Maverick "According to Hoyle"

[Adam H. Kerman]

This episode introduces the gorgeous Diane Brewster as Samantha Crawford,
a role she'd previously played on Cheyenne in the episode "The Dark Rider"
by Howard Browne and Roy Huggins. This episode was written by Russell Hughes
from a story by Horace McCoy. Season 1, Episode 3. I always liked this one,
never was terribly fond of the second episode. Maverick plays cards on a
riverboat from New Orleans to St. Louis, one of just a handful of episodes
with any scenes on a riverboat, despite the lyric in the theme song.

There's not a lot of humor evident in this episode, although the situation
gets more and more ridiculous.

Maverick is off his game playing poker. Samantha is playing badly, deliberately
targeting hands he's participating in and backing off her bets in hands
he's not. Finally, she wins a major pot from Maverick, busting him.
She lies to him about it all being revenge for George Cross, her father,
whom Maverick once busted, claiming he embezzled money to pay gamble with,
which was lost to Maverick, for which he went to prison.

How did she win the huge pot? According to Hoyle, straights are not allowed
in stud poker unless agreed to in advance by the table. Maverick wasn't
permitted to claim the pot with his straight. He backed off gracefully.

Cross isn't her father, nor did he go to prison. He did want revenge
against Maverick at poker, and hired Samantha to take him down.

The episode doesn't work as well when they follow a crooked casino owner
to an obscure mining town where he has his casino, intending to take his
gamblers by running honest games. But Garner has some cute scenes with
recognizeable character actress Esther Dale, 120 credits in IMDb. Jay
Novello also shows up. Also, Big Mike is in the episode.

[rvbi...@gmail.com]

I stumbled on this post while searching for a Maverick episode that I recall had the following opening scene: Maverick is playing cards at a remote saloon with the locals. He puts down what he's sure is winning hand. But another player puts down a hand of apparently random cards and says, "Sorry, I win." Maverick scoffs, but the player points to a sign in the corner of the saloon which says "An Old Cat (cards listed) beats four of a kind and under." The locals chuckle as he rakes in the pot.

At the end of episode, Maverick is back in the same saloon with the same locals, and puts down an "Old Cat," and starts to rake in the pot. The same local puts down two pair and says "Nope, I win. Maverick protests, but the local points to a sign in the other corner of the saloon, which reads "Only one Old Cat per Week."

I don't recall any other details of this episode and I'm not even sure if what I do recall is remotely accurate. Would greatly appreciate it if anyone also remembers this and ideally, the season and episode it was first shown in. "According to Hoyle" is close, but not enough.

Thanks in advance.

[mikesincl...@gmail.com]

Funny continuity mistake early on. In the opening sequence Maverick has 3 queens, the King of clubs and ace of diamonds. He loses to her 3 kings....one of which is also the King of clubs.