Jimmy Hickok was bone tired.  He didn’t know where Teaspoon Hunter kept coming up with these “special” runs that he seemed to find with regularity but this last one had come danged close to getting Jimmy killed.  The man figured if he kept up this kind of life, he was going to end up in an early grave and not from being on the wrong end of a gun the way everyone seemed to be predicting.

The rider sent up a silent prayer of gratitude when he reigned in at the Sweetwater Pony Express station to find it empty.  He wasn’t due back until the next morning and the regular mail rider wasn’t due through until the following Thursday so he really hadn’t expected anyone to be waiting for him.

Jimmy took care of his horse, then made his way wearily to the bunkhouse.  He fell, fully clothed onto his bunk.  A shower could wait, he decided.  Right now he just hoped the others would stay away long enough for him to get some much needed sleep.  Otherwise, he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions.


“I told you he was back!”

Cody’s voice pierced Hickok’s dream like a knife popping a balloon.  The sleeper moaned softly at the invasion. 

“Hey, Hickok, you awake?” the blond rider prodded.

For a minute Hickok considered ignoring the other man.  But, knowing Cody, he knew feigning sleep wouldn’t be enough of a deterrent.  “I am now,” he replied grumpily, refusing to open his eyes.

“Cody, dang it, did it ever occur to you that Jimmy wanted to sleep?” Lou reprimanded quietly as she entered the bunkhouse.  “Sorry, Jimmy,” she added as she realized she was too late.  “I tried to stop him.”

“It’s okay, Lou,” Jimmy replied, opening his eyes to smile at the girl. 

“There’ll be plenty of time to sleep after it’s over!” Cody argued. 

“After what’s over?” Jimmy asked.

“The tournament!” Cody told him as if that would explain everything.

“What tournament?”

“You didn’t stop in town on your way out?” Cody asked incredulously.  “There’s a big poker tournament that’s going to be going on starting on Saturday!”

“You woke me up for a poker game?” Jimmy all but roared.

“Not just a game,” Cody argued.  “A tournament.  They are going to be playing for a week and the one that wins at the end gets all the entry fees-and prize money too.  They are playing at the hotel and word is, the prize money alone is one thousand dollars.”

“And you figure you’re going to win all that money?” Hickok asked.

“If you help me I can,” Cody replied enthusiastically.  “They’re playing a game I ain’t never heard of.  It’s called Texas Hold ‘em.  I reckoned if anyone knows anything about that game, it’s you.”  He paused to eye his friend speculatively.  “You do know how to play it don’t you?”

Hickok shook his head in disbelief.  He still couldn’t believe that Cody had risked his life to wake him from a sound sleep just to find out if he knew anything about a game of poker. 

Cody mistook the movement for a negative response.  His expressive face fell as he realized that, without Jimmy’s help, there was no way he could win the prize he had so hoped to win-that he’d already been planning how to spend.

“You don’t know it either?” he asked Hickok plaintively.

Jimmy looked at the other man and considered his options.  If he said yes he was going to be stuck teaching Cody how to play the game and, if he knew Cody, he would get no rest until the other rider knew everything he knew.  If he said no he was going to be stuck watching Cody mope around the bunkhouse, lamenting about how he could have used the money he would have surely won-if only he’d known how to play the game.

It was a no win situation, but Jimmy decided quickly that a few days of being bothered with questions had to be better than a month or more of whining.

“It’s a lot like seven-card stud,” he said resignedly.


One thing became obvious in the next hour or so-Cody knew absolutely nothing about poker. 

“You mean you never even played penny-ante?” Buck asked incredulously.  The Kiowa had been introduced to the game very early in his life among the white men.  Even at the mission school, the precious deck of cards was protected from detection by the nuns at all costs.

“My ma didn’t allow gambling in the house,” Cody admitted sheepishly.  “And my sisters were really good at tattling on me if I so much as looked at the place where the men went.”

