The sun., 1907-08-11
ONE KING BEAT FOUR QUEENS
DRAW POKER AS KALAkAUA or
HAWAII PLAYED IT.


That Robert Louis stevenson watched
But the King Was Unluciy ss q Rule.
OLD WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, w. Va,
Aug. i0."Did any Of you ever happen TO sit
into a game Of draw where king beat four
queens" inquired the sugar planter from
Hawaii while the early arrivals Of the poker
bunch rat about on the porch Of the hache-
lors' clubhouse on Paradise Row waiting for
the beginning Of the regular afternoon
poker session.
Nobody in the group had ever heard Of It's
being done just that way, and they said 30.
well, said the sugar planter from Homo
lulu, l not only saw IL done in that way
but was in the game when IL was DONE
Worse than that. l was the victim Of it,"
Kind o. wahm around here tuh-day
suhs, don't you think" put in the tobacco
merchant from Danville, Va, and the rest
of them scratched their heads and gazed at
the sugar planter thoughtfully.
But the king, ought to elucidate," went
on the man from Honolulu, wasn't card,
That is TO say, he was card right enough,
but not paper one. He wasa sure enough
king, and his name was Dave Kalakaua.
Dave was the King Of Hawaii, as all Of you
gentlemen know.
-Now. don't form the impression that I'm
endeavoring to overwhelm anybody with
the idea that | oustomarily play poker with
kings or that I'm any stuck up over having
played draw with King Dave Kalakaua.
Dave was the only king ever dished hand
for, and that s because he was one of my
neighbors and pals.
But Dave played poker and was pals
with lots Of folks down in the islands.
should state right here that most Of us
used 10 soak Dave right hard at draw.
Not that he wasn't good player, for he
was, but he had the proverbial luck OF kings
at gambling. He never caught much to
what he held out.
HE. wasn't a natural born hand helper
and he was some reckless with the kings
revenues on poor looking truck in the way OF
poker hands. That's why he had big
poker deficit at the windup of every poker
year when he did his casting up
THE only time l ever saw Dave Kala-
kaua get by with big bluff was once when
he hooked up with Mr.. An Fong. the tre-
mendously wealthy father of the famous
family Of All Fong girls many Of whom
married American men Of standing. There
were five men in the game on that occasion.
and the turquoise sky of Hawaii was the
limit. First, Dave himself.
Let me straighten out a seeming fa-
miliarity We called Kalakaua Dave in
private. II was at his own request. He
hated formality with friends. My names
Dave to you; you may call me that. he
would say.
well. then, Kalakaua himself was one
- Hua Than Mr Ennn 80 a,
sbrewdest business men and kindliest gen.
tlemen that ever / touched fingers with in
my life. Sam Parker. who has grown up
with Hawaii's growth. and is one of our
big men. was in il. and so was Paul Neu-
mann. Honolulus leading lawyer. l was
the other one.
The King of all Hawaii was the last
years bird's-nest in that game right up to
the finish OF the sitting, when he came like
a Tahiti typhoon. Mr.. All Fong had in
serted terrific dent in his kingly person
once when Dave. dealing. dished himself a
pat queen high flush of diamonds. and then.
with great inadvertence. not to say care
lessness, handed Mr.. All Fong, who was
right next him under the gun. an ace high
flush Of diamonds-a phenomenal occur
renee, by the way. two pat fiushes of the
same suit out against each other in a five
handed game.
The things that the big framed Chinese
merchant planter proceeded TO do unto
his liege right then and there. with his top
flush Of the same flush suit that Dave had.
1t we're dismal to tell of. Dave sent four
thousand along after his little assortment
OF all one color queen high papers, and then
Mr.. All Fong. naturally concluding that the
King had something considerably neater
than his own, called.
Kings must have looked chagrined at
all stages OF the worlds history. but none
Of them at any stage Of the situation
could ever have looked quite SO chagrined
as Dave Kalakaua did when the Chinese
planter sifted his ace high flush Of diamonds
down on the table and in the same motion
hoed the chips over to his side of il.
But Dave wasn't any bad loser nor gutter
either, and he stuck right around in the
game, though many a good pokerist after a
wallop like that would have become reevish
and superstitious about it and cashe1 in
for his. Dave wasn't that sort and he
stayed with it.
He. got another awful mean punch not
many minutes after that. 1t was a jack
pot, and Dave being under the barbette-
me dealing didn't pick his papers up at all
but passed blind for play.
Nobody opened it. But every one OF
us. on looking at our cards. muttered gloom
ily' for two Of US had four fiushes to draw to
and two others were there with bob straights
TO pull to. Very foolishly Dave picked up
his cards to see what he'd passed blind on
No man who passes blind ought ever by
any chance to look at his tickets at all II
the thing isn't cracked, for he's pretty liable
to find mostly every time that he's ignored
the real merchandise.
Il could see Kalakau's features twitch-
ing when he picked up the mess he'd passed
blind on, and then he threw them out face
up on the board. There were only four
tens in the layout. He relieved himself by
making a few observations in the liquid
Kanaka language, but l don't believe he
was invoking the Goddess Pee of the vol
canoes or any Of the truly good spirits at
that.
Even this horrible experience didn't
drive King Dave out Of the game for nobody
was ever more willing to go the full cup
distance at a poker seance than he. But Il
wasn't till we were about ready to break
up at 4 in the morning that Dave oiled
his guns for a final play.
Il was the dealer beginning the final two