National Republican., 1883-10-01
pRocToR,s POKER POINTERS.
A Few Old Players Express Their Views
on the Professors Figures.

A Few Old Players Express Their Views
on the Professors Figures.
Card players have been spending much time
of late, between games, in study of Prof.
Richard Proctor's essay on the great Amer.
lean game of draw poker. Beginners are
impressed with the seeming profundity of
information displayed by tho eminent star
gazer, but the veterans treat his dogmatic
assertions and infallible rules with scorn and
contumely.
"Humph," sneered tough old gentleman
on whose salt and pepper locks the SHOWS of
sixty winters have fallen; Proctor may
know something about astronomy, but if he
had given as much attention to study of
the history of the four kings and tho
four queens as ho has to stars he
would have some appreciation of the
appalling density of his ignorance on the sub
ject he essays to discuss so learnedly. l have
played poker moro or less for forty years, and
/ just begin to realize that l am an apprentice
at the business. l have spent nine solid years
of my life out of forty, and $4,000 trying to
learn tho game, and l ought to know lit tic
something about it. Proctor says that of the
four best hands in a deck ther are 624 fours,
that is, four of kind, 3,7ii full ha nds, 5, 106
flushes 10000 sequences, 54 012 tn rees, 123, ,552
two pairs, 1,093,2i0 pairs, 40 sequence hushes,
and ,302, $40 other hands, whatever other
hands may mean. Now, | have sat in games
until pack of cards was worn out
waiting for threes without getting higher
than q pair of sevens. Do you sup
pose If there had been 1,296, ,420 pairs and
better in deck. l wouldn't have got some of
,em by waiting four or Ave hours ! haye sat
in other games where there was q play every
deal for ten hours, and the winner had to have
as good as full hand to win pot, while fours
and sequence flushes were produced on the
showdown with reckless prodigality. If
there were only forty sequence ilushes and
62i fours in a deck, do you suppose two or
three thousand such hands could bo dealt at
sitting? Each question l answer most en-
phatically, no. The man who plays poker by
mathematical formula will go broke always.
Luck aud knowledge Of men count for more
than mathematics i have seen successful
gamblers lay down four kings in 20 cent
raise, and ten minutes later the same man
stake 81 900 on the superior merit and COM
mercial value Of pair of aces"
II would like nothing better than to play
my skill against Prof. Proctors system in
monthly $1,000 freeze out games," exclaimed
another statesmanlike veteran when asked
his views. "If / could get job like that
would withdraw my application for the first
settle down to certainty of opulent comfort
for the remainder of my natural existence
| would copper line my trousers and wear
out the plank bottoms of my chairs waiting
for the top hands. L would send the profess
sor home every morning reviling the stars"
"The gentleman who owns the table with
the little hole in the middle can give Prof
Proctor points and discount him." put in the
experienced broker. "rhe professor says that
ace king straight flush is the best hand.
He is all wrong. The hole in the middle of
the table lays over the deck. 1t beats the
Oldest player with the unerring certainty of
faro, or wheel of fortune. When the rules
pairs, the hole will beat the loftiest
winner around the table, The Wall street
commission houses have figured out the su-
periority of the hole over selected hands.
Their smallest rake is $6.25, and they put
chip in the hole every deal. That is the best
game l know anything about | played
against it for twelve years. Then / bought a
table with hole in it, and am now taking
contributions and getting even. Prof. Proctor
should study that game"
Said the congressman II should like to see
Prof. Proctor behind o small straight get
raised back before the draw by gentleman
who had ventured to tilt him on an ace full
Wonder how he would calculate the value of
that weazened straight2 Wonder if it would
look as big to him as it did before tho gentle
man with the ace full announced his inten-
tion of increasing the assessment? Wonder
If he wouldn't feel as though piece of his
vortebra hadn't been suddenly pulled out,
and that poker was an uncertain gamer Then
wonder what his sensation would be when
he observed the ace-full man stand pat
and instruct the dealer to help the next
gentleman? Bet he would forget all about
mathematics and try to guoss whether the
ace-full man was blufling or betting his hand
on its merits. Dollars to cents he would con-
clude to size up to the sky scraping stock of red
chips the ace-full man pushed into the mid
die of tho table in response to timid one
chip venture projected into the center with
William II. Holman gesture. The fascina-
tions of speculation are sometimes irresisti-
ble."
at is about the same with faro as with
poker" remarked the tall gaunt man. "Many
man has figured out sure-to-win system
of beating the faro bank. He always goes
broke just as his system is about to win him
out II he could only keep going little
while longer he would win the bank roll
from the nice, easy man who is com
placently pulling pasteboards from
tho German silver box, and me-
chanically blending the players chips with
those in the check rack. Unfortunately he
always finds himself landed just as his luck
is going to turn, and the result is the faro
banker keeps his place open for the accommO-
dation Of the boys the year around, while tho
players rustic about earning money TO pay his
bills. Prof. Proctor ought to try faro year
or two Ilo would quit star gazing and en-
deavor 10 figure out un infallblo system for
beating tho bank. II might be well for him
to lay out free lunch route, however, before
entering upon the investigation. He would
be sure TO need one"