Four flush
{{Short description|Poker draw one card short of a full flush}}
A four flush (also flush draw) is a poker draw or non-standard poker hand that is one card short of being a full flush.{{cite journal
| last = Stelzer
| first = Irwin M.
| title = All Hat and No Cattle
| journal = The Weekly Standard
| url = http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/068ifwqz.asp
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040512151554/http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/004/068ifwqz.asp
| url-status = dead
| archive-date = May 12, 2004
| accessdate = 2009-03-05
| issue = 34 (Why, despite everything, Bush should win)
| date = 2004-04-17
| quote = In New York and Vegas, the phrase is "four flusher", to denote a poker player holding a worthless hand, one card shy of a powerful flush, but bluffing in the hope that opponents will mistake his smirk for strength.}} Four flushing refers to empty boasting{{cite news
| title = "Four-Flusher" Defined
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1908/10/02/archives/fourflusher-defined.html
| work = The New York Times
| accessdate = 2009-03-05
| date = 1908-10-02
| quote = But the term is usually applied to one who "bulls" his way through life with a terrific "front" and who when "called," absolutely fails to "deliver the goods."
| first=Brooks P.
| last=Hazael}}
or unsuccessful bluffing,{{cite news
| title = THE "FOUR FLUSHER"
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1908/09/29/archives/the-four-flusher.html
| work = The New York Times
| accessdate = 2009-03-05
| date = 1908-09-29
| quote = It seems then, that a "four flusher" properly speaking, must be an unsuccessful bluffer}}
and a four flusher is a person who makes empty boasts or bluffs when holding a four flush.{{cite news
| title = A defense of the four-flusher
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1908/10/02/archives/topics-of-the-times.html
| work = The New York Times
| date = 1908-10-02
| accessdate = 2009-03-05}}
Four flusher can also refer to a welcher, piker, or braggart.{{cite book
| last = Monteleone
| first = Vincent Joseph
| title = Criminal Slang: The Vernacular of the Underground Lingo
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=nN81uyN8WmIC&q=%22four+flusher%22+source:%22-newswire%22+source:%22-wire%22+source:%22-presswire%22+source:%22-pr%22+source:%22-press%22+source:%22-release%22+source:%22-wikipedia%22&pg=PA90
| accessdate = 2009-03-05
| year = 2003
| publisher = The Lawbook Exchange
| isbn = 1-58477-300-6}}
This pejorative term originated in the 19th century when bluffing poker players misrepresented that they had a flush—a poker hand with five cards all of one suit—when they only had four cards of one suit.{{cite web|last=Ruch |first=John |title=What is the meaning of the term 'four-flusher' or 'four-flushing'? |url=http://archives.stupidquestion.net/sq91902fourflusher.html |access-date=2009-03-05 |date=2002-08-22 |quote=A four-flusher originally was someone who bluffs or otherwise can’t back up his or her bragging |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100126085037/http://archives.stupidquestion.net/sq91902fourflusher.html |archive-date=January 26, 2010}}
Optimal strategies for bluffing or folding when holding a four flush have been explored extensively in poker strategy books.{{cite news
| title = Books Of The Times
| url = https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE6DE1738F937A35756C0A967948260
| work = The New York Times
| accessdate = 2009-03-05
| date = 1981-04-04
| quote = From one of the book's many tables, Optimal Strategy for the Four Flusher, we learn that if you hold four cards to a flush, have called the opening bettor and have failed to make your flush, you should bluff once in every two cases that you can make a bet the size of the pot.}}{{cite book
| last = Silberstang
| first = Edwin
| title = The Winner's Guide to Casino Gambling
| url = https://books.google.com/books?num=50&q=%22four+flush%22+%22The+Winner%27s+Guide+to+Casino+Gambling%22&btnG=Search+Books
| accessdate = 2009-03-05
| year = 2005
| publisher = Henry Holt & Company
| isbn = 0-8050-7765-0
| page = 376}}{{cite book
| last = Wenzel
| first = John
| title = The Everything Texas Hold'em Book
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LChhsFBJDJIC&q=%22four+flush%22&pg=PA118
| accessdate = 2009-03-05
| year = 2006
| publisher = Everything Books
| isbn = 1-59337-579-4
| page = 118}}{{cite book
| last = Levinson
| first = Horace C
| title = Chance, Luck, and Statistics
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=o3p7AArQRLsC&q=%22four+flush%22&pg=PA129
| accessdate = 2009-03-05
| year = 2001
| publisher = Courier Dover Publications
| isbn = 0-486-41997-5
| page = 129}}{{cite book
| last = Wenzel
| first = John
| title = The Everything Poker Strategy Book
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4F68A1b826IC&q=%22four+flush%22&pg=PT227
| accessdate = 2009-03-05
| year = 2004
| publisher = Everything Books
| isbn = 1-59337-140-3}}
In media
File:Hale Hamilton The Four Flusher Film Daily 1919.png
The first governor of Oklahoma, Charles N. Haskell, denounced president and political opponent Theodore Roosevelt, calling him a "four flusher".{{cite news
| title = ROOSEVELT "FOUR-FLUSHER."; Gov. Haskell Again Attacks the President
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/1908/09/28/archives/roosevelt-fourflusher-gov-haskell-again-attacks-the-president-to.html
| work = The New York Times
| accessdate = 2009-03-05
| date = 1908-09-28
}}
Metro Pictures released the comedy The Four Flusher in 1919.{{IMDb title|qid=Q24900866|title=The Four-Flusher}} Several other films have the term in their titles.
