Deep-sixed By A Six In The Hole

"How much you got, Johnny?" Whited asked. Moss had $23,000, so Whited counted out 23 chips and pushed them into the pot. Moss stood up and asked, "You have a flush?" He was hoping Whited had a straight, but whatever Whited had, Moss had to call. He did, Whited flipped over his hole cards, and the room broke into applause.

The next afternoon only three players remained—Charlie Dunwoody, a semi-retired oil producer, who had just $20,600 left; Huber, with $154,300; and Bone, with $125,100. The players and spectators who jammed the floor were all wondering: Who is Bone? Someone pointed out a woman wearing a diamond of about 20 carats and said, "That's his wife." Another man said that the last time Bone flew into town, it was in his own jet. "Whoever he is," Slim summed up, "he ain't on no budget." In fact, Bone is a commodity-futures broker and hog farmer from Springdale, Ark.

On the third hand of the session, after the flop came up club queen, heart jack and diamond jack, Bone bet all he had left, $105,100. Dunwoody dropped, and Huber called. Because Bone had all his dough in the game and there could be no more betting, he and Huber turned over their hole cards. Bone had the king-queen of hearts, giving him a pair of queens. Huber had the ace-king of diamonds, nothing yet. The fourth up card was the diamond three, meaning that on the last card Huber needed an ace, 10 or a diamond—he had 16 possibilities for a winner among the 43 cards not showing on the table. The four of clubs fell on the table. Bone now had $220,000; Huber had $60,000, and some problems.

It was a tight spot, but not one altogether unfamiliar to the 32-year-old Huber, who has played cards for a living for 10 years. Starting when he was 18, he pressed sheet metal in Indianapolis five days a week and sat in on $1-limit poker games every Friday night. Work brought home $120 a week, poker $100 a night. So one day Huber skipped work; he has not been back since. Broke? Yes, a lot of the time. "But when you really know poker," he says, "no matter how broke you get, when your luck turns, you always come back."

A few hands later, Bone knocked out Dunwoody with a pair of aces, queen-10 high, to aces, queen-nine. Meanwhile, Huber, making small pots and folding a lot, was inching back out of the hole. Within 90 minutes he had $155,000, and then Bone walked into a trap. An eight-seven-deuce flop gave Bone a pair of eights, which he knew was probably the high hand. He bet $15,000 and Huber called. The sixth card was a five. Bone bet another $15,000 and Huber called. Then the dealer turned over a four. Bang, Huber rammed in $30,000. If he had a six in the hole, he had a straight—or was he bluffing? More than $130,000 was in the pot. Bone thought for a while and finally called. Huber flipped over a six. The loss dropped Bone's stack to just $65,000. Two hands later he had his last chips in the pot and a pair of queens. Huber had kings.

Elizabeth Bone, the 20-carat lady, emerged from the crowd, rushed to her husband and gave him a hug. A few minutes later, Huber sat at a bar, sipping 7 Up. Yes, the $150,000 was his biggest score ever. With it, he said, he might buy a few acres of land. "Before," he added, "I drop it at the tables."