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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.[1] Four flushing refers to empty boasting[2] or unsuccessful bluffing,[3] and a four flusher is a person who makes empty boasts or bluffs when holding a four flush.[1][4] Four flusher can also refer to a welcher, piker, or braggart.[5] 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.[3][4][6] Optimal strategies for bluffing or folding when holding a four flush have been explored extensively in poker strategy books.[7][8][9][10][11]

In media

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1919 film The Four Flusher

The first governor of Oklahoma, Charles N. Haskell, denounced president and political opponent Theodore Roosevelt, calling him a "four flusher".[12]

Metro Pictures released a comedy titled The Four-Flusher in 1919.[13] Several other films have used 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.[14]

The Four Flusher is the name of an American comedy written in 1925.[15]

In the 1926 silent film The Show-Off, the character Clara (played by Louise Brooks) refers to the character Aubrey Piper (played by Ford Sterling) as a four-flusher meaning he is 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, Groucho Marx's character Rufus T. Firefly refers to Ambassador Trentino as a “four-flushing swine” [16]

In the 1941 movie, Hellzapoppin' the character Pepi (played by Mischa Auer) is called a four flusher.[17]

In the 1945 film Detour Tom Neal's character calls another character a four-flusher. (The other character is named Charlie Haskell Jr., echoing the name of the Oklahoma governor mentioned above.)

In the 1948 film Homecoming starring Clark Gable, one of the characters calls Gable's character a "four flusher".

Following his dismissal of Gen. MacArthur as Supreme Commander of Allied Powers in 1951, President Harry Truman confided to Merle Miller that Gen. George Marshall referred to MacArthur as a "four-flusher and no two ways about it".[18]

A Popeye cartoon released in 1954 was titled "Floor Flusher",[19] as 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 included the song "Double Dealin' Four Flusher" in their 1975 album Stampede.[20]

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 right in the face.

In 2014 a screenplay by the name of FourFlush was written by Harley Evseichik

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Stelzer, Irwin M. (2004-04-17). "All Hat and No Cattle". The Weekly Standard (34 (Why, despite everything, Bush should win)). Archived from the original on May 12, 2004. Retrieved 2009-03-05. 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.
  2. ^ Hazael, Brooks P. (1908-10-02). ""Four-Flusher" Defined". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-03-05. 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."
  3. ^ a b "THE "FOUR FLUSHER"". The New York Times. 1908-09-29. Retrieved 2009-03-05. It seems then, that a "four flusher" properly speaking, must be an unsuccessful bluffer
  4. ^ a b "A defense of the four-flusher". The New York Times. 1908-10-02. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  5. ^ Monteleone, Vincent Joseph (2003). Criminal Slang: The Vernacular of the Underground Lingo. The Lawbook Exchange. ISBN 1-58477-300-6. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  6. ^ Ruch, John (2002-08-22). "What is the meaning of the term 'four-flusher' or 'four-flushing'?". Archived from the original on January 26, 2010. Retrieved 2009-03-05. A four-flusher originally was someone who bluffs or otherwise can't back up his or her bragging
  7. ^ "Books Of The Times". The New York Times. 1981-04-04. Retrieved 2009-03-05. 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.
  8. ^ Silberstang, Edwin (2005). The Winner's Guide to Casino Gambling. Henry Holt & Company. p. 376. ISBN 0-8050-7765-0. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  9. ^ Wenzel, John (2006). The Everything Texas Hold'em Book. Everything Books. p. 118. ISBN 1-59337-579-4. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  10. ^ Levinson, Horace C (2001). Chance, Luck, and Statistics. Courier Dover Publications. p. 129. ISBN 0-486-41997-5. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  11. ^ Wenzel, John (2004). The Everything Poker Strategy Book. Everything Books. ISBN 1-59337-140-3. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  12. ^ "ROOSEVELT "FOUR-FLUSHER."; Gov. Haskell Again Attacks the President". The New York Times. 1908-09-28. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  13. ^ The Four-Flusher at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  14. ^ "Doctor Jack ("Dr. Jack", 1922)". YouTube.
  15. ^ Dunn, Caesar (1925). The Four-flusher: An American Comedy in Three Acts. S. French. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  16. ^ "Duck Soup YouTube". YouTube.
  17. ^ "Hellzapoppin (1941), complete movie 1/6". YouTube.
  18. ^ Manchester, William (October 1979). American Caesar (1st ed.). New York: Dell Publishing. p. 802. ISBN 9780440104131.
  19. ^ Floor Flusher (1954) at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  20. ^ McLennan, Scott (2007-06-21). "The Doobie Brothers comes back around again". Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Retrieved 2009-03-05. Most recently, the band returned to the 1975 album 'Stampede' to work up a new arrangement of 'Double Dealin' Four Flusher.'
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