In the 1922 Harold Lloyd silent film Dr. Jack, the phrase "a four flusher" is used to describe the doctor in charge of "The Sick-Little-Well-Girl" in the city.{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBsu6luYThI?t=1776 | title=Doctor Jack ("Dr. Jack", 1922) | website=YouTube }}
The Four Flusher is the name of an American comedy written in 1925.{{cite book
| last = Dunn
| first = Caesar
| title = The Four-flusher: An American Comedy in Three Acts
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lx-kGQAACAAJ&q=%22four+flusher%22+source:%22-newswire%22+source:%22-wire%22+source:%22-presswire%22+source:%22-pr%22+source:%22-press%22+source:%22-release%22+source:%22-wikipedia%22
| accessdate = 2009-03-05
| year = 1925
| publisher = S. French}}
In the 1926 silent film The Show-Off, Clara (Louise Brooks) calls Aubrey Piper (Ford Sterling) a four flusher, meaning a braggart or a person who makes false or pretentious claims. In the film, his "four flushing" has resulted in the loss of money needed to pay for the mortgage on the Fisher family home.
In the 1933 Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup, Rufus T. Firefly (Groucho Marx) calls Ambassador Trentino a "four-flushing swine".{{cite web | url= https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m9Wh66FXZJQ | title= Duck Soup YouTube | website=YouTube }}
In the 1941 movie Hellzapoppin', Pepi (Mischa Auer) is called a four flusher.{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcB3_jCXBKg | title=Hellzapoppin (1941), complete movie 1/6 | website=YouTube }}
In the 1945 film Detour, Tom Neal's character calls another character, Charlie Haskell Jr. (echoing the name of the Oklahoma governor), a four flusher.
In the 1948 film Homecoming, Clark Gable's character is called a four flusher.
After dismissing Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander of Allied Powers in 1951, President Harry Truman told Merle Miller that General George Marshall had called MacArthur a "four flusher and no two ways about it".{{cite book |last1=Manchester |first1=William |title=American Caesar |url=https://archive.org/details/americancaesar00will |url-access=registration |date=October 1979 |publisher=Dell Publishing |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/americancaesar00will/page/802 802] |isbn=9780440104131 |edition=1st}}
A 1954 Popeye cartoon is titled "Floor Flusher",{{IMDb title|qid=Q123581667|title=Floor Flusher (1954)}} a pun on "four flusher".
In the 1967 Disney film The Jungle Book, Bagheera calls Baloo a "four flusher" when he sees that Baloo is still alive after believing that he was dead.
The Doobie Brothers' song "Double Dealin' Four Flusher" is on their 1975 album Stampede.{{cite web
| last = McLennan
| first = Scott
| title = The Doobie Brothers comes back around again
| url = http://www.telegram.com/article/20070621/NEWS/706210355/1102
| work = Worcester Telegram & Gazette
| accessdate = 2009-03-05
| date = 2007-06-21
| quote = Most recently, the band returned to the 1975 album 'Stampede' to work up a new arrangement of 'Double Dealin’ Four Flusher.'}}
The phrase was used frequently by screenwriter John Hughes as something of a trademark. In National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Clark refers to his boss as "four flushing" in his tirade over his corporate Christmas present. In Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, it is used by the mafia boss Johnny in the fictional film Angels with Even Filthier Souls. In Uncle Buck, a quite drunk Pooter the Clown calls Buck a four flusher when ordered to leave the family home, which results in Buck punching the clown in the face.
In 2014, a screenplay calledFourFlush was written by Harley Evseichik.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Wiktionary-inline|four-flusher}}