Joker Journal
By Dave Cinch
(All Rights Reserved)

What killed Jesse James?( A Trick Question)

Around Kentucky hold'em games there has long been a saying about old Jesse. Any time somebody wins a pot with a 4-5, he says, "What shot Jesse James?" and then everyone knows he's getting ready to turn over a 4-5 (as in Colt 45). It's just as sure as if he says "Cowboys" he's going to be turning over two kings. Well, a while back a couple of our regulars got involved in a big pot that turned out funny. Funny that is, depending on which side of the joke you were on.

The two players involved in the hand were good friends who usually didn't bet each other, but this was a short-handed game and everyone had agreed it wasn't even worth playing if everyone didn't play all out. So it was that the two, Steve and Bruce, ended up playing a show dog pot.

Steve, a virtual rock of Gibraltar, was on the button and raised Bruce's little blind. Bruce, part gambler and part maniac, re-raised with two eights. Everyone else folded, Steve called, and the two took the flop.

The flop came 4-4-5. Little Bruce led right out with his over-pair, betting the pot. Steve beat him in with his call (trying to act strong so his opponent would think he was weak, because he really was strong, but I'm not telling you his hand yet). The turn came an eight, making Bruce the nut full. Perfect spot to act weak, even against a good buddy. "Check, " Bruce said. Steve, on the button, fired in a pot-size bet and Bruce smooth-called it, setting the trap, not wanting to lose a customer. The river brought an ace - the board was now 4-4-5-8-A (no suits) - encouraging Bruce that maybe Steve had tagged his A-K (if he was stealing on the turn) and would pay him off. So Bruce bet right out. Steve deliberated a long time with a Hollywood move (and this was even before the World Poker Tour was popular), and then raised all his chips.

It was a tough spot for Little Bruce. Since they normally didn't bet each other at all, he couldn't have a good read on the situation. He felt like his buddy wouldn't bluff him. And here he sat with a second-nut full. Steve hadn't re-raised him before the flop and only aces-full (or quads) would beat his eights-full.

Just as Bruce was deliberating, Steve put a big smile on his face said, "What killed Jesse James?" Of course, according to the oft-quoted Kentucky poker saying, that usually, no make that always, means a "Colt 45." So Bruce thought he was going to shock Steve by beating his full house (eights-full against fours-full). As Bruce started to move in with his call, Steve said it again: "What killed Jesse?"

"I can beat it," Bruce insisted, pushing all his chips in, sure now that he was up against fours full of fives. The "Jesse James" quote just rang too true. Bruce turned his hand over and proudly proclaimed, "Eights-full." It just had to be fours-full he was up against or the "Jesse James" comment was an outright lie, and although lying is customary, even mandatory, in poker, it's not so kosher amongst best friends in a rare heads-up pot.

Steve leaned forward and looked over at Bruce's hand and then reached for his own. He slowly removed his lucky chip from his hand and turned it up. "Bullets," he said. Aces- full. Everyone around the table, expecting to see a 4-5 second-best full house, howled with delight. No one could believe how coldhearted Steve had treated his little buddy Bruce. Notice Steve had said "What killed Jesse?" not the standard "What shot Jesse?" Sometimes the devil is in the details. The answer to the trick question became "Bullets" (aces) instead of "Colt 45" (4-5). It was a real curve ball, and it was perfect timing.

"That's the way it was in the old west," Steve cracked as he stacked the chips, "Every man for his self. Let that be a lesson to you, little buddy." He threw a couple of chips over to cover Bruce's big blind for the next hand, and Bruce threw them straight in the garbage can. "I'll let you know if I need a favor," says Bruce.

Big bet hold'em can take a couple of lifelong friends and put a rift between them that won't heal up. These two used to be famous friends, and now they hardly speak. But Steve didn't lie about his hand. Bullets killed Jesse sure enough. Steve thought he was just putting a new wrinkle on a gambling saying, but Bruce called it hot-dogging. And hot-dogging isn't cool when you're busting a man. That can lead to some Wild West type shootouts itself. For now, it hasn't come to that and we don't expect that it will. But be careful about hollywooding-up your moves out there. Unless you're quick on the draw or an actual TV star, it might be the last move you make.