The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-08-28
A POKER STORY
Hard Rub Between Two 10, al Flush
Hands.

lands
That was a great poker play by
John w. Gates that you people told
about the other day." remarked c. Fred
KimbaIl. the Chicago carriage manu-
facturer, as he sat in the smoker OF
the Holland house recently. But for
a rather unique combination Of cir
cumstances and outcome in an eight
handed game, m me To a tack
pot incident in Washington that A
friend OF mine witnessed. The scene
was the den in the residence of a
w~ell-knOwn cabinet officer, and in the
game were United States Senator Jim
Smith, Of New Jersey; Speaker Reed.
Tom Lowery, Of Minnesota; Gordon
Weld, OF Boston; a well-known coal
operator OF that day, Familiarity ad-
dressed as 'Gordy;' Congressman
Dougherty, Of Florida; Tom Enos, of
New York, a nephew and namesake Of
the famous DR.. Thomas w. Evans, OF
Paris, of whose immense estate the
New York heirs will get about 81, OOO,-
OVO, under the recent compromise; the
cabinet officer host, n another player
whom | don't recall at the moment-it
doesn't mater. 1t was an e~ight-handed
game, not by choice exactly, but be-
cause n after another dropping into
the house had been invited to sit in
and had accepted.
The ante was 80 cents. the limit SO.
A pot had been lacked, and, of course,
had just 81 IN it. You Will note that,
with eight players, there were only
twelve cards left after each deal-of-
ten not enOugh for the draw all around
and the discardS had to be reshuffled
to complete the draw. 1t was Enos'
deal. Weld sat on his left and opened
the pot for So Everybody stayed in,
which made S44 in the pot. Weld drew
one card, and as he did so, said: L
want to call everybody's attention to
my discard-the king of spades'-and
he faced the card up on the pile. Now.
this wasn't exactly according to
Schenck, but it was permissible by
unanimous consent of the party.
The draw proceeded. Help the gen.
tlemen.' was Reeds response, with a
generous wave of the hand, to the
dealers inquiry, and he fondled with
ill-cOncealed satisfaction what appear
ed. of course, to be a pat hand. Be
fore the draw was completed the dis
cards had to be shuffIed. and when it
came Enos' turn to draw ne took only
one card. I'm %pained,' remarked
Gordy, to take good money from you,
gentlemen, but really / must bet the
limit-and up went Il crisp so sheet.
Dougherty stayed. Reed drawled:
You'll be panied still more before you
get through with me, Gordy. Ten bet
ter While I'm unalterably opposed
to initiation of the currency said Low
cry, i must whOOp that up a Bit
and put $50 into the center. The next
three dropped out, but Tom Enos re-
marked with the soft lisp of the Evans
eS: Only ten more. | wish there was
no limit Gordy raised it ten. Dough-
erty thought his was getting too rich
fAr hf- Trnnl-a~ blood nn1 lrnnna1
out. The speaker hit it up ten. Low
cry fell by the wayside, and Enos set
the speaker back another ten. Gordy
raised it up to the limit again. Good
by, sweetheart. ~goOdby,' was the fat
speakers parting salute as he faced
a small red flush on the table and stood
up in his place to see Tom and Gordy
fight it out
Each had drawn only one card, and,
of course. to that extent it was even
Stephen with them. But Gordy must
have had openers to start with. Well,
those two Just sat there and bucked
back and forth so a lick, Gordy at
one time observing that. if Tom want
ed TO go up intd futures. drafts on
the Evans estateN would be accepted
readily by him. Finally. when there
must ave been about 81. 900 in the pot,
Gordy called, simply because, as he eX-
planned. 1t wasn't hardly fair to the
others to delay the game SO long.
Enos exposed a royal flush-the ace,
king, queen, jack and ten of spades.
Gordy's hand vas a royal flush, too
diamonds. with the king at he top
and Tom swept the winnings into his
lap. Gordy had split his openers-a
pair of kings-in order to draw to a
four-straight flush, and had caught
the nine of diamonds, as he had hoped
to do, but his discarded king of spades
exposed was Just hat Tom needed
to fill his four-straight flush. and the
chances were good to get it, for MS
draw was the last, and must come
from the diScards in this instance.
Gordy afterward admitted that he a
seen q: diamond exposed on the top OF
the pack am couldn't resist the temp
tation to split hs openers and take 1t,
but he added, that act was my un-
doing. 1t was my own ki1G OF spades
that downed me for yie.dina % that
temptation
Then the speaker made the follow
ing order: Wei play strictly by rule
after this'-and they did. 1t never
pays to get too good-natured and lax
in a game of poker"