“All right,” Jimmy said with a sigh.  “We’ll have to start at the beginning then.” 

Reaching for a worn deck, he expertly shuffled the cards, then fanned them out in front of his “pupil.”

“There are fifty-two cards in a deck,” he started.

“Even I know that,” Cody snorted. 

“Do you want me to teach you or not?” Jimmy asked irritably.

Cody ducked his head in apology. 

Jimmy paused to consider the most effective way of teaching.  “I guess the best way to do this is to just play the game,” he said finally. 

Turning to the other riders, he gave them a look that told them if he was going to be stuck doing this, they were going to be helping.  The others took their seats without a word of argument. 

Lou reached for a box of matches before joining them.  “May as well have something to bet with,” she explained.  While she separated the matches into equal piles, Jimmy continued his explanation.

“Poker is played with a standard deck of fifty-two playing cards,” he said.  “The cards are ranked from high to low in the following order: ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three and two.  Aces are always high.  Aces are worth more than kings which are worth more than queens which are worth more than jacks, and so on.  Got that so far?”

“Yeah,” Cody responded.  “I do know some things you know?”

“All right,” Jimmy agreed.  “It’s just easier to tell you everything than to miss something you don’t know.”

“Oh, all right,” Cody replied happily.

“The cards are also separated into four suits,” the “teacher” continued.  “The suits are: clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds.”

“I knew that too,” Cody muttered, then became silent as Jimmy stared at him.

“The suits are all of equal value, meaning that no suit is more valuable than another,” Jimmy said, ignoring the interruption.  “The object of the game is to end up with the highest-valued hand.”

“But how do I know what’s the highest-valued hand?” Cody asked. 

“If you listen to me I’ll tell you,” Jimmy said in a quiet voice that got Cody’s attention and let him know the gunslinger was losing his patience.  “From best to worst, hands are ranked like this:
royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair and high card.”

He held up his hand to stall the inevitable question.  “A royal flush is the most valuable hand in all of poker.  It’s the ten, jack, queen, king and ace, all of the same suit.  It's the toughest hand to get.”

Reaching out he pulled a set of cards from the deck to illustrate. 

“A straight flush is five cards in order, all of the same suit,” he continued setting up another hand. 

“Is a queen, king, ace, two, three, a straight flush?” Cody asked.  The other riders fought to keep from laughing.

“No,” Jimmy said simply.  “This is a very rare hand too.  If you get two of these in a row, you’re cheating.”

“But it is possible isn’t it?” Cody asked.  “And is it possible that two people will both get a straight flush at the same time?”

“Yeah, it is,” Jimmy said as patiently as possible.  “But it probably means one of you is cheating.”

“So what happens if it does happen?”

“If there are two straight flushes at the table, then the hand with the highest card wins.”

“All right,” Cody said nodding.  “Go on.”

“Four of a kind is just what it says, four kings, four queens, whatever,” Jimmy said sorting out four sevens as his example.  “A full house is where you have three cards of one value and two more of another.  Like this.”  He shuffled the cards around until he had an example. 

“If two people have a full house,” he added hurriedly anticipating the next question.  “The one with the highest three of a kind wins.  If both players have the same three of a kind, then the two of a kind makes the difference.”

“But how could two people have the same three of a kind?” Cody asked, confused.  This time the other riders had the same confused look on their faces.

“I’ll get to that in a minute,” Jimmy replied.  “It’s something that can happen in Texas Hold ‘em that can’t happen in most other games.”

Shuffling the cards again, he dealt out two more hands of five.  “This is a flush,” he explained.  “All the cards are of the same suit, but they aren’t in order.  If there are two flushes in a hand the one with the highest card wins.”

Cody nodded his understanding.

“And this,” Jimmy continued pointing at the last hand, “is a straight.  It’s five cards in order but not the same suit.  And they can’t wrap around either!”

“All right,” Cody said.  “I understand what the rest of them are.  They’re easy.”

