Wild Bill Hickok. The very name conjures up images of dusty trails and pearl-handled revolvers and long blond locks and card games and why a cheater should never sit with his back to the door. Often confused with that other famous Bill, Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok was a lawman and a gambler and a rambler and I guess he always will be. Hickok had all the attributes required for a Wild West legend and then some some. Unlike Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok had courage to go along with his good looks and skill with a gun. (In fact, Earp didn't even possess that, really; Wyatt Earp's only real talent with a revolver lay in sneaking up behind his victims and cowardly cold-cocking them.) By contrast, Wild Bill's long yellow locks, penetrating eyes and heroism as an Army scout are not dependent upon highly fictional Hollywood recreations of factual events in the way that pitiful Wyatt Earp was.
- In the days of the frontier west, poker was king with the mustachioed likes of Wild Bill Hickok, Doc Holliday, 'Canada' Bill Jones, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and hundreds of others.
- Sadly, Hickok's last poker game happened on August 2, 1876, when Jack McCall shot him in the back in Deadwood's Nuttal & Mann's Saloon. The moment ranks among the most infamous in Western.
Wild Bill also holds a place in gambling legend; when you bet on a poker hand made up of two Aces and two Eights, what you've got there pardner is what is known as the Dead Man's Hand. Why? Because that is final deck that Wild Bill ever played; the hand he was holding when a young man named Jack McCall sauntered into the saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota where Wild Bill sat playing cards. Wild Bill Hickok normally made a habit verging on obsession of never sitting anywhere where his vision couldn't take in a panoramic view of everything in sight. There was a good reason for that and a bad result the one time he lapsed. Jack McCall calmly walked up behind Wild Bill and shot him point blank in the back of the head not terribly long after America had celebrated her first 100 years of existence. Such was Wild Bill's ferocious reputation that McCall's explanation for his Earp-level cowardice was confined to these immortal words: 'I didn't want to commit suicide.' Even aged and slowed down by alcohol, one didn't willingly do anything that might cause one to come to face to face with the barrel of Wild Bill Hickok's pistol. One might well assume that Wild Bill Hickok was a legendary gambler because he really knew how to play cards, right? He also knows how to effectively master playing dominoqq. These games are considered to be one of the best online.
Once again the facts serve to sneak up behind history and shoot it at point blank. In fact, Wild Bill was not even close to be a master of the art of poker. Even though Wild Bill supported himself as a gambler in between marshalling gigs, his success was far more dependent on cheating than on any intrinsic ability such as being able to bluff or knowing the laws of statistical probability. In fact, Wild Bill Hickok almost never walked away from a poker game with his winnings intact unless he had managed to somehow cheat. But there was something else that contributed to Wild Bill's amazing ability to make a living as a gambler with poor skills. The number of men with the intestinal fortitude to face down Wild Bill when he refused to pay up after losing was shockingly low. Wild Bill survived as a gambler not just by cheating, but by not having to shell out when he did lose.
The makeup of poker's dead man's hand has varied through the years. Currently, it is described as a two-pair poker hand consisting of the black aces and black eights. The pair of aces and eights, along with an unknown hole card, were reportedly held by Old West folk hero, lawman, and gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok when he was murdered while playing a game.
Wild Bill must have been some sight to play a game with. Easily ticked off and given to an almost manic need to throw himself body and soul into a poker game, legends about Wild Bill poker playing became almost mythic as time passed. Perhaps the most iconic story about Wild Bill Hickok's unique approach making a living a gambler took place one night when he was playing in Iowa. At the time, Bill was a scout in the army and poker was the method of choice for making time pass. Hickok started losing and losing big and his notorious temper finally drove a stake into his heart; his blood pumping along with adrenaline, Wild Bill began to raise the stakes on one particular hand. The money was enormous and it was a cinch that whoever won the hand would walk away, content to stay temporarily liquid. Bill's primary opponent in the game showed three jacks, to which Wild Bill countered with a full house constructed of Aces over Sixes and threw the cards triumphantly down onto the poker table. There was only one problem: Wild Bill Hickok had said he had a full house, but the cards on the table revealed that Bill had actually held only two Aces, not three. Even worse, he'd been holding only one six and not two. what Bill was really holding, McDonald erupted in a fit of anger, telling Wild Bill that he only saw two aces and one six. When his poker opponent dared to suggest that Wild Bill had perhaps been somewhat less than totally forthcoming, Wild Bill reached for his revolver with one hand and a great big shiny knife with his other and said, 'Here's my other six, and here's my one-spot!'
The method by which Wild Bill Hickok's Iowa poker victim reacted was in the form of four words that the long-haired lover of Calamity Jane must have heard countless times during his life. 'Take the pot, Bill.'
