St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-04-17
ssDRAW.1
Big Games of Poker at Washington
ZOO Won on One Hand,

--S6 200 Won ON One Hand.
Washington Cor. n. Y. Mail and Express.
There is a man." said a well-known
congressional attache, pointing to Western
member, ''who has won $40, 600 at poker
since the present season began. If he
keeps on in good luck he will have over
500, 600 before the session ends, and when
he goes home his constituents will say he
has been bribed. He came here worth
nothing, and, of course, when he gets back.
buys fine house and begins to drive fast
horses it will look suspicious. But hap
pen to know that he won his money at
poker. L was present at game in a sena-
tors house one night and saw him win So
600 on one hand. 1t was the dead mans
hand. What is the dead mans hand?
Why, it is three jacks and pair of tens.
1t is called the dead mans hand because
about forty years ago. in town of Illinois,
celebrated judge bet his house and lot on
three jacks and pair of tens. 1t was the
last piece of property he had in the world.
When his opponent showed up he had three
queens and pair of tens. Upon seeing
the queens the judge fell back dead. clutch
ing the jacks and tens in his hand; and
that's why jack-full on tens is called the
dead mans hand.
'Well, saw the member we are talking
about now win Sc, 900 on this hand. There
were six gentlemen playing, and all were
in, and all had big hands. One had a nine
full, another four-full, another three aces.
another three kings, and another a seven
full. 1t was SO ante and $50 to come
in; but the first man straddled the blind.
making it $40 to come in. AS all took
cards, there was $40 in the pot to begin
with. The first man bet $500. The man
to his left simply called it, but the next
man raised it $500. This put the bet to
$500, and the next man called it. When it
got to the Western member, who dealt. he
raised it to LOCO. This scared everybody
out except another Western man. a distin-
guished railroad lawyer. The lawyer saw
the congressman's 81. 900 and went 81, 900
better, stopping to take a check book from
his coat pocket and draw sight check for
the amount. The congressman saw this
and went $500 better. The lawyer then
began to think. He looked at the COLI
gresham long and sharply to study his
countenance to see if he could form any
idea of the hand he sat upon. Then he fell
TO studying his own hand and to rubbing
his forehead in a meditative way Then
he. aid his cards down, cOolly took out his
check-book, wrote check for
50, 500 and called the congressman. The
congressman held the dead mans hand
and the lawyer three mines and pair of
skies. Subtracting the $40 he had put i'm
the blind and the bets he had made himself,
there was exactly Sc, 100 in the pot which
represented the congressman's winnings on
that hand. Did the game go on? Oh, YES:
but the railroad lawyer had a very dry
cough the balance of the evening, and his
apparent melancholy had depressing effect
on the balance of the company. SO after
an hour, or Whereabouts, the game broke
up, Ihls railroad lawyer who is exceed
ingly well known West and East, went to
New York the next day, and l afterward
heard that he lost $40. 900 one night at
poker in room in the Hoffman House.
"a Southern congressman was credited
last winter with winning enough money aft
poker to pay off a $40, 600 mortgage with
interest on his plantation and to replace his
old mules, plows, wagons and farm imple-
ments generally with new ones. He would
not play except at unlimited games, and he
played with dash and boldness that dis
mayed his opponents. Luck attended him
until the very shank end of the season.
Finally it tnrned, but too late for the losers
TO get much of their money back. The
Southerner went home 500, 000 better off
than he came. This session il has been the
other way. The Southerner hunted up the
same old set, and for few days played
with his magical luck. Then unkind for
tune begrn to vouchsafe to him only small
pairs, which he could never strengthen by a
draw, or exasperating Dutch fulls or tan
talizing bobtail fiushes. So the Southerner
took to blufing, and in time ran up against
a successive series of three aces, king-fulls,
four-ot-a-kind, straight hushes, and the
lrQ wit frgFa
life he couldn't make a small pair eyolute
into threes, and to four hearts he invariably
drew an off-suit, like deceptive diamond
or an omnibus and gruesome spade. SO he
continued to bluff and to-get caught. Now
there is another mortgage on his plantation.
In the old slavery days, when Southern
congressman wanted to raise poker stake
he would sell Niger but now he must
sell few mules or mortgage his plantation,
and, of course, the latter is much the simp-
Ter PLAN"