“Good.”  Jimmy was relieved that he wouldn’t have to explain two pair.  “Now, let’s just play a hand and I’ll explain what happens.” 


Starting to pull the stack of matchsticks Lou had carefully sorted to a position directly in front of him, Jimmy paused for a minute.  “A real tournament has someone set up to do all the dealing, that way there’s less chance of cheating.”

“That’s what the sign at the hotel said,” Cody confirmed.  “They’re bringing in some professional dealer from Mississippi.”

“Good,” Jimmy replied.  “In that case, I won’t play, I’ll just deal.” 

He paused again, knowing what came next would probably cause some confusion.  But, if they were hiring a professional dealer, the odds were they were going to play the professional way.

“The players don’t ante up like they do in regular poker,” he started.  “Instead they’ll do what they call a ‘blind bet’.” 

The other riders were paying close attention.  This was new to them too.

“First off, the tables usually have a limit as to how small, and how big, a bet you can make,” he explained.  “The ‘blind bet’ has to be at least the lower limit.  The guy on the dealer’s left has to put in what they call the ‘small blind’, and the guy next to him has to put in what they call the ‘big blind’.  The ‘small blind’ is one half the low bet limit and the ‘big blind’ is the whole low limit.”

Looking around, he could see from the glazed looks in his friends’ eyes that he’d lost not only Cody, but the rest of the group as well.

“All right, real simple,” he said, trying a different tack.  “Say the table has a ten dollar low bet limit.  The guy to the left of the dealer has to put five dollars in the pot and the guy to his left has to put ten dollars in before the game can start.”

“That’s not real fair, is it?”  Cody asked.  “The same two guys have to start of every time?”

“Nah, it changes every time,” Jimmy explained.  “The dealer has to keep track of who the last guy was and switch one to the left every hand.”

“Oh,” Cody said, not entirely convinced.

“They’ll usually have what they call a ‘button’,” Jimmy tried again.  “It’s some kind of marker that they put in front of the last guy to make the ‘small blind’.  Each time they start a new hand, the marker will move one player to the left.”

“Why don’t they just ante up like in regular poker?” Buck asked. 

Jimmy scratched his head reflectively.  “I don’t know,” he admitted.  “It’s just the way they do things.”

“Anyway, after the blind bet is made, the dealer deals the cards face down around the table, starting at the player to his left and going around the table,” Jimmy said, dealing the cards as he spoke.  “These are called the ‘pocket’ or ‘hole’ cards.”

“Why doesn’t he deal them two at a time?” Cody asked curiously. 

“That’s just not the way it’s done,” Jimmy replied.

“In other words, you don’t know,” Cody muttered under his breath, earning him another glare.

“All right, once everyone has their hole cards, they can start to bet,” he continued, getting back to the game.  “The hand is divided into rounds.  The first round you either bet or you fold.”

“What’s ‘fold’?” Cody asked.

“It’s where you don’t think your hand is good enough so you quit while you’re ahead,” Kid offered.

“Exactly,” Jimmy agreed.

“But how will I know if my hand is good enough until I see the rest of the cards?” Cody asked.

“That’s why they call it gambling, Cody,” Lou contributed.  “You’re betting that your hand is better than anyone else’s and taking the chance that it isn’t.”

“All right,” Cody replied thoughtfully, cautiously glancing at the cards he’d been dealt.  He looked up again, grinning from ear to ear. 

Jimmy sighed.  “Cody,” he said.  “One of the first things you need to learn is how to keep a poker face.”

“Huh?” the other man returned.

“You grin like that every time you get a good hand,” Jimmy told him, “everyone’s going to know and no one’s going to bet against you.”

“Oh,” Cody responded.  He struggled to make his face more serious but everyone at the table knew it was a losing battle.

“All right, the betting starts with the third person to the left of the dealer,” Jimmy explained.  “That’s you Ike.” 

