Dealer's Choice (The Twilight Zone)

"Dealer's Choice"
The Twilight Zone episode
Scene from "Dealer's Choice"
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 8c
Directed by	Wes Craven
Written by	Donald Todd
Original air date	November 15, 1985
Guest appearance(s)
Morgan Freeman: Tony Dan Hedaya: Nick/The Devil Barney Martin: Marty Garrett Morris: Jake M. Emmet Walsh: Peter

"Dealer's Choice" is the third segment of the eighth episode of the first season (1985–86) of the television series The Twilight Zone.

Opening narration

“

Just a friendly game of cards. It doesn't take much to buy into this game, but buying out may be something else entirely. You see, there's a wild card on the table in a deck that's been reshuffled and cut...in the Twilight Zone.

”

Plot

A group of friends are playing a game of poker when they start to think one of their guests may be the Devil. After many hands won by Nick, who apparently has replaced his cousin Norman, a friend of the group, Jake begins to ponder why Nick always has three sixes in his hand when he wins. Nick, meanwhile has left the table to get a drink of water. Then Marty, the simple, good-natured guy heads for the bathroom. The guys become convinced when they call Norman and discover he isn't sick like Nick claimed.

When Nick rejoins the table, they tell him their theory and he admits that they are right and that one of them at the table is to be collected tonight. The three friends debate over who it is to be collected, but the Devil suggests they make a game of it. Pick a card and the high card wins a trip with Nick. The friends want to wait for Marty but the Devil says that some people are too innocent to corrupt and he would pick the low card. Tony picks an eight, Jake picks a seven, and then Pete picks a jack. After Pete begs the Devil not to take him, Tony suggests that in order to be fair, Pete and Nick should play one-on-one. Pete puts up his immortal soul and Nick puts up eighteen dollars (6 + 6 + 6), but Pete demands he put up nineteen to break the weird chain of events. They play lowball, where the worst hand wins. For example, one pair beats two pair, and so forth.

Marty rejoins the group, unaware of what has transpired, but Jake and Tony catch him up. It looks as though Pete is about to lose. The Devil turns over the last card and it is tarot's Death. The Devil, having won, begins to take Pete away with him. Before the Devil and Pete leave, Marty touches the card, not understanding what the card signifies. The card, because of Marty's innocence, reveals itself to be the fourth six. That means the Devil loses and Pete wins. The Devil waves his hand and claims that he does not normally make amends, but this time he feels he owes them. The Devil leaves, thanking Pete for his hospitality and hoping to host the next game and invite them to it. The friends go into the kitchen to find a grand feast along with a refrigerator filled with beer. As the friends start another poker game, they resolve to be better husbands to their wives and start going to church regularly after everything that happened.

Closing narration

“

There's an old saying, oft told, but seldom heeded: never deal with the devil. But if by chance you must, it's nice to know he can be a good sport. Just a friendly game of cards among a friendly group of guys, who have just come back...from the Twilight Zone.

”

External links

The Twilight Zone (1985) episodes

Season 1	"Shatterday" "A Little Peace and Quiet" "Wordplay" "Dreams for Sale" "Chameleon" "Healer" "Children's Zoo" "Kentucky Rye" "Little Boy Lost" "Wish Bank" "Nightcrawlers" "If She Dies" "Ye Gods" "Examination Day" "A Message from Charity" "Teacher's Aide" "Paladin of the Lost Hour" "Act Break" "The Burning Man" "Dealer's Choice" "Dead Woman's Shoes" "Wong's Lost and Found Emporium" "The Shadow Man" "The Uncle Devil Show" "Opening Day" "The Beacon" "One Life, Furnished in Early Poverty" "Her Pilgrim Soul" "I of Newton" "Night of the Meek" "But Can She Type?" "The Star" "Still Life" "The Little People of Killany Woods" "The Misfortune Cookie" "Monsters!" "A Small Talent for War" "A Matter of Minutes" "The Elevator" "To See the Invisible Man" "Tooth and Consequences" "Welcome to Winfield" "Quarantine" "Gramma" "Personal Demons" "Cold Reading" "The Leprechaun-Artist" "Dead Run" "Profile in Silver" "Button, Button" "Need to Know" "Red Snow" "Take My Life...Please!" "Devil's Alphabet" "The Library" "Shadow Play" "Grace Note" "A Day in Beaumont" "The Last Defender of Camelot"

Season 2	"The Once and Future King" "A Saucer of Loneliness" "What Are Friends For?" "Aqua Vita" "The Storyteller" "Nightsong" "The After Hours" "Lost and Found" "The World Next Door" "The Toys of Caliban" "The Convict's Piano" "The Road Less Traveled" "The Card" "The Junction" "Joy Ride" "Shelter Skelter" "Private Channel" "Time and Teresa Golowitz" "Voices in the Earth" "Song of the Younger World" "The Girl I Married"

Season 3	"The Curious Case of Edgar Witherspoon" "Extra Innings" "The Crossing" "The Hunters" "Dream Me a Life" "Memories" "The Hellgramite Method" "Our Selena Is Dying" "The Call" "The Trance" "Acts of Terror" "20/20 Vision" "There Was an Old Woman" "The Trunk" "Appointment on Route 17" "The Cold Equations" "Stranger in Possum Meadows" "Street of Shadows" "Something in the Walls" "A Game of Pool" "Room 2426" "The Mind of Simon Foster" "The Wall" "Cat and Mouse" "Rendezvous in a Dark Place" "Many, Many Monkeys" "Love is Blind" "Crazy as a Soup Sandwich" "Special Service" "Father and Son Game"

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Dealer's Choice (The Twilight Zone)

Opening narration

Plot

Closing narration

See also

External links