Jack of diamonds, Jack of diamonds
I’ve known you from old,
You’ve robbed my poor pockets
Of silver and gold
Traditional American

The mental disintegration of a card-player following a reverse is played excellently by Steve McQueen in the film The Cincinnati Kid, where he’s a promising champion poker player out to win glory against the best around only to lose all against Edward G. Robinson in a final hand. The hole card that did the damage to the Kid was, as you might have guessed by now, the jack of diamonds.

In 1949, Johnny Moss played Nick “The Greek” Dandalos in a legendary session of non-stop no-limit poker at Binion’s Horseshoe Casino, Las Vegas. They played for five months, breaking only for sleep. One of the most famous hands of poker took place when they were playing the variant of poker known as five-card stud where all cards except one in each hand (the hole card) are exposed. The Greek bet very heavily, but Moss calculated he must have the winning hand with a pair of nines. Then the last card was turned, giving the Greek a jack. It was incredibly unlikely that the Greek would have a winning hand but he said, “Mr Moss I think I have a Jack in the hole.” Moss replied, “Greek, if you got a jack down there, you’re liable to win yourself one hell of a pot.” The Greek turned his hole card over – it was the jack of diamonds. He won. But Johnny Moss eventually succeeded in cleaning the Greek out.