“Why isn’t it the first guy?” Kid asked. 

“Because the first and second guy already bet when they put in the blind,” Jimmy told him.  “This way they can raise their own bets when it’s their turn.  Ike has to at least call to stay in the game.”

“He can’t check?” Buck asked.

“Not in the first round,” Jimmy replied.

“You lost me,” Cody said plaintively.  “Call?  Raise?  Check?”

Jimmy shook his head.  This wasn’t going to be easy.  “Call is when you match the last bet-sometimes they say ‘see’ instead of call but it means the same thing.  So in this case, Ike has to put in at least four matches to say in the game.  A raise is when you put in more than the last bet-but you have to put in the minimum each time.  So if the minimum is four matches, then you have to put in at least four and if you want to raise you have to put in at least four more.  A check is when you’re playing and no one else has raised and you don’t want to either.  You can’t do that in the first round because the blinds have already put money in and you have to at least match that.  Got it?”

“What if I want to raise it by more than four?” 

“Then you have to increase it by four at a time,” Jimmy clarified. “You can put in eight or twelve or anything that is a multiple of four.”

“Oh, all right, I raise you twenty,” Cody said confidently.

“You can’t bet yet,” Kid told him.  “It’s not your turn.”

“Sorry,” Cody apologized.

Ike folded, as did Lou and Kid.  When Cody’s turn finally came he happily pushed twenty matches to the center of the table.

“You need to call first,” Jimmy corrected.  “You have to match the first bet before you can raise it.”

“All right,” Cody said, pushing four more matches forward.

Buck looked at his cards, then looked at Cody and the pile of matches on the table.  “I’ll call,” he said.

“Now see how Buck put twenty-four matches in the pot?” Jimmy asked.  “He has to match your total bet to stay in the game.  Otherwise he would have to fold and you would win automatically.”

“Oh really?” Cody asked.  “So if no one else stays in the game I win?”

“Right,” Jimmy agreed.  “But since Buck did stay in we keep playing-and if you want to you can raise again.”

“Really?” Cody exclaimed.  “How many times can I raise it?”

“The usual limit is four times per round,” Jimmy said.  “Are you going to?”

Cody hesitated.  “No, I don’t think so,” he said finally.  “I think I’ll wait and see what happens next.”

Jimmy carefully set one card aside then dealt three cards face up on the table.  “This is called the flop,” he explained.  “Everyone who’s still playing gets to use these three cards as part of their hand.  That’s why they’re called the community cards.”

Cody’s grin disappeared as he saw the jack of diamonds, nine of clubs and eight of hearts Jimmy had turned up.  “Why didn’t you use the top card?” he asked.

“Because the rules say you don’t,” Jimmy replied.  “Now you and Buck have to decide if you want to check or raise.  You go first because you were the first one to bet in the other round.”

“Now, if I want to raise again I can, right?” Cody asked, sneaking a peak at his hole cards.

“If that’s what you want to do,” Jimmy told him.  “Or you can check if you don’t want to.”

“But if I raise then Buck has to match what I put in if he wants to keep playing?”

“Yes,” the dealer confirmed.

“All right, I raise twenty more,” Cody said cockily.  “Do I need to put in twenty-four this time?”

“No,” Jimmy replied.  “You are the first one to bet in this round so you only have to put in what you want to bet.”

“I’ll call,” Buck said, matching Cody’s bet.

“All right, the next card is called the turn,” Jimmy explained, turning up an eight of clubs.  “Now, you see there are a pair of eights in the community cards.  That means you both have a pair of eights in your hand.  This is how you can end up with two people having three of a kind.  If I deal out another eight then there are three in the community and everyone still playing can use all three of them.”

“But we both have them, so neither one of us has an advantage because of what’s out there,” Buck added.

“Yup,” Jimmy confirmed.  “Cody you can bet again if you want or you can check.”