Ever heard of the 'Dead-Man's Hand?'
The West was full of bad asses. Times were tougher back then and they made tougher people. Gunslingers prowled the streets, whiskey was safer to drink than water, everyone had venereal diseases, showers were a rare treat and it wasn't unheard of to get your head blown off over a game of cards.
Which, was exactly what happened one Wild Bill Hickok, in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, 143 years ago, today.
He went by many names: William, Bill, Duck Bill, Wild Bill, Shainghai Bill… he was called just about anything but his true name: James Butler Hickok.
And, let me tell you, this dude was about as gritty they come. He was a renowned gunman, lawman, serviceman, vigilante, bear-wrestler, actor, scout, and dueler; famous for his wit, his speed with a revolver, his flowing blonde hair and long frowning moustache.
The man, the myth, the legend: Wild Bill Hickok
No one knows exactly how many lives he took during his gunfighting days, but we know for sure he killed his first man at a train station, in 'self-defense,' at 30 years old. Being a nice guy, Wild Bill paid the dude's widow $35 for her troubles (which, in his defense, was all the money he had at the time).
Then, he went to go fight the damn rebel confederates in the Civil War, before embarking on a strange and duel-spattered career in law-enforcement. He marshalled towns, scouted, became a sheriff of Hayes, Kansas, and all the while he was busy killing fools, shooting criminals, trouble-makers, drunks, Indians and drunk Indians.
And Texans. Apparently, Wild Bill Hickok had thing against Texans (likely leftover animosity from his days fighting to preserve the Union).
Perhaps his most famous gunfight encounter was with a man named Bill Mulvey. Mulvey was drunkenly rampaging through Hays, Hikok's town, shooting bottles and mirrors out of saloons, striking fear into the townspeople and claiming that he'd come to kill Wild Bill, himself.
Well, word of Mulvey's debauchery reached Sherriff Wild Bill, and when Mulvey came for him, he was ready.
The drunken criminal was on horseback, charging, his rifle drawn and fully cocked, when Wild Bill stepped out into the street, waving his hands.
'Stop,' the Sherriff shouted, as if he was speaking to people behind Mulvey, 'Don't shoot him in the back, he's drunk.'
Mulvey, hearing the Sheriff's words, wheeled on his horse immediately, to face the fucker who would be so yellow-bellied as to shoot him from behind.
He realized Wild Bill's trick, too late. The Sheriff pulled his gun with lightning speed, and blew Mulvey's head straight off his shoulders.
Incidents like this seemed to follow Wild Bill everywhere he went. He was mauled by a bear once, attacked in saloons by soldiers he thought were his friends, won gun-fight after gun-fight, bested his enemies, and outsmarted those who would otherwise have him done in.
But on August 2nd (hey, that's today!) of 1876, one of these incidents put an end to Wild Bill's Wild West antics in a small town called Deadwood.
Bill apparently had a bad feeling when he entered that town, remarking to one of his friends as they entered it, that he thought he would be killed there.
Call it a prophecy.
On Bill's first and last night in Deadwood (August 1st) he was hangin' out at a local saloon. A spot opened up at a poker table and Bill sat down to play. Across from him sat the very man who would end his life, Jack McCall.
Bill Hickok Poker Hand
The makeup of poker's dead man's hand has varied through the years. Currently, it is described as a two-pair poker hand consisting of the black aces and black eights. The pair of aces and eights, along with an unknown hole card, were reportedly held by Old West folk hero, lawman, and gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok when he was murdered while playing a game.
Wild Bill must have been some sight to play a game with. Easily ticked off and given to an almost manic need to throw himself body and soul into a poker game, legends about Wild Bill poker playing became almost mythic as time passed. Perhaps the most iconic story about Wild Bill Hickok's unique approach making a living a gambler took place one night when he was playing in Iowa. At the time, Bill was a scout in the army and poker was the method of choice for making time pass. Hickok started losing and losing big and his notorious temper finally drove a stake into his heart; his blood pumping along with adrenaline, Wild Bill began to raise the stakes on one particular hand. The money was enormous and it was a cinch that whoever won the hand would walk away, content to stay temporarily liquid. Bill's primary opponent in the game showed three jacks, to which Wild Bill countered with a full house constructed of Aces over Sixes and threw the cards triumphantly down onto the poker table. There was only one problem: Wild Bill Hickok had said he had a full house, but the cards on the table revealed that Bill had actually held only two Aces, not three. Even worse, he'd been holding only one six and not two. what Bill was really holding, McDonald erupted in a fit of anger, telling Wild Bill that he only saw two aces and one six. When his poker opponent dared to suggest that Wild Bill had perhaps been somewhat less than totally forthcoming, Wild Bill reached for his revolver with one hand and a great big shiny knife with his other and said, 'Here's my other six, and here's my one-spot!'
