This Poker Is Different
Poker players of the world, beware! Next time you come to The Boot as a tourist, whatever you do, don't engage in a game of poker with the Italians. For in Italy, according to the homemade rules, a "full house" is inferior to a "flush." That's right, you heard the man correct. In Italy a "flush" beats a "full house" period, exclamation point! What does it matter that Hoyle, the card authority, states quite specifically what beats a "full house." In face, a check into Webster's Third New International Dictionary Unabridged (Page 1752) reports the same thing a "full house" ranks over a "flush." To make matters even more frustrating, the Columbia Encyclopedia informs that the game of poker is strictly an "American innovation. It was invented over 100 years ago in the midwest and played on the Mississippi River during the era of the paddle wheel boats. No less a historian than W. C. Fields could have vouched for this. Yes, somehow or other, when poker spread to Italy, most of the rules remained the same except for the ones on the Comparative worth of a "full house" and a "flush." They managed to get lost in the shuffle. I ONE RESIDENT newspaperman found this out the hard way, not long ago, while engaged in a friendly round of poker with some Italian editors. It was a big pot, and (unlucky me) I had a "full house." My opponent (lucky him) had a "flush." At the showdown it was then the naive newsman became apprised of a horrible fact of Italian life that a "full house" does not and never will beat a "flush." Red-blooded Americans are here with authorized to insert their own four-letter words here. In the name of friendship, and in a noble effort to avoid an international incident, I conceded. But the next day a mathematics professor at the University of Rome was consulted on the question of poker odds. He wasn't a card player, but he was good at figures. And, according to some elaborate calculations showed that the probability, of making a "flush" is higher than a "full house."
Briefly put, it goes like this: If you have four spades in your hand and you ,want to make a "flush," you still have nine other spades in the deck to get your "flush." On the other hand, if you have "two pair" and you want to go for a "full house," the deck has only four cards left that could give you the "full." So, Friends, Romans and Countrymen, to reach a "full house" you have four chances to one, whereas to nab a "flush" you have nine to one. So where does Italy a NATO country, a Common Market subscriber and a member of the United Nations come off claiming that "flush" beats "full house." This is un-American. On a gamble, at the first opportunity, this reporter brought the subject up one day to former Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani, a professor of economics at University of Rome, one-time President of the U.N. General Assembly, and a sometime card player. Fanfani was fascinated by the whole thing. Though he made extensive comments, they cannot alas, be published since, cagily, he specified they were off the record. The next Biggie approached was President of the Republic Giuseppe Saragat. President Saragat is a poker player extraordinary whenever he has the time, which isn't often. He too was intrigued but would not offer any public statement. He preferred to stand pat. At the Vatican, when an attempt was made to reach Pope Paul VI with the problem, the poker-faced secretary to the secretary of the Secretary of State said that such matters are never the concern of the Roman Catholic Church, nor of any of the officers of the Holy See. Significantly, he was careful to avoid using the word Cardinal. Thus nobody in official circles here will talk on this mixed deal. It's one of those things that are just not in the cards, but maybe it's because Italians know that governments have fallen for less. Apparently big shots don't want to mix politics with poker because the rules of both games require that a player hold the upper hand.
Briefly put, it goes like this: If you have four spades in your hand and you ,want to make a "flush," you still have nine other spades in the deck to get your "flush." On the other hand, if you have "two pair" and you want to go for a "full house," the deck has only four cards left that could give you the "full." So, Friends, Romans and Countrymen, to reach a "full house" you have four chances to one, whereas to nab a "flush" you have nine to one. So where does Italy a NATO country, a Common Market subscriber and a member of the United Nations come off claiming that "flush" beats "full house." This is un-American. On a gamble, at the first opportunity, this reporter brought the subject up one day to former Prime Minister Amintore Fanfani, a professor of economics at University of Rome, one-time President of the U.N. General Assembly, and a sometime card player. Fanfani was fascinated by the whole thing. Though he made extensive comments, they cannot alas, be published since, cagily, he specified they were off the record. The next Biggie approached was President of the Republic Giuseppe Saragat. President Saragat is a poker player extraordinary whenever he has the time, which isn't often. He too was intrigued but would not offer any public statement. He preferred to stand pat. At the Vatican, when an attempt was made to reach Pope Paul VI with the problem, the poker-faced secretary to the secretary of the Secretary of State said that such matters are never the concern of the Roman Catholic Church, nor of any of the officers of the Holy See. Significantly, he was careful to avoid using the word Cardinal. Thus nobody in official circles here will talk on this mixed deal. It's one of those things that are just not in the cards, but maybe it's because Italians know that governments have fallen for less. Apparently big shots don't want to mix politics with poker because the rules of both games require that a player hold the upper hand.