“Hmmmmm,” the blond rider said looking at his hidden cards again.  He shuffled the matches in front of him around a little, then shook his head.  “I’ll check.”

Buck looked at Cody’s face and came to a quick decision.  “I’ll raise you eight,” he said pushing the bet into the pot.

Cody looked at him thoughtfully.  “Now if I want to keep playing I have to match the eight you just put in, right?”

“Yes!” the other riders said almost as one.

“All right,” Cody said hesitantly.  “I’ll call.”
 
“This is the last card,” Jimmy said, turning up a nine of diamonds.  “They call this one the river-don’t ask why ‘cuz I don’t know.”

“And now we bet again?” Cody said, his “poker” face lighting up with glee.

“If you want to.”

“What happens if I don’t?” Cody asked.

“You turn over your hole cards and see who wins,” Jimmy replied.

“All right, I check,” Cody replied smugly.  “Don’t need no more matches anyway.”

Buck hesitated.  The others could tell he was debating his next move.  “I’ll check,” he said finally.

Cody triumphantly turned over his two hidden cards to reveal a nine and a four.  “That’s a full house,” he crowed.  “Right?”

Buck sighed in disgust then threw his cards in Jimmy’s direction. 

“Does this mean I win?” Cody asked innocently.  When the others nodded, he scooped up the matches from the pot and put them in front of him.  “What did you have, Buck?”

“He doesn’t have to show you, Cody,” Jimmy explained.  “It’s enough that he admits you won.”

“But why can’t I see what he had?” the blond asked.

“Because he doesn’t want you to,” Lou told him.  “He could have been bluffing but you won’t know that for sure and next time he might be able to bluff you into quitting.”

“I can’t believe he even bet with a nine and a four!” Buck muttered.

“It beat you, didn’t it?” Cody taunted. 


The group continued to play with Jimmy advising and explaining as they went along.  He called a break a bit later when tempers began to flare. 

Cody was playing every hand-no matter what his hole cards were.  Even worse, he was winning on a far too regular basis.  Worse still was his attitude.  Normally self-assured to the point of cockiness, the blond rider was becoming insufferably smug as the pile of matches in front of him continued to grow. 

“Are you sure you’re not ‘helping’ him a little?” Lou asked Jimmy quietly.

“No, I’m not,” the man replied stiffly.  If had been anyone but Lou . . .

“Sorry,” the girl apologized quickly.  “It just seems like a lot more than ‘beginner’s luck’.”

“Yeah,” Buck agreed.  “So help me, if he says how his stupid playing is still better than mine, I’m going to belt him.”

“You just gotta learn to read him is all,” Jimmy suggested.  “He wouldn’t know a poker face if it bit him on the nose.”

“I know!” Kid lamented.  “But dang it, even when he has a bad hand, he still sits over there grinning like a fool.”

“Sometimes I think he grins even more!” Buck commented thoughtfully.

The other riders looked at him, understanding dawning on their faces.


Cody’s luck changed after the break.  It wasn’t immediate-he still had a lot of luck running on his side, but the amounts he won were smaller, and he began to lose more matches and more frequently.

Even with Cody’s losses, it was Kid who ran out of matches first.  He, Buck and Cody were still in on a hand where the raises had been fast and furious.  Kid was several matches short of having enough to call Cody’s last raise.

“All right, here’s another thing that’s different about Texas Hold ‘em,” Jimmy said, interrupting the play.  “If you don’t have enough to call, you can do what’s called going all-in.  That means you are betting everything you have and if you win you get everything in the pot up to what was there before the last round of raises plus what you have in your hand.”

“Huh?” Cody said, thoroughly confused.

“You raised twenty,” Jimmy tried a second time.  “Kid only has fifteen.  He can go all in and bet the fifteen he has.  You and Buck can either take back the extra five you bet or the two of you can keep playing using a side pot.  If Kid has the best hand, he gets what’s in the main pot and then whichever of you two has the better hand gets the side pot.”

