Poker and soldiers have traditionally gone together as naturally as peanut butter and bananas. This is because having the sort of tactical mind that will allow a commander to survive in battle more than a few minutes means also being a world class bluffer. Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest of the Confederate Calvary during the civil war was not only a hero on the battlefield, but was also one of the early heroes of the game of stud poker.
He is known for such acts as forcing a bigger force to surrender when, during a parlay, he had his soldiers keep moving their only two cannon around a ridge that surrounded the meeting place. His opponent was fooled into thinking they had over a dozen Howitzers, and surrendered to what he thought was a larger army. He also personally killed thirty men; one of them with a pen knife after he, himself had been shot.
Forrest went into the war a millionaire, and came out a pauper. In an attempt to rebuild his fortune, Bedford used he and his wife’s last ten dollars and played draw poker with it. The first big challenge was convincing his significant other, a staunch Christian, to allow him to risk the money on a game of chance. After he had secured her blessing he went away with the ten dollars. He came back several hours later with a hat full of money that totaled $1500. In today’s dollars, he turned about $136 into twenty thousand.
An avid poker player, the same skills that he used to befuddle his opponents he put into action to keep his family out of the poor house. While this is not as sexy as winning a purse worth millions, and a shiny new bracelet, he is still considered one of the pioneers of the game of poker.
