Pat Poker is the titular main antagonist of the Lucky Luke comic Lucky Luke versus Pat Poker. He is an escaped convict and professional card player who leads a gang to terrorize the town of Tumbleweed. He is one of the first, and also one of the most infamous, foes that Luke had encountered during his adventures, even cameoing in the intro of the 1984 Hanna Barbera series based on the comics.
Biography[]
Clean-Up in Red-City[]
When Luke is assigned as the sheriff of Red City, Pat gets himself and his men to arrive at the train station to greet him. However, as Luke was made to wear the clothes of a ten-year-old boy as a result of his own clothes getting stolen after bathing in a lake, Pat and his men make fun of him for his appearance, mockingly treating him like a child.
As Pat and his men attempt to hang one of the town's civilians, Luke plays along with the charade, and brings a present with a skunk inside of it, scaring off everyone who was attending the hanging. Luke then finds that Pat had stolen Jolly Jumper, and plays a game of cards against him to win Jolly back.
During the game of cards, Pat Poker is seen cheating, as it is impossible to have five aces at once, as Luke angrily tells him. But Pat doesn't like being a cheater and attempts to shoot Luke, only to be hit in the jaw by the table when Luke jumped on it. He then asks Pat to take off his suit so they can continue the game, which results in his victory and therefore he gets Jolly Jumper back, but Pat tells him to leave Red City, under the threat of being shot if he comes back at nightfall.
Later, Pat Poker writes a message for the Undertaker of Red City to send it to Luke, which is written on a heart card. Once Luke receives the message, he sees the Undertaker smirking as he points at the message, telling Luke to leave the town before the night, which he actually falls for. This allows Pat Poker to gather a meeting with two members of his gang, Jack and Horseshoe, discussing about a plan to rob the bank of Red City, but as his gang hid inside a barrel to sneak into the bank, they find a message by "Pipsqueak" instead of money inside the safe, where it is written that they are under arrest and therefore must reach for the sky. Right behind them, Lucky Luke holds them at gunpoint with a fake gun as he handcuffs the two criminals, bringing them to prison.
Pat Poker is then told by the Undertaker about Luke arresting both Jack and Horseshoe and that he is coming to the saloon to face him, now armed. He then tosses the coin in the air, going after Luke if the side is heads. The results comes out as Heads, meaning that he can confront Luke. He then asks the barman to give him a Winchester rifle, much to the barman's pleading to not cause damage within the saloon. Pat then shoots down the door as it creaks open, thinking it's Luke getting inside, but he was tricked, as Luke came from the main entrance instead and takes him by surprise. Pat Poker was about to play a game of dices, but his dices are shot down by Luke, as he then orders him to pay up for his crimes.
As this happens, Pat gives Luke ten seconds of his watch to draw his revolver, but as Luke shoots faster than his own shadow, his revolver is instantly shot out of his hand. Luke then tells him to draw once the cuckoo chimes, but instead of shooting Luke, as he had no revolver in his hand, he leaves himself vulnerable to Luke's shots as he lits up a cigarette in fear. This results in Pat Poker seemingly dying and being taken to the graveyard by the Undertaker, but all of this was just to escape from the saloon undetected. However, Luke knew about this and went on to arrest the Undertaker as he is handcuffed on a tombstone. Pat attempts to get away on a horse as Luke accidentaly falls inside a grave. At an intersection, he decides to do another bet, with the result choosing the path he should go. The coin faces Tails and therefore, Pat Poker goes to Dead Man Canyon. Little does he know is that Lucky Luke manages to later catch him as a spade card fell out of his pocket and on the same road he was riding on. During the trial, he pleads guilty and is sent to prison.
Rough and Tumble in Tumbleweed[]
Some time after his arrest, Pat Poker escapes and lays low inside the Tumbleweed Saloon, where he strips them from their belongings by winning games of poker against several players. However, he notices Lucky Luke beating up Angelface. Fearing that he would be recognized, he decides to get rid of him again, though he does choose on which way to do so, either by rope if it's Tails or by bullet if it's Heads. The coin's side is Heads, meaning that he uses bullets instead of having Luke hanged.
As Luke arrives in the saloon, he has the barman take away Luke's revolvers and finally confronts Lucky Luke face to face for the second time. He then reveals how he managed to escape the prison of Red City by playing gim rummy with the Jailer, allowing him to get the jail keys to open the door of his cell. Ordering the barman to fetch the Undertaker, Pat Poker is then held at "gunpoint" by Luke, who actually used a bottle to pretend it as a revolver, causing him to drop both of his revolvers. Luke takes them back as he tells Pat to turn around, showing that he was tricked. This time, instead of sending him back to prison, Luke lets Pat Poker off the hook under the condition that he doesn't cause any more trouble.
Pat Poker doesn't seem to care about the condition as Angelface offers him a business proposal where he takes down Luke for him in exchange for a $80 payment. However, the plan backfires as Angelface instead encounters a sleeping, defenceless woman who shoots him out. Disappointed by this, he gives Angelface one last chance to keep the money with a plan. The plan involves Pat Poker inviting Luke into a game of poker and having him seated near a window, where Angelface would then notice his silhouette and shoot him down from behind. Angelface agrees to the plan and goes inside the hotel to find a room where he could watch the poker game. This again results in the plan backfiring, as Luke knew that sitting near a window would be bad luck for him and Angelface's Winchester gets blown up, revealing that Luke actually knew about their plan and rigged the Winchester so he would thwart it again.
Afterwards, he is later found by a sheriff who has a warrant to arrest him, but he gets away once more when he drops the chandelier on him as he was about to get Angelface out of his way. Despite this, he still encounters Luke again and is about to kill him, but he is caught by a flypaper that Luke threw at him, tying him up as he falls down through the saloon's floor. With Luke thinking he died from the fall, Pat Poker crawls out from under the saloon, where he attempts to get away on his horse through the mountains. Due to the weight of his belonging preventing his horse to run faster, he tosses them on the ground, only to presumably fall down to his death as the path collapsed under him. However, it is revealed that Pat Poker faked his death and was hanging on a branch, where he surrenders to Luke as he is arrested and sent to a hundred years in prison. This doesn't seem to bother him as he has enough time to win poker the hard way.
Trivia[]
- Like Big Belly and many other villains from the early Lucky Luke comics, Pat Poker is a fictional character that is not inspired by any historical figure. Morris would later introduce the first characters inspired by real-life figures, the Dalton Gang, a year after the release of this comic.
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