Occasions of Sin Poker Story
All good stories begin with "Once upon a time.................."
In the 1950s I lived in a small rural village in Ireland. To cut down on the "Occasions of Sin" in the Parish,
the Parish Priest decided to form a Club/ Games Room in the Parish Hall to prevent the young people of the Parish
entering Bars/public houses and falling into the sin of drunkenness.
To this end, the Parish Priest asked my father to run the Club. There were several snooker/pool tables, dart boards,
skittles and card games. My father charged a nominal sum of money - well within the range of teenagers and young men's
pockets. Of course what the Parish Priest didn't envisage was the introduction of 5 Card Stud Poker and 5 Card Draw, but
since it kept the lads off the streets the Parish Priest and my Father turned a blind eye to these games of chance.
Now every town and village, everywhere, had a Village Drunk and our village was no exception. Our Village Drunk was named
Donagh McCallion and, as the saying goes, he would neither work nor want, but he always seemed to have money to buy cheap
home brewed booze called Poteen.
One evening he came into the Club, well drunk where my father was in charge and where, in addition to the various games
being played there were two tables of poker being played. He asked at one table could he join in and one player told
him he had to have money to join. Another Player added a further insult by saying, "You're drunk you peasant". The bold
Donagh immediately stuck two fingers down his throat and vomited copiously over cards, money and a couple of players who
got in the way.
Yours
Tommy241