“What happens when Kid loses?” Cody asked condescendingly.  He didn’t notice Lou reaching out to keep Kid from standing. 

“He’s out of the game-if he loses,” Jimmy told them.

“I’m all in then,” Kid said as pleasantly as possible through gritted teeth.

Jimmy carefully separated ten of the matches in the pot, pushing to the side.  “Buck?” he asked, looking at the other player.  “You call Cody’s raise?”

“Yeah,” the Kiowa responded.  “And I’ll raise him twenty.”

Cody’s haughty “Check” was followed by the turning of the hole cards.  The blond rider’s face fell as he realized not only did Buck have a better hand than he did, but Kid had the best hand of the three. 

Just two hands later, he was stung even harder when the hand was down to just him and Lou and she went all-in with a pair of threes in play.  Smiling coyly, the girl turned over her hidden pair of jacks winning out over Cody’s pair of sevens.


The game went on until darkness fell and even then Cody wanted to keep playing.  “How’m I gonna get any practice if no one will play with me?” he whined.  “The tournament starts tomorrow night!”

The fact that he hadn’t even wanted to stop for dinner wasn’t lost on his bunkmates. 

“Probably the first time ever,” Buck muttered.

“Well, I’m done,” Kid said, tossing yet another losing hand back to Jimmy. 

Me too, Ike signed as he watched Cody scoop up the last of his matches. 

“I can loan you some,” Cody offered, starting to separate the matches into three piles. 

“That’s all right,” Kid deferred.  “Teaspoon said something about another special run tomorrow and I’m up so I’d better get some sleep.”

“Ike?” Cody offered.

I’m done for the night, thanks anyway, the other rider responded.

“Cody, the sign said it cost one-hundred dollars to get into the tournament in town,” Lou said quietly.  “Do you have that kind of money?”

“Almost,” Cody admitted sheepishly. 

“How much is ‘almost’?” Buck asked warily.

“Well, I got seventy-five in the bank and another ten in my ready cash,” Cody replied.

“Then you’re still fifteen dollars short,” Jimmy said, knowing what was coming next.  “They won’t let you play short.”

“Well-“

“Here it comes!” Kid said.

“Come on, guys,” Cody pleaded.  “You know I’m good for it!” 

He looked at the five people who were staring at him, shaking their heads.  “It’s only three dollars apiece.”

Looking down at the pile of matches in front of him, he added, “Heck, if these were money, I’d have won it from you all by now!”

Buck shoved his remaining matches into Cody’s pile.  “Maybe you can sell them then,” he said sarcastically. 


No amount of pleading on Cody’s part could get the other riders to give in and loan him the money.  He finally gave up-when Buck threatened to shut him up if he didn’t let them all get some sleep.

First thing the next morning, though, the blond tried another tack.  “How about this,” he suggested.  “We play poker for the money?” 

At their disgusted looks, he continued, “Hey, if I lose my ten dollars then I’ll give it up.  If I win, then I get to play in the tournament and I’ll pay you guys back with my winnings.”

“You’re assuming you’re going to win,” Teaspoon commented.  The station manager had come into the bunkhouse that morning to hear Cody whining about the kind of “friends” the others had turned out to be.

“I won just about everything they had yesterday,” Cody bragged.  “And I ain’t never played the game before!”

Buck had had enough.  Only Lou stepping between him and the other rider stopped the Kiowa from slugging the other man. 

“Luck’s a funny thing, Cody,” Teaspoon mused, keeping the blonde’s attention while Ike and Lou calmed Buck down.  “She can be standing beside you one day and turn her back on you the next.”

“Wasn’t ‘luck’, Teaspoon,” Cody replied confidently.  “It was skill!”

“All right, that does it!” Buck said angrily.  “Put your money where your mouth is, Cody!”  Reaching into his vest pocket he pulled some coins out and slapped them down on the table.

