The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1906-01-28
The Ethics of Draw Poker

ace. king and queen. Under ordinary
conditions / should have surely dropped
when they got raising back and forth,
as they did before the draw, but 1 had
a bunch. backed up by a few extra
drinks, and 1 stuck 10 the bunch Ike
a leech.
Il drew one card and mixed it with
my hand. The opener who had three
kings, took two and another man, with
aces up, took one. I skinned mine back
very closely, saw the top OF d new
club, and shut my hand.
The opener bet 500 The other man
called. I figured correctly on threes Tor
the first and two good pairs for the
second,
'SFhe huneh, the drinks and my ace
king-queen flush were strong on me,
ana 1 raised them $500 all the money
had in the world. They looked at me
and dropped. They knew my game too
well to come on.
a. What did you have anyway KID
asked the opener, throwing down his
All pink said as evenly as 1
could, raking in the pot. There they are
Pretty, aren't theyT and l tossed out
on the table my ace. king. queen and
six OF clubs and the five OF spades
Il had never filed after all When
skinned back I saw crooked.
u reckon it's up TO me-" he said.
I'll try TO tell you yarn thaI mas
politics pretty much mixed up with
Hoyie. My father used TO tell II years
''He was travelling to New Orleans on
one OF those before the war MISSISSIPPI
river steamboats,. when he got mixed up
in game with two Old COCKS. FAMOUS
hands at poker and very well-known
planters in Louisiana. There was moth
ing particularly noteworthy about the
situation until the night before the boat
was due at New Orleans
1T was shen well on toward morning
that my father opened a jack on pair
of queens The first planter boosted him
him $500 better
My father dropped The first planter
put up his 500 and drew one card. The
second stood pat.
THE first bet five hundred without
looking at his draw. The second raised
him a thousand
The first picked up his cards. ex-
amlned them carefully, smiled and raised
two thousand back-and they kept that
up back and forth until they both had
every cent they owned in the world in
Guiding their plantations. up on that
game. yet neither of them had called.
so as they were both out OF money
they agreed 10 seal their hands up in
envelopes. leave them with my father
and arrange in New York for funds to
finish the game on the return trip.
My father carefully stamped each
seal with his own crest and put the en-
Velopes in his pocket. Then the session
adjourned for four days.
~ he story of the thing ran through
New Orleans Both men were well
known. and during the first two days
bets We're freely given and taken on
the success of each. But then rumOr
went around that changed public opinion
considerably.
1T appeared that the older of the two
had given a tip to his brother and sew
erai of his closest friends on the value OF
his hand, and before noon on the third
day they were Offering all kinds of
money at good odds without finding any
takers.
My father found out afterward that
this news was carefully steered to the
younger man and that il finally deter
mined him To carry out the dramatic
scene that ended the game.
ION the fourth day, before a CROWD of
excited witnesses, my father and the
two players met on the boat. My father
handed each man his sealed envelope.
THE older planter opened his care
lessly and pushed his Brothers check
for $4,000 on the table. The younger
stood up. holding his packet in his hand.
Gentlemen he said, 4 am beaten.
/ know that my opponents hand is bet
bet against him would be simply theft.
/ have already squandered my family
estates and robbed my children OF their
bread. 1 have but one Teparation to
make
And before man could raise hand
to stop him he whipped out a pistol and
shot himself through the heart
My GodY cried the winner, and ]
only had a four-card flush.
"A dozen hands tore open the envel-
ope clenched in the still quivering fingers
of the dead, and prOduced-a pair Of
treys" New York SUB