The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-03-13

The Poker Game That Drove Bassett
To Suicide.

3 man stacked up against him with three
kings tov openers. and he caught
third ace in the draw. Waterman had
lost some already and dropped fifty on
his three kings. 50 ne was the next TO
80 TO The b0neyard.
Keep was the third loser, having had
q pat straight beaten i'm the draw by
Bassett, who drew three cards to an
ace and king of diamonds, and made a
flush Then Hutchinson got squeezed
between two good hands, having three
4 of kind himself. and Bassett and L
were the only ones who had not bought.
had lost a little but kept not far
from even, and some of the others had
reCOuped in part, but Bassett was away
winner when suddenly the luck turned.
and he caught a series of hands that
would exhaust the ComstOck lode if
they were played as the average man
would play them.
we knew that he had been some
thing of a loser for long time. but we
( did not know till afterward that he had
grown desperate under his losses, and
had thar very day signed q mortgage
on his homestead for $1,000. and had
come around for a last effort to win
out he was pretty heavily IN debt all
ready, and the $1,000 wasn't enough to
do him much good but it was enough
for heavy play. and he had the gam
blsr's confidence in a turn Of the luck,
IL looked, for a time as if he had
caught it. too. as I said he was a good
winner i'm the first part of the night
but the devil was against him for fair
and if there ever was "a victim of luck.
Bassett certainly was
First I caught him with a full
house against his three tens He had
opened the pot on them, and I had
stayed on a pair. drawing three cards.
so he naturally saw me when I put
UP an 7 had. Then Keep got whack
at him for two hundred when they
each had a fun house and Keeps was
the larger, and Waterman got another
hundred out of him on an ace high
flush, Bassett's being queen high.
He was buying by this time his
velvet being gone, and the next hun
dTed an went to Hutchinson on an
other flush Hutchinson having drawn
two cards ana caught his fourth seven.
! Then Rhames got the best of him with
a straight against his straight. Rhames
/ being the higher one of the two.
TT was really pitiable by this time.
he had had good hands beaten by
everybody around the table and yet
none of us had had any sort of good
luck We had won and lost among
ourselves with no very great advan-
I tage to any one. but Bassett was get
/ ting the lash every time. He never
whimpered, though. but after he had
bought FIVE times he set his teeth and
/ flashed a $500 bill. 1t was the last
+ and all he had in the world, but we -
not know it then.
I either win out or go broke on
+ this he said, as co0lly as if he had
( been buying a dollars worth, and the
/ game grew hercer from that on. We
I knew him for a steady player and
knew he was not likely TO get ratified
] even BIZ such luck az he was getting
and<We an realized that he would make
/ a strong play toward recovery. but
/ naturally enough. we all wanted that
( five hundred, and knowing there was
/ going to be a struggle, we braced up
and played for an we were worth.
There wasn't a break in his bad
luck, though. have seen men pound
/ ed in poker before and since then, and
I've caught 1t myself sometimes. but
/ for good. hard, unremitting streak of
f.. pore euSSedueSS never saw anything
to equal the way the cards ran to Bas-
sett that night Tt wasn't that he
didn't get hands. The trouble was
that he did get them and got EN- so
s9Od that he was fairly forced to play
them. but he didn't win a Dot out of
the last five hundred. He had three of
a kind beaten five OF six times. a flush
( once, a fun house twice and then the
( climax came in the worst two deals 1
/ ever saw.
He caught four mines pat. on my
deal, and sitting on my right he had
+ a chance to play them. for Keep
. opened the pot and Rhsmes and Water
man both stayed, Hutchinson dropping
out. Bassett looked at his cards and
said Here's where I make a winning
at last He came in and raised it a
hundred. / dropped out, but Keep saw
the raise and so did Rhames. both hav-
ing three Of a kind That made nearly
four hundred in the pot and 7 could see
Bassett's eyes CLEAN It certainly did
look as if he were going to get back
a slice of his losses, but on the draw
Keep got his fourth ten.
He Clipped and Rhames stayed. not
having bettered. Bassett drew one
card and, looking at it carefully before
betting, he raised it a hundred again.
Keep only had ninety in front of him.
50 ne had to call, and Rhames laid
down. Of course, Bassetts four mines
were no good
Il mad never seen tours beaten be-
fore ana that seemed about as hard q
blow as a man could get but on
Keeps deal poor Bassett got it even
harder. for he caught straight flush
pat ten high. II went around to him.
no one else having openers, and Hutch
lnson stayed, having seven, eight, nine
and ten of clubs.
"Bassett put up $50, leaving only
about hundred and thirty in front OF
him out of his thousand. and HUtchin-
son looked at his draw He had caught
the jack of clubs. and there was a
genuine look Of regret on his face as
he said, 7 am really sorry for you
Bassett. I've got TO raise YOU for al
you've got but advise you not TO cali
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