Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 May 1877 — A Poker-Player’s Bluff on a Pair of Fours. [ARTICLE]

A Poker-Player’s Bluff on a Pair of Fours.

One night I was sitting by the chair of a player, who was an old acquaintance and a Virginian. It was a pretty high game, the chips being fives, twenty-fives and fifties. At one stage of the game somebody got to raising before the draw, and in a minute or two there was as much as SI,OOO on the board. When the hands were helped, one man took one card, another stood pat, another took two cards, and so did the party behind whose chair I was sitting. They all bet before he did, and the amount put up by each was, if I remember, SSOO straight. When it came to my friend’s turn, he went into his breast-pocket, pulled out a wallet, and flshed thence a certified check or draft for $8,500. Going to a desk, he wrote his name across the back, resumed his seat, threw the paper in the center, and said: “Gentlemen, I’ve been runout of VirSinia. . I was once a man of wealth, but xe war came and closed me out. I settled up my business the best I could, and that certified check for $8,500 represents not only the fortune I once had, but is eveiy dollar I have in the world. 1 see that SSOO the gentleman bet, and the balance of this check, $8,000.” The man who stood pat, as he turned up his cards and showed a big flush, said: “I lay down mine.” Another laid down a full; the next, three aces. My friend then raked in the pile and showed his hand. He had a pair of fours.— Washington Republican.