JESSE JAMES' BEST CARD TRICK

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JESSE JAMES' BEST CARD TRICK

By Lynn Roaten Terrell

Jesse James and his gang robbed a bank at high noon on pay day, stealing nearly every salary in the county.

The group of seven was having a rousing time that evening, playing poker with their pals, but no one was having a particular streak of luck.

Under the watchful eye of the other players, Jesse thoughtfully fingered the pot and considered his options. Suddenly, he slammed his toothpick to the dirt floor, slapped his hand on the table, leaned ominously forward, and drawled into their sunburned faces, "Tell ya’ what, fellas. Let’s liven up the evenin’ a bit. I challenge you to a hand of five card draw -- winner takes all!

Since everyone agreed, Jesse added another intriguing element.

"Now, you know, boys, since it’s "Winner Takes All," let’s make it more exciting. We'll open a new deck. We'll remove the jokers and each just cut the deck one time. Then I will deal."

After checking that the cards ran Ace through Two, black-red-black-red (or, the other way around), he pushed the deck toward each of the other 6 men. They all, cut the deck one time -- nothing fancy and no tricks. Then Jesse took his cut, for a total of seven divisions.

Under the intense glare of 12 watchful eyes, Jesse then began to deal the first round of cards, as follows (Top of deck -- Bottom of deck):

1. T-T-T-T-T-T-T

2. T-T-T-B-T-T-T

3. T-T-T-T-T-T-T

4. T-T-T-B-T-T-T

5. T-T-T-T-T-T-T

You will note that, in the second and fourth rounds, he took a card from the bottom of the deck for the fourth chair.

Everyone saw the misdeal in the second round, but weren’t certain enough to confront him. After all, Jesse was a pretty good shot! So no one said anything. But when it happened during the fourth round, they all joined to voice their objections.

Jesse wasn’t angry. In fact, he seemed to be mildly amused.

"OOPS!" he said, mockingly. "Sorry about that. I want to make thing right, so, fella’s, here’s the deal: If any of you want a new hand, we will have a re-deal. I’ll make your decision easier. Each of you can even look at this hand before deciding."

So, #1 picked up his cards and shook his head. He had a full house.

And #2 did the same, pleased with his full house.

One by one, all six men turned up full houses. After a brief conference, they said, "Jesse, we are all quite happy. We don't want a new hand.

Jesse smiled confidently, "OK, just to show that I am a good sport, I’ll throw my hand in and I'll take the first five cards from the top of the deck."

Card by card, without even looking, Jesse turned over the top five cards, and laid them face-up on the table, revealing a sinister grin, and the winning hand -- a straight flush!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NOW, GRAB A DECK OF CARDS AND YOU TRY IT!

IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU GO HIGH CARD TO LOW CARD, OR LOW CARD TO HIGH CARD. JUST ARRANGE THE CARDS LIKE A NEW DECK -- MINUS THE JOKERS.