Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-06-20
TO PAY AN OLD SCORE.
Lively Ending to a Poker Game In
Which the Luck Had Been Seesaw-

Lively Ending to a Poker Game In
Which the Luck Had Been Seesaw-
ing.
After a man has played poker all
over the west" said a red haired
sporting man, "he isn't likely to be
very much surprised at anything that
may happen in a full grown man 8
game"
"Mebbe not" said the bartender,
but l played all night on a Missis-
sippi river boat once and got up win
ner when the darkies came in to set
tie surprised"
You needn't have been," said the
other coolly, unless you were the only
tenderfoot in the game, and IL you
had been it wouldn't have happened,
so that bears out what l said.
You do see queer things, though,
when you are playing or even look
ing on" he went on hastily, while
the bartender was trying to puzzle
out his last saying. And It's only
because you get used to seeing almost
anything that you don't get surpris-
ed 1 thought I'd seen pretty near
everything that was liable to happen,
but there was a guy from New Or
leans spruLg a new one on me last
hight right here in New York
Straight flush against fours?" ask
ed the painfully young fellow with
great interest.
II said it was a new one" said the
red haired sport somewhat scornful-
ly. 1T wasn't a very big game, al
though there were two or three Of the
players who are liable to put up all
they have on anything that looks
good to them. The cards were not
running particularly well, though,
and l reckon they were all afraid or
one another.
Anyhow, the luck seasawed all
the time and nobody went broke for
a long while, though it was table
stakes and they only bought a hun
dred apiece for a starter. You know
the kind of a game that Is, just
enough to keep you looking on in the
hope that somebody will drop out and
leave u seat IOT yOu, Uul cuOu6h
to get anybody excited.
lone thing that made me look for
excitement was that Wiley was in the
game, and this New Orleans guy
was waiting, as l was, for a seat at
the table. He calls himself Dunning
now, but when / first ran across him
i'm the south his name was Foster,
and he and Wiley had been sworn
foes.
How 1t was they never came to-
gether l don't know, but they had
threatened to shoot at sight, and
though the shooting didn't happen l
knew enough of the original quarrel
to believe that no actual peace had
been declared. More than that,
had seen the looks they exchanged
when they met at Bonfield's last night
and though l didn't expect to see any
shooting here / felt sure there'd be
some fun If they got together across
the poker table.
Both had the reputation Of being
particularly slick in handling the
cards but I wasn't looking for any
crooked dealing from either Of them
in that game. There were others az
the table as slick as either Of them
ever dared to be, and Bonfield him
self was playing. Nobody Is going to
when he's in the game. 1 knew that,
and there wasn't a man in the room
that didn't know 1t.
well, a poker game may go on a
long time, as this one did, without
anything happening that's worth
WHILE especially when every man at
the table Is an expert. But 1t won't
go on that way forever. The cards
will come some time. So l was great
ly cheered when after they had made
a jackpot, and Bonfield himself had.
dealt, Wiley opened 1t for the size OF
it and there was scramble to get In.
ter the deal, but he passed blind, and
Wiley sat next.
After Wiley opened the next man
threw down his cards, but Hopper
came in and Jack Smith trailed. Then
the next man dropped and Bonfield
trailed.
That made four already in when
Allen looked 1t his cards, and as WI
ley had opened for the size Of the pot
there was $35 in 1t, so Allen boosted
$35. 1t looked as If he wanted to get
the others out, but Wiley looked
pleasant and put up his $35, and Hop
per, who came next, showed his pile
forward.
1T was a little more than any Of
the four others who had stayed had
in front of him, and of course as they
were playing table stakes, no one
could go any further, but each Of the
four put up what he had left, and
| there was nothing to come but the
draw and a showdown.
ALLEN stood pat. Wiley took two
cards Hopper stood pat and Jack
Smith and Bonfield each took two.
There were good hands out, all
round, but Wiley caught a pair to
his three aces and scooped the pot.
That drove four men to the boneyard
and gave a promise Of excitement to
come, for it looked as If the long run
Of poor cards was broken.
Il sat behind Bonfield and Dun
ning sat directly opposite me, behind
Wiley, so l could see, though Wiley
could not, a peculiarly malignant
gleam in the New Orleans mans eye
when he saw Wiley's luck. 1t didn't
interest me any further than to con-
firm my thought that there would be
some fun If Dunning should succeed
in getting a seat.
But he didn't get one. There was
action enough in the game after that,
but though nearly everybody at the
table was forced to buy, so that there
was over $4,000 in sight before the
game broke up and for one was
anxiously looking for some one to get
cold feet and give me a show at the
pile, nobody quit.
"Wiley's luck held. He played a
steady and it seemed to me a conser-
vative game, considering that he was
i'm luck, for he passed on several
bets that l would have covered and