The man and his dog

An old man stops by a pub with his dog and finds a poker game underway in the back room. The man nods to the group’s leader who signals him to pull up a chair. He plays a few hands as his dog looks on from a nearby barstool.

An hour into the game, the old man gets a good 7-stud starting hand. At 5th Street he’s just shy of completing a club flush and getting excited.

Another player, however, is showing a higher community card and appears to be working towards a spade flush. While 7th Street is being dealt, the old man looks to his dog and says, “I could use an ace of clubs.”

The dog leaps from the barstool and charges the dealer who, while reaching down to free his ankle from the dog’s mouth, drops an ace of spades from his shirt sleeve. The dog retrieves the ace and takes it to the old man.

“Stupid dog! Can’t you get anything right?”

The barkeep, who is chucking the cheater out, tells the man, “Mister, that dog saved you a lot of money by catching that cheat.”

The old man throws the exposed card on the table, “I tell her the ace of clubs and what does she bring me but the goddamn ace of spades!”