Cody’s smile grew as Ike, Lou, Jimmy and even Teaspoon followed Buck’s lead.  “I may not even have to go to the bank,” he crowed.


The game started out pretty much the way it had left off the previous evening.  By mutual agreement, Jimmy was still the dealer even though he was playing.  Lou got out the box of matches again and it was decided that each match would be worth ten cents. 

“Shouldn’t take me very long,” Cody decided.  “I’ll be able to get to town and have dinner before the tournament starts.

“ We’ll just see about that,” Buck growled.

For a while it looked like Cody’s prediction might have been more accurate than the others would have liked.  He won the first four hands, adding a little over three dollars to his stash.  He became more confident with each win, proceeding to bet higher and higher amounts on even the most ridiculous of hands.

Then things began to change.  First Teaspoon took a large pot, beating Cody’s king-high hand with a pair of deuces.  Cody looked at the older man in surprise.  The others had seldom played those kinds of hands.

“Sometimes, you just have to go with your instincts,” the older man said with a sly smile.

Before long Cody was actually questioning Jimmy’s dealing.  “You sure you are dealing the same way you did last night?” he asked accusingly as he threw in another unseen hand.

“You want to do it?” Jimmy asked angrily. 


The day dragged on with no real winner in sight.  Cody would get nervous and even more talkative each time his stash would drop below the original ten dollars worth of matches, but as soon he would win a pot or two, he would be back in his increasingly antagonistic mood.

Emma brought lunch down to the bunkhouse to find everyone totally engrossed in the game.

“I can’t stop now,” Cody told her.  “I only got ‘til five o’clock to win the money I need.”

“Or lose everything you have!” the woman reprimanded.

“Should’ve been here an hour ago,” Cody countered.  “I was down to only five dollars.  Now, all I need is one more pot and I’m set to go.”  As Lou displayed her winning hand, he amended, “Make that two pots.”

“I can’t believe you’re condoning this, Mr. Spoon,” Emma chastised Teaspoon.

“Well now, Emma, sometimes the best way to learn a lesson that’ll be remembered is to lose to people who you trust,” Teaspoon countered.  “Better to learn it here, among friends, than in town with a bunch of tin-horned gamblers.”

“Besides, I ain’t losing!” Cody said determinedly.

“Don’t you come running to me next week, when you don’t have money for some do-dad then,” Emma stated firmly, then turned to leave the bunkhouse.  At the door she looked pointedly at the entire group, she added, “That goes for the rest of you too!”


Three o’clock found a very frustrated Cody pondering yet another hand.  The flop had revealed a ten and a queen of hearts and a jack of spades while the fourth card had been the jack of hearts.

“There’s a possible straight working,” Jimmy mentioned.  “And a possible flush and a possible straight flush.” 

For the first time in a lot of hands everyone had stayed in and the pot had grown to a considerable size. 

“What beats three of a kind again?” Cody asked. 

Jimmy sighed.  Over the past few hours he’d had to repeat the rankings almost every hand.  “A straight, a flush, a full house, four of a kind, a straight flush and a royal flush,” he said, one more time.

“You sure that’s how it goes?” Cody questioned.  “I could’ve sworn it was different when we were playing earlier.”

“That’s because you were winning earlier,” Buck snickered.

“How’d you think you’re going to win a tournament if you can’t even remember what beats what?” Lou asked exasperatedly.

“I figured I could write ‘em down somewheres,” Cody explained.  Looking at his depleted stash he moaned, “I just don’t get it, I was so close!” 

“Lady Luck not only turned her back on you, son,” Teaspoon intoned.  “She ran screaming from the room.”

“Probably got tired of your bragging!” Buck muttered.

Cody glared at the other rider, then pushed his remaining matches into the pot.  “I’m all-in,” he said determinedly.

“If you lose, you’re out of the game,” Jimmy reminded him.  “You can wait till the next hand if you don’t want to play this one.”

