Aces and Eights

Being dealt two-pair in a game of five card draw is usually a reason to rejoice. But if it’s a pair of black aces and a pair of black eights, you might want to say a little prayer to the poker gods just to be safe. This was the hand that was dealt to Wild Bill Hickok, the famous gambler and gunslinger of the American West, in the anything goes era of the mid 1800s. On August 2, 1876, Wild Bill was involved in a friendly round of poker at a saloon in the town of Deadwood. Having made more than a few enemies in his day, Bill usually liked to find a corner table where he could keep an eye on who was entering the room. But on this particular day he ended up in a chair facing away from the door. Big mistake. He probably never heard Jack “Crooked Nose” McCall coming up fast behind him until McCall shouted “Take that!” and shot him once in the back of the head. The incident took place in mid-deal. In Hickok’s cold, dead hand were his first four cards, the black aces and eights, known forevermore as the “Dead Man’s Hand.”