8-Must Not - Poker Poetry

8-Must Not

Here I sit, broke as hell - 

guess I didnt play to well:

 Raised it up with just an eight

 should have known that wouldn't rate

 Someone raised it up again

 I was lost, I knew it then

 But still I called, my "all in" play 

and tried to figure out a way 

Player one had taken two 

not a really vital clue 

Player two had taken one 

after opening under the gun 

Two players on my right took three 

and now that brings it up to me 

I stood pat with my 8-low 

which had hooked me from word "go" 

Now came time for the declare 

silently I said a prayer 

I went low and three others went high 

a bead of sweat dropped in my eye 

Half the pot looked almost real 

but then the opener swung a wheel

-Artie 

This is a poem written by my friend Artie in 1974 after a rough night of 5 card draw hi-low declare. He kept a printed copy for almost 40 years and gave it to me so I could put it on the internet for posterity. People dont play draw poker much at all these days, let alone hi-low with a declare, but this poem serves as a reminder that these games were once very popular. Being dealt an 8 low is a fairly strong starting hand, and with 3 players in the hand declaring for the hi half of the pot and only one declaring hi-low, getting scooped by a wheel is the very definition of a bad beat. Artie would know about bad beats - hes been playing poker for more years than most players today have been alive.