A four flush is a poker draw or non-standard poker hand that is one card short of being a full flush. Four flushing refers to empty boasting or unsuccessful bluffing, and a four flusher is a person who makes empty boasts or bluffs when holding a four flush. Four flusher can also refer to a welcher, piker, or braggart. This pejorative term originated in the 19th century when bluffing poker players misrepresented that they had a flush—a poker hand with five cards all of one suit—when they only had four cards of one suit. Optimal strategies for bluffing or folding when holding a four flush have been explored extensively in poker strategy books.
In media
The first Governor of Oklahoma, Charles N. Haskell, denounced President and political opponentTheodore Roosevelt, calling him a "four flusher". Metro Pictures released a comedy titled The Four-Flusher in 1919. Several other films have used the term in their titles. In the 1922 Harold Lloydsilent filmDr. Jack the phrase "a four-flusher" is used to describe the doctor in charge of "The Sick-Little-Well-Girl" in the city. In the 1926 silent film The Show-Off, the character Clara refers to the character Aubrey Piper as a four-flusher meaning he is a braggart or a person who makes false or pretentious claims. In the film, his "four-flushing" has resulted in the loss of money needed to pay for the mortgage on the Fisher family home. In the 1941 movie, Hellzapoppin the character Pepi is called a four flusher. In the 1945 film Detour Tom Neal's character calls another character a four-flusher. In the 1948 film Homecoming starring Clark Gable, one of the characters calls Gable's character a "four flusher". Following his dismissal of Gen. MacArthur as Supreme Commander of Allied Powers in 1951, President Harry Truman confided to Merle Miller that Gen. George Marshall referred to MacArthur as a "four-flusher and no two ways about it". The Doobie Brothers included the song "Double Dealin' Four Flusher" in their 1975 album Stampede. The Four Flusher is the name of an American comedy written in 1925. A Popeye cartoon released in 1954 was titled "Floor Flusher", as a pun on four flusher. In the 1967 Disney filmThe Jungle Book, Bagheera calls Baloo a "four-flusher" when he sees that Baloo is still alive after believing that he was dead. In 2014 a screenplay by the name of FourFlush was written by Harley Evseichik The phrase was used frequently by screenwriter John Hughes as something of a trademark. In National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Clark refers to his boss as "four flushing" in his tirade over his corporate Christmas present. In ', it is used by the mafia boss Johnny in the fictional filmAngels with Even Filthier Souls. In Uncle Buck'', a quite drunk Pooter the Clown calls Buck a four flusher when ordered to leave the family home, which results in Buck punching the clown right in the face.
