Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-06-28
SOME BIG GAMES OF FARO.

FOrtu mes Lost and Won at Cards.
| WHAT OLD GAMBLERS HAVE TO SAT- ABOUT
HEAVY PLAYING AND BOLD PLAYERs-PUr
TING UP FORTUNE AND THEN House.
POLITICIANS AT CARDS.
| From the New York Sun.
Gamblers do not admit that the wagering oil
such high stakes as those in the Newburgh
poker game have been common. "People will
eXaggerate and lie about the magnitude O,
games of poker" one of them said, 'just as
they do about the size and numbers Of the feb
they catch. If fellow wins a thousand dol
lars some night he will almost certainly be sur
prised before the week is out to hear that ii
was ten thousand. Such stories grow in the
most unaccOuntahle way. The only really big
playing that l ever knew of myself was at faro,
which Is the king game after all, and even
then it was not, as, is the rule, by betting
straight between dealer and player, but by
sta liking up between players. Suppose the
limit OF the game is 81 900, which is all the
bank risks on a single turn of a card. A. sit
ting before the board. puts up against the bank
to that limit, then puts up 81 900 against A;
another thousand, or five or ten thousand may
by put up by and met with a like amount by
B, and so on until they get up all that they
choose to bet, all of which goes on the turn vi
the card between the players. while the bank
can neither win nor loose more than it's 81 900.
In that way hayf often known of from $50, 900
to $685. 900 changing hands in a night in the big
games that Ben Wood, Leonard jerome, +. z.
Simmons, John TObn and John Morrissey played
together. Wood, Simmons. Morrissey and
Iobin were al interested together in a lottery.
the capital OF which was in 125 shares, worth
$500 each, and they used to meet and play
those shares. sometimes twelve or fifteen shares
changing owners at a sitting. When they played
IN that way they usually took turns at dealing.
Leonard jerome once lost 100000 in a night
playing against combination game, in which
MOrrissey, Charles Walsh and Ransom were in
terested. Cotton, Thomas Daucey and Petit
bone were the heaviest regular performers of
that stacking up process that we ever had in
this country. Nobody nowadays plays any such
games as were common with them.
sHoRT-CARD GAMES.
''As for heavy short-card games in New York
l cannot say much; do not. in fact, remember
OF any that l would call particularly heavy
Ben Wood and John Morrissey used to play Bos-
ton for 81 900 side, and have known poker
hands to be bet up to So 600 or sc. OOO but that
you cannot call very big. At the present time
the high playis all confined to the private rooms
at the principal clubs and in certain uptown
hotels, and is carried on among personal friends
and acquaintance who keep their own counsel
ally meet in private room in a hotel not three
blocks from the corner of Broadway and 9th
street are doing the heaviest poker playing of
the present day, but do not know it as fact
myself am otpersonally acquainted with them
and have no right to be more explicit than
have been in mentioning them. And very much
doubt If their game Is any heavier than is played
in two or three of the big clubs in 5th avenue"
THE sporting men of the present day do not"
another player said, play as big short-card
M n hos ~ -
to have DONE and cannot now recall having
seen any very big plays. AS far as my oppor-
tunities for observation have gone / am in
ctned to think that there is decided falling of
OF interest in draw poker among the heavy
players No, poker Is now, as general rule,
more game for gcntlemanly pastime with
stakes that merely furnish healthful excite
ment, so to speak, and change of thousand
or two on hand is something rare. And such
bets are always exaggerated in the telling.
have heard it said that old Commodore
vanderbilt used to go out on heavy
raids on the faro banks, but have been
In the business seventeen years. running the
biggest games in New York. and never saw him
before layout or even heard on good positive
authority OF his having so appeared. He used
to play Boston, believe. for $500 or $1,000
side. and whist for good high stakes sometimes,
but DO not know whether he played poker or
not. His son, Cornelius j., vino shot himself,
had the reputation outside the gambling frater-
nifty of being bold and reckless player at faro,
but did not deserve it. He was in fact. cow
ardly, small player at the game whenever he
mad any money to play, but never for high
stakes. If he lost any big money gambling at
any one tlme 1t was among supposed friends.
Geo. Hill. better known as Cooley Keys, was one
Oh the bOldest shOrt-card players well as one
OF the pluckiest in facing the tiger, that ever
knew, but do not recall any particularly note
worthy games of his now"
THE NEwBURGH GAME.
One OF John Mcrrissey's most intimate friends
characterized the Newburgh game as the most
extraordinary game of poker ever played in this
country. 1--WE hear Of fortunes lost in a night
in European gambling houses" he said, ''but
nobody has ever heard until now of $50. 900
being won on single hand at poker The loser
in that game was skinned, of course, but if he
hadn't been fool he wouldn't have lost so
much. He knew that neither of the two men
with whom he was playing was good forS1O 600.
But when they bet their hands up to $50, COO he
bet MS money against them, Knowing that if he
won he would not get his money. 1t seems in
credible that he should not have known that
he was being skinned. And it's wonder
to me that he paid what he lost. don't be-
lleve there is another man in the country who
would have paid it. You have often heard of
TINS or that man winning or losing from SIC, 600
TO S3O,OOO at poker at single sitting. The evil
dence ON which those stories are based is usually
hearsay. once played in a game in which the
ante was 500. But such games are seldom il
ever played in these days. Money isn't so plenty
as it used to be. Nowadays a game in which
four or five thousand dollars is won and lost is
considered very heavy game. When sporting
men play together now they almost always play
what might be called the table game Each
player buys as many chips as he wishes and
plays for no more money than they represent
Each man is in this game given show for his
money. and no one player can make an oppo-
nent lay down his hand by betting more money
than he can cover"
WAS John Morrissey heavy player"
Yes; when he played cards there was gen.
orally good deal of money won and lost. He
was fond of Boston, and used to play it often
with two men who We're then prominent New
York politicians. When they got together
$25, 600 or $4,000 would usually change hands
DeiOre.the game was over"
Did MOrrissey ever lose 100000 at once?"
Yes; but that was at faro. One of the poll
ticians OF whom was just speaking came into
ms place one night and wished to play. faro
Morrissey dealt the cards and the politician
played. The first bet he made was $4,000. He
lost and continued to play in bad luck until he
had lost $4,000. Then Morrissey said, in a
bantering way, I'll play against that house of
yours The politician agreed and play was re-