The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-10-04
whose poker YARN is THIS?

four queens?' inquired the sugar
planter from Hawaii while the earlier
arrivals of the poker bunch sat about
on the porch of the bachelors club
house on Paradise Row waiting for the
beginning of the regular afternoon
poker session, says the Detroit Free
Press.
Nobody in the group had ever heard
of its being done just that way, and
they said so.
We'll" said the sugar planter from
Honolulu, Il not only saw it done in
that way, but | was in the game when
it was done. Worse than that, l was
the victim of it,"
But the king, ought to elucidate,"
went on the man from Honolulu.
wasn't card That is to say, he was
a card right enough, but not paper
one. He was a 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 l custom
arily play poker with kings or that I'm
any stuck up over having played draw
with King Dave Kalakaua, Dave was
the only king l ever dished a. card 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 ISL
ands. l should state right here that
most of us used to soak Dave right
hard at draw. Not that he wasn't a
good player, for he was, but he had
the proverbial luck of kings at gam
bling. 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 a big poker deficit
at the windup of every poker yea.
when he did his casting up.
THE only time I ever saw Dave
Kalakaua get by with big bluff was
once when he hooked up with Mr..
Along, the tremendously wealthy faith
err of the famous family of Along girls
so 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
familiarity. We called Kalakaua Dave
in private. 1t 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 of the five. Then Along, one OF
the shrewdest business men and kind-i
Hest gentlemen that ever 1 touched fin
gers with in my life. Sam Parker, who !
has grown up with Hawaii's growth, !
and is one of our big men, was in it, !
and so was Paul Neumann, Honolulus
leading lawyer. l was the other one.
"The king of all Hawaii was the
last years birds nest in that game
right up to the finish of the sitting. |
when he came like a Tahiti typhoon. |
Mr.. Along had inserted a terrific |
dent in his kindly person once when |
Dave, dealing, dished himself a pat |
queen high flush of diamonds, anu
then, with great inadvertence, not to
say carelessness, handed Mr. Along
who was right next to him under the |
gun, an ace high flush of diamonds-a |
occurrence, by the way,
two pat nushes of the same suit out |
against each other in a fve-handeu
game.
THE things that the big framed
Chinese merchant-planter proceeded
TO do unto his liege right then ana
here, with his top flush of the same
suit that Dave had, it were dismal to
ell of. Dave sent 1000 along after his
little assortment of all one color queen
nigh papers, and then Mr.. Along
naturally concluding that the king mad
considerably nearer than
MS own, called.
Kings must have looked chagrined
1t all stages of the worlds history, but
none of them at any stage of the SIT
lation could ever have looked quite so
,hagrined as Dave Kalakaua did when
he Chinese planter sifted his ace high
lush of diamonds down on the table
lpd in the same motion hoed the chips
)ver to his side of it.
But Dave wasn't any bad loser nor
luitter, either, and he stuck right
Iround in the game, though many a
good pOkerist after a wallop like that
would have become peevish and super
jtitious about it and cashed in for mis-
Dave wasn't that sort, and he stayed
With it.
"He got another awful mean punch
lot many minutes after that. 1t was
jackpot, and Dave being under the
dealing-d dn't pick his
,apers up at all, but passed blind for
play.
Nobody opened It, But every one
# us, on looking at our cards, NUT
cred gIOOmilV for two Of us had fOur