It was game night at my house and I had seven guests, all geocaching acquaintances. We get together about once a month, play poker, and talk about geocaching. What all of us like best is talking about our cache hides.
We were playing a game we made up called four card stud. In our game, everyone first antes one red chip. Each player then gets a down card, two up cards, and finally a second down card. There's a round of betting after the second, third, and fourth cards are dealt. All play occurs in clockwise order around the table, and the usual poker rules for checking, betting, calling, and raising apply.
I began by dealing everyone a down card and an up card. My ace of spades was high, and even though it went nicely with the spade I had down I didn't feel like betting. Pioneer86 was to my left, and he opened the betting by mutely throwing in a white chip. The next three players called. Uncle Alaska began stroking his long white beard while he pondered his bet.
"You know, I was in California last week to take my grandson on a tour of Humboldt State University. We were checking out one of the dorms and got roped into a poker game. I decided to be flat out aggressive with my betting, and I cleaned those boys out. Guess I'll raise five."
He stopped, flashed his toothless grin, and tossed in a red chip. After the next four seats called the bet without hesitation, it was Coralgeo's turn.
"I went up to REI this afternoon and bought a book that explains everything you always wanted to know about Garmin GPS receivers. I can't believe the profit margin they've got on those things. It they succeed in driving Magellan out of business, watch out!"
Coralgeo took up geocaching last month, and it's about all she ever talks about any more. It took about ten seconds before she remembered what she was supposed to be doing and added two white chips to the pot. I don't believe she even looked at her down card. The remaining two players called.
I dealt eight cards up. My new card was a ten, and I was the only player other than Cheahamt who had two cards of the same suit showing. There were now three pairs showing, and Pioneer86 was high. He bet ten to start the round, and the next five players called. It was now Timely's turn to bet. She peeked at her down card and drummed her fingers.
"My Grandpa Curry taught me to play poker when I was in the fourth grade. We used to play for toothpicks. I think about him every time I play. This is in memory of Arthur Curry. Raise ten."
Timely flipped two reds into the pot. I was next and called, as did Pioneer86. Coralgeo looked like she was considering folding, but after a few moments of thought she called as well. Ooga Booga stacked four white chips, started to slide them to the center of the table, but stopped himself.
"Have I ever told you I was in the CIA during the Cold War? Deep cover in Moscow. Believe me when I tell you it was cloak and dagger, hammer and sickle. Gambled for my life every day. After that, hard to be worried about twenty."
Ooga Booga pushed his chips the rest of the way in. The next three players quickly made the pot good.
I dealt the last eight cards, all down. I peeked at my card: another spade! Pioneer86 still had the high hand, of course, and he bet 15. This bet was called twice, and then Terrific-Trio smiled and stacked up thirteen white chips.
"This, my friends, is the tower of power. Challenge it if you dare, but the power is with me and the tower will not be denied."
Terrific-Trio dumped his stack into the pot.
I don't remember exactly who called and who folded during what followed, but I do remember the two raises. No one raised Terrific-Trio until the betting got back around to Pioneer86, and he went for the kill.
"I think I'll see that and raise 100. Then I'll just lean back and relax and watch you losers suffer."
After Pioneer86 contributed his three blue chips, the pot was by far the largest of the night. By the time it was Terrific-Trio's turn again, the tension was rising. When the betting got back to Cheahamt, it was almost unbearable.
Cheahamt hadn't said a word for the entire game. He was showing the jack and nine of diamonds, and it wouldn't be long before we'd learn that both his down cards were diamonds as well. He smiled broadly, looking back and forth from his hand to Pioneer86's.
"Beauty and the beast, baby! Beauty and the beast! I'll see Pioneer86's 100 and raise 200."
Cheahamt shoved a pile of chips into the pot. There were no raises after that. Except for Cheahamt, no one looked very confident. Even Pioneer86 looked nervous.
We faced our cards, but as it turned out, the hand was far from over. When the presumed winner began to rake the pot, Uncle Alaska pointed out that another player actually had the high hand. This led to a heated five minute argument over the proper application of probability to the evaluation of four card poker hands. In the end we agreed that Wikipedia would be the final authority. After a quick web search, we finally had a winner. Unfortunately, some of the players were no longer on speaking terms with each other, so the game broke up and everyone went home.
It was such a memorable hand that I decided to create this puzzle. Here's how to find the cache:
- Number the hands from 1 to 8 in clockwise order around the table, ending with the dealer's hand. (If you read the narrative carefully, you'll know who was sitting where.)
- Immediately after the last cards were dealt, eight hands were still in the game. Let A be the number of the highest hand, let B be the number of the second highest hand, and continue on so that H is the number of the lowest hand. (Figuring out which four cards each player held is the puzzling part.)
- To find the cache, start at the posted coordinates, go A.BCD minutes north, and then go E.FGH minutes east. (The cache is in a waterproof match container.)
By the way, be careful what you say at a poker table. It's easy to give your cards away!
Congratulations to himilecyclist for being first to find.