The method by which Wild Bill Hickok's Iowa poker victim reacted was in the form of four words that the long-haired lover of Calamity Jane must have heard countless times during his life. 'Take the pot, Bill.'
Ever heard of the 'Dead-Man's Hand?'
The West was full of bad asses. Times were tougher back then and they made tougher people. Gunslingers prowled the streets, whiskey was safer to drink than water, everyone had venereal diseases, showers were a rare treat and it wasn't unheard of to get your head blown off over a game of cards.
Which, was exactly what happened one Wild Bill Hickok, in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, 143 years ago, today.
He went by many names: William, Bill, Duck Bill, Wild Bill, Shainghai Bill… he was called just about anything but his true name: James Butler Hickok.
And, let me tell you, this dude was about as gritty they come. He was a renowned gunman, lawman, serviceman, vigilante, bear-wrestler, actor, scout, and dueler; famous for his wit, his speed with a revolver, his flowing blonde hair and long frowning moustache.
The man, the myth, the legend: Wild Bill Hickok
No one knows exactly how many lives he took during his gunfighting days, but we know for sure he killed his first man at a train station, in 'self-defense,' at 30 years old. Being a nice guy, Wild Bill paid the dude's widow $35 for her troubles (which, in his defense, was all the money he had at the time).
Then, he went to go fight the damn rebel confederates in the Civil War, before embarking on a strange and duel-spattered career in law-enforcement. He marshalled towns, scouted, became a sheriff of Hayes, Kansas, and all the while he was busy killing fools, shooting criminals, trouble-makers, drunks, Indians and drunk Indians.
And Texans. Apparently, Wild Bill Hickok had thing against Texans (likely leftover animosity from his days fighting to preserve the Union).
Perhaps his most famous gunfight encounter was with a man named Bill Mulvey. Mulvey was drunkenly rampaging through Hays, Hikok's town, shooting bottles and mirrors out of saloons, striking fear into the townspeople and claiming that he'd come to kill Wild Bill, himself.
Well, word of Mulvey's debauchery reached Sherriff Wild Bill, and when Mulvey came for him, he was ready.
The drunken criminal was on horseback, charging, his rifle drawn and fully cocked, when Wild Bill stepped out into the street, waving his hands.
'Stop,' the Sherriff shouted, as if he was speaking to people behind Mulvey, 'Don't shoot him in the back, he's drunk.'
Mulvey, hearing the Sheriff's words, wheeled on his horse immediately, to face the fucker who would be so yellow-bellied as to shoot him from behind.
He realized Wild Bill's trick, too late. The Sheriff pulled his gun with lightning speed, and blew Mulvey's head straight off his shoulders.
Incidents like this seemed to follow Wild Bill everywhere he went. He was mauled by a bear once, attacked in saloons by soldiers he thought were his friends, won gun-fight after gun-fight, bested his enemies, and outsmarted those who would otherwise have him done in.
But on August 2nd (hey, that's today!) of 1876, one of these incidents put an end to Wild Bill's Wild West antics in a small town called Deadwood.
Bill apparently had a bad feeling when he entered that town, remarking to one of his friends as they entered it, that he thought he would be killed there.
Call it a prophecy.
On Bill's first and last night in Deadwood (August 1st) he was hangin' out at a local saloon. A spot opened up at a poker table and Bill sat down to play. Across from him sat the very man who would end his life, Jack McCall.
Bill Hickok Poker Hand
Well, McCall was apparently a pretty bad poker player. Or, at least, that night he was. Wild Bill whooped his ass so bad, that the famous gunman had to apologize to McCall, and even gave him money for breakfast the next day. Whatever people say about Wild Bill, at least he wasn't a poor-winner.
Anyway, McCall didn't take the loss very well. Despite Wild Bill's apologies and breakfast donation, he was infuriated and insulted by the loss and the next night, the night of August 2nd, McCall returned to that saloon, walked right up behind his nemesis and pulled out his Colt .45 single action.
'Damn you! Take that!' McCall shouted, as he pulled the trigger.
Wild Bill Hickok Poker Hand
Wild Bills head exploded all over the poker table. The bullet exited through his left cheek and hit the man sitting across from Hikok in the wrist. The famous gunslinger slumped over the table, dead, still holding his cards: two black aces, and two black eights.
A hand that would become known to history as the 'Dead Man's Hand.'
The 'Dead Man's Hand.'
So ended the adventures of one of the West's greatest heroes.
Wild Bill Hickok Poker Hand Images
That was today, in history.
