Lugermorphs at Level 50. They were originally untradeable, but because of the update the Lugermorph changed to Vintage and is now tradeable. It still has the "I made this!" at the bottom of the description and the community sparkles. This is a bug and has not been fixed.
- Max doesn't seem to know what poker is, let alone how to play it. When he is the last player eliminated, he will congratulate you for making the game the "hairiest game of hearts he's ever played". He will often ask what the numbers on the cards indicate when losing a hand, and express confusion upon stealing the blinds.
- Within the game, Max mostly seems to have a basic knowledge of himself being in video games, having made references to Sam and Max's Telltale Seasons. He does, however, seem to be unaware that his fellow players have been in video games.
- Out of the first game's cast, Max, ironically, has the most realistic shading out of the players. Strong Bad and Tycho having toonish outlines (in different manners) the Heavy's exhibiting exaggerated shadows from usage of lightwarps, and the player isn't even visible.
- In Poker Night 2, Max is revealed to have been banned from Inventory tournaments, despite reportedly performing quite well. This is due to the fact that Max has developed a habit of eating the poker chips.