The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-06-25
BIO POKER AND FARo oamEs
Re-,in'scences or Several Oia sapah,er. A bou,
Heavy Playing nnd Bold Pinyers-EuLtinu
Up u fort.ae and thea . House-Cnrdn nd
btOcka Observation-Disclosures IT The TnhIc.

| Stoch' Compnrcd-E'Oliticians at the Table.
Gamblers do not admit that the wagering
OF such high stakes as those in the Newburgh
| poker game have been common. People will
| eXaggerato and lilo about the magnitude of
| games OF poker" ono OF them said lust as
| they do about tho size and numbers OF the fish
thoy catch. If a fellow wins a thousand dollars
some night. he will almost certainly be sur
prised before the week is out to hoar that it
was ten thousand. Such stories grow in the
| most unaccountablo way. The only really big
| playing that ever knew OF myself was Mt faro
which is the king game after all. and even
then 1T WAS not. as Is the rule. by betting
straight between dealer and player. put by
stacking up between players. Suppose the
limit Of tho game is 81 900, which is all the
| bank risks on single turn Of card A, sitting
before the board puts up against the bank to
that limit. then B. puts up $1,000 against A:
| another thousand. or five or ten thousand may
be put up by and met with like amount by
T. and so on until they get up all that they
the card between the players. while the bank
can neither win nor lose more than its : 1000.
n that way have often known OF from
Jerome, T. 4 simmons John Tybin u and nio JOIN
Morrissey. and Tobin we're ali Interested to-.
gsethsr In lottery; the carital of which was in
l25 shares, worth $4,000 each. and they used to
meet aud plny those shares sometimes twelve
or sixteen shares changing owners at sitting.
tnsy at psyen in hat they usually
| lost 100000 In a night playing against a COM
5inatlon game in which Morrissey, Charles
| Thomas, Daucey and Pcttibonc were the
heaviest regular performers of that stacking
Nobody nowadays plays any such games as
were common with them. A man named
ago recovered some money rom O'Bricn on Il
| gambling transaction by process of law, used
he is poor now having lSs H' thy BULK bulk OF bis
| fortune playing poker over in Europe with
| Walternire and viii Chamberlain.
As for heavy short card games in New York
| L cannot say much do not in fact. remember
Il Ten any that I'll Would G Ga rarticnlary heavy
Boston for $1,000 II side and / have known
poker hands to be bet up to So 900 or So 600. but
time The high play is all confined to the private
rooms AT the principal clubs and in certain up
town hotels, and is carried on among personal
| friends and acquaintances who keep their own
counsel; 1t IL rumored that a few gentlemen
hotel not three blocks from the corner Of broad.
| way and Twenty seventh street are doing the
hclyiest noker PLAYING Of the present day, but
sohaly acquainted with them and have no right
t. he more explicit fhn naye been II men.
game Is any heavier than is played in two or
three of the big clubs in Fifth Avenue"
not another player said. play as big short
card games as those Of a score of years ago are
| ing seen any very big plays As Tar as my OPP
p2rtunitcs for observation have gone. am in
cllnCd to think That there is u decided falling
| OFF OF interest in draw poker among the heavy
players. II is a game that no sensible man
| nowadays is likely to trust much money in if
he is playing with stranger. and as Il rule the
! bigger hand man OF common sense gets under
such eir,cumstances the more SUSPICIOUS he is
! have known a man worth million to lay
| down four aces before a 500 raise when it was
2 2nu the I, H i He mad no s"rb0siy
| things-or nearly sure. And even among
friends Il man is not gambler
| III light appreciation of the val ne of money
but a business man who knows how much
trouble 1t is to earn 81 900 in square mercantile
! or professional ways, there is no longer such
Reckless oyer-yaluatlon Of hands as is said to
now as general rule more game ann for gem
temanly iststlme with stakes that merely fur
nIsh a, heatht1 excitement 50 to speak and
! thing rare. And such bets are always .exag
s It in TIE teilimG have heard il said that
heavy raids on tho faro banks but have been
sS games IN sW or y ana ne rnns sM S
| before layout, or even heard on good posi-
Ws ys a% n ny OF his fayng 80 d Ms
side and whist for good high stakes some
times, but l do not know whether he. played
| himself. had the reputation outside the gam
bling ir3I;srnity Of ,G9,ins bold and reckless
IN lart, a rowardly small player ut the game
whenHynr ne had an, money to play but never
gamkHng AT any one timc, it was among sup
posed tC.ends George, Hill. better SHOWN as
PLAYERS, AS well rs one of the plucNiest in facing
| tho tiger that | ever knew, but do not recall
any MP n"rteAIo o nSiew3irthy games Of his now
| friends characterized the Nowburgh game
as m0n & sSs . of GokSr ever
| lost in n,ght III European gambling houses"
he sad but nobody has ever heard until now
OF sl5oooD being won on single hand at
| poker. the loser in that game was skinned of
eourse. but il he hadn't been foot he wou!dnt
two men NTH whom he was playing was good for
$40 900 But when they bet their hand, UP TO
ing that il he won he wou ID NOT get his money.
| 1t seems Incredible that he should not have
knoTn that nc wv waS being sknnod And It's
| believe there Is another man in the country
who would have paid it.. You have often heard
| The evidence on which those stories arc based
ths H sGch a in
| seldom II ever played in these days. Money
game IL, which four or live thousand dollars is
won and lost is considered very heavy game.
When sporting msn Gy together % nov they
table game. Each player buys as many chips
as he wishes. and plays for no more money
can make ; an Gpponnent lay down his hand by
Yes. when he played cards there was gener-
| ally good deal of money won and lost. He
| was fond OF Boston. and used to play 1t often
| with two men who We're then prominent New
| York politicians. When they got together
| $25.OO0 or $50. 900 would usually change hands
| before the game was over"
Did Morrissey ever lose 100000 at onces"'
| Yes, but that was at faro. Ono Of tho Politi-
his place one night and wished to play faro,
MorriSseg, dealt the cards and the politician
| played. The first bet he made was SIS. 900. He
| lost. and continued to play in bad luck until he
had lost 500 900; Then Morrissey said in a han
| tering way. III play against that house OF
yours Tho politician agreed and play was
| resumed; In an hour afterward the politician
| had won back what he had lost and had Nor
rissey's check Tor $l00o00 in his pocket"
The conversation driftod at this point to the
| general subject of gambling and the sporting
man. who has often tried his luck in stocks
made comparison betweGn playing for money
| with cards and gambling in stocks. which was
u9fayorablo to the stock brokers Il have had
money" he said. and / believe that faro Is
the squarcr OF the two games. When You play
| into the box and You can sec ut onca Mhen