“I said I was all-in!” Cody repeated firmly.

“It’s your money,” the dealer said, adding his own bet to the pot, then setting another twenty matches off to the side.  “And I’ll raise twenty to anyone else still in.”

“Now here’s where you learn a valuable lesson, Jimmy,” Teaspoon said smiling.  “I’ll see Cody’s ten, your twenty-and I’ll raise you ten more.”

“What lesson is that, Teaspoon?” Buck asked as he added his matches to the two piles.  “I’ll see your ten and raise you ten.”

“That’s too much for me,” Lou said sadly. 

Me, too, Ike signed, throwing his cards in Jimmy’s direction.

“Last card,” Jimmy proclaimed, turning up a five of clubs.  “And it’s no help to the community hand.”

Without looking at his own cards, he pushed another double handful of matches into the side pot.  “I’ll raise you ten.”

Teaspoon rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  He checked his hole cards again, then pondered some more. 

“Come on, Teaspoon,” Cody said plaintively.  “If I win this hand, I’ll have just enough time to get to town before the bank closes.”

“Don’t rush me, son,” the older man protested.  “Sometimes you just have to think before you jump into the water.”  He waited until Cody was all but dancing in his seat before nodding, “I’ll call.”

“Call,” Buck said immediately.


Jimmy smiled widely as he turned over his cards to reveal an ace of clubs and a king of diamonds.  “Got my straight,” he said.  “And it’s ace high.”

“Hmmmm,” Teaspoon murmured.  “Good hand, Jimmy.  But not quite good enough,” he added turning up a seven and a six, both hearts.  “I‘ve got me a flush.”

He started to reach for the side pot when Buck’s hand stopped him.  “You forgot me,” the Kiowa said quietly.  Turning over his hole cards one at a time, his smile was even wider than Jimmy’s.

“I do believe a straight flush beats your flush.”

The players all looked expectantly at Cody.  In return, the blond rider sighed dejectedly.  “I guess you got it all, Buck,” he said sadly.  “All I got’s a flush.”  He turned the two cards in front of him face up. 

In the process of taking a sip of coffee, Ike started to choke at the sight of the ace and king of hearts that Cody had revealed.  Lou stifled a laugh as she saw the looks on the other players’ faces.

“What?” Cody asked.

“Cody!” Jimmy roared.  “Didn’t you listen to ANYTHING I said?”

“You said five cards of the same suit was a flush,” Cody said seriously.  “And five cards in a row was a straight.”  Pointing to the ace, he continued.  “But you said it couldn’t wrap around so the ace didn’t count as part of a straight.”

Jimmy closed his eyes and fought to control himself.  His hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly.  “I also said that an ace is always, ALWAYS high!  Don’t you know what that means?”

“Guess not,” Cody said meekly. 

“It means that you have a Royal Flush, Cody,” Lou said unable to control her laughter any longer.  “It’s the best hand you can have.”

“You mean I win?” Cody asked, bewildered.

“I’m going to kill him,” Buck muttered.  Fortunately for Cody, Teaspoon and Lou were able to restrain the other man until he could get to the other side of the room.

“I’m sorry,” Cody apologize.  “I really didn’t remember that.  Shoot, I’ve been throwing aces away ‘cuz I didn’t know they were better than kings.”

He began to smile a smile that grew to cover his entire face as he counted the number of matches in the pot and realized he had more than enough for the tournament. 


Twenty minutes later, a revived Cody was riding as fast as he could towards town.  Buck, Jimmy and Teaspoon watched him disappear over the horizon carrying a considerable portion of their money with him.

“He doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing,” Teaspoon said quietly.

“Nope,” Jimmy agreed.  “But you have to admit he’s one lucky son of a gun.”

“Sure he is-with us!” Teaspoon said.  “But those men in town are professional gamblers.”

“He’s going to lose his shirt,” Buck said, turning back for the bunkhouse, a sly smile on his face.

The End