True classic poker story

The game was draw poker, nothing wild, the stakes were five cent ante, quarter bets, unlimited raises. It happened in a small town in southern Ontario, a local game played daily in the hosts garage. He raked a quarter a pot or played ante free at his option.

It was early evening and the usual compliment of seven players sat at the table. Everyone anted and the cards were dealt. The player next to the dealer opened, the next three players called and the fourth player raised. The sixth player called, I called and the opener called. We threw in our discards and the dealer drawled how many as he went around the table. I drew one card.

The opener bet again, the first two called, the third dropped out and the fourth player raised. The sixth player called the raised bet and I raised back. The opener called all the raises and came back with yet another raise. The next two players folded and the third player called the raise. The player on his left folded and I raised back, he returned my raise with his own and the player between us dropped out. We raised another four times when someone came in the door and said, "Bill your wife is outside and wants you to come out", with this startling turn of events I called his raise.

He leaned back and in the most arrogant manner, spun the cards on the table one at a time. The first card was an eight, the second an ace followed by three more aces, nothing wild and he has four aces. He leaned forward to scoop the pot but before he started scooping I laid out my straight spade flush, from the five to the nine, I caught the seven of spades.

Part II

There was a stunned look of amazement on the face of everyone in the room but four aces looked like he had been hit with a sledge. With what seemed like a "nuts" hand he ran into a straight flush. I scooped the pot and without fanfare left to meet my recent bride.

Many years later, on an overcast rain threatening day, my fishing buddy and I were waiting for the weather to clear in a small coffee shack by the lake in southern Ontario. We were swapping stories about various experiences we had had. There were the two of us and one other person sitting at a corner table not too far from where we sat.

I began to relate my poker story to Ray, my fishing buddy, and as It ended with my straight flush beating four aces, the "stranger" in the corner ambled over to us and said, "and I'm the son-of-a-bitch that had the four aces". As I looked up at him I began to recognize him as the man of many years past, who held four aces against a straight flush.