In "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," Mr. John Oakhurst and Tom Simson met while gambling before meeting again on the trail.
After Mr. Oakhurst and the others are kicked out of Poker Flat, they head to a new settlement. On the way, they come across Tom Simson, whose nickname is "The Innocent of Sandy Bar." He seems to be a nice young man who almost got more involved in gambling.
Mr. Oakhurst and Tom met across a gambling table. Mr. Oakhurst won $40 from Tom, which was the entire amount the young man owned. After things were done, Mr. Oakhurst returned Tom's money to the young man and told him not to gamble again. He told him that he wasn't a good gambler.
Mr. Oakhurst, right from the beginning of the short story "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," which is written by Bret Harte, (Harte, 1869), Oakhurst is one of the leading outcasts of the town of Poker Flat in California. The town of Poker Flat decided to kick four people out of town after Poker Flat was losing a lot of money in those times, plus falling into moral decay due to these four people, which also included a woman involved in prostitution named Mother Shipton, someone was allegedly a criminal, a young lady that worked in an alcoholic bar called The Duchess, a commonly known drunk around Poker Flat named Uncle Billy, plus as mentioned before, Mr. Oakhurst who was a good gambler.
As the four outcasts of Poker Flat were journeying out of the town and took a rest, they came across Tom Simson, a young man known in the book as "the innocent" repeatedly, as well as his young girlfriend Piney woods who in the book is 15-years-old. Simson was in great admiration of Mr. Oakhurst because Mr. Oakhurst had won a gambling match with Simson and Simson had lost a lot of money, however, Oakhurst was honest enough to return the money to Simson, most likely because he's a young man, and taught him the lesson to not ever gamble again. Since Simson was in great admiration of the Poker Flat outcast Mr. Oakhurst, Simson and his 15-year-old girlfriend journeyed along with Oakhurst and the three other outcasts of Poker Flat.
Therefore, Mr. Oakhurst and Tom Simson had actually met twice in the short story of "The Outcasts of Poker Flat." The first time that met was at a poker match where Mr. Oakhurst won the match, yet, returned the money to Tom Simson and warned him not to gamble again because he is a bad gambler. The second time that Mr. Oakhurst and Tom Simson met in the short story of "The Outcasts of Poker Flat," was when by this time, Mr. Oakhurst had been thrown out of Poker Flat with three other individuals who were deemed to be decreasing the moral value of the town of Poker Flat, however, the irony in this situation is that Mr. Oakhurst showed himself to also have redeeming qualities with his actions towards Tom Simson of returning the money that he had won from him in a poker game and to warn him against gambling in future because he did have a knack for it.
Years before the story takes place, John Oakhurst, a professional gambler, had met Tom Stimson while comprehensively beating him in a game of poker. Oakhurst is an expert card player, and he made a small fortune off Tom, who is not nicknamed "The Innocent" for nothing. But Oakhurst took pity on Tom and gave him the money back while advising him not to play poker again, as he is clearly a bad player. For this reason, Tom is rather in awe of Oakhurst, believing him to be a truly great man. As a result, he is rather pleased when he and his young lover, Piney Woods, stumble across the legendary gambler along with the other outcasts. They are on their way to a camp over the mountains and have decided—against Oakhurst's wishes—to rest a while before resuming their journey.
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