Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1883-09-02
POKER PLAYING A N
Poker Tum's" Ideas on tho
Game.
A Professional Steerer Tells a Reporter OF
Its Wonderful Spread and the lnsid-
ious Hold It Has Taken
Upon all Glasses Of
Society.

Very likely; that's his game"
His game? What do you mean?
But, good evening, Pm after him." and
bowling to his companion, a prominent
Board of Trade man, the reporter pur-
sued tine r~etreatiug figure OF the "slick
gambler" who possessed the entree to
respectable, fashionable residences.
eyes" said the Young man, setting
down his empty glass, and turning a
pair of handsome eyes upon the re-
porter, ~ play sometimes, and familiar
and rather vulgar people call me Poker
Tommy I'm leaving IN the morning
for Cleveland, where | have a~cIuGiut-
ances on Euclid avenue, and rs I've
met YOU IN society, | don't mind telling
you my little fake, though some others
in the same line may not thank me for
giving tae snap away. I'm
4 Poker Player,
and a pretty lucky one when | lose it's
usually a matter of policy"
But don't you sometimes meet peo-
pie as lucky as YOURSELF
"Nut often. | seldom play in regular
poker rooms there's nothing in II. The
house reserves the right of working all
soft snaps, and outside Of them it's
Greek meet Greek, with an occasional
dose of Tartar. | DO my work in anna
teur poker clubs and society games"
"But how do you gain admission to
such games?'
Easily enough. | buy the privilege
of q menrh, r or cultivate the acqualnt-
ance of a tignt-pantPlOoned dude, who
invites me To the club, where | MAKE
several friends and q nice little stake.
The Dade's Mother
gives weekly poker parties, aud the
private Secretary OF the Hon. So-and-So
that me-iS invited. The game may
not be a large ore, but the pIckIngs are
considerable, and | add a number OF
valuable names to my list OF poker
PLAYING acquaintances. Other invita-
tons follow, and tor a month or more
my income is regular and not to be
sneeZed at. Then | change my base OF
operations to some other section of the
city"
"Do many professionals play in So
ciety games
Bless you, yes. | sometimes run
across them ina quiet game, but We are
Tot long in establishing an understand
i ny and adopting the political plan Of
addition, division and silence Iu-
PRODUCING professional carders To private
games il quite AN industry in Chicago,
and many a mothers darling makes
his beer, billiard, and poker money in
that way
Are the games always small?"
"By no means. | often strike a stiff
onC. Last month | got in with some
business III n aud
Won $1,000 I'm One sitting
of five hours, though l had to give up
One-fuurth of it TO the gentleman who
introduced and vOuched for me"
as pOker-piaying quite general in
Chicago"
"WelI, | should insinuate. 1t has be-
come the mode, aud has almost entire
~ superseded all other games of cards.
One-third of all the people in Chicago
between the ages of fifteen and seventy
five stay by their ante 'Straddle,' raise
the blind stand pat ask how many
cards the dealer took, get called with a
bOb-tail flush, II go broke Oh, it's a
popular game"
"Where are the heavy games played
in Chicago
~ NAC NFtON allh III NAN iCAAAhS
hotels. At some regular poker rooms
there are some heavy games sometimes.
| saw a prominent diStiller lose 5000
i'm a LaSalle street poker room not long
ago in one night. In fact | got ~ per
cent. of 1t for bringing him in. | me-
him at a Jewish party. AS a rule BUSH
ness and professional mel play poker,
and in many cases without q limit.
. Ls. c,s1,u., -, Ill. ,.s-
during the past year are directly charge
able to losses at the poker table. There
are twenty lawyers here with whom it
is a mania. One lawyer in an official
position has passed almost bodily into
the hands Of professional poker players.
\ young attorney, an acquaintance OF
mine, lost so at
stud Poker
last month, and in an effort to get even
with the game he drew out Of the bank
II, 30 belonging To his wife, and blew it
i'm in two days. When | last saw him
he was trying TO borrow money to leave
town. There are a score Of places IN
Chicago where any one bringing in a
victim with money can secure 3 per-
centage of what he drops III the game.
Poker steering Is more common now
than bunkO steering ever waS.n
"Are there many lady players here?'
Immense number of them. They
get stuck OF the game worse than men.
Why, Pve known respectable ladies to
pawn their jewelry-even their wedding
ringS-fOr money with which to set into
game"
"DO ladies play well??"
They generally play q bold game,
and bluff more than men The best
players Nv ever met in society games
have been ladies. Many ladies give
little parties regularly, where poker is
the order of the evening. Aud many
ofthem make money at it. I've several
time been 'dOwned' in q game by
ladies'"
"How do people learn to play?,"
"They commence by playing fOT but
tons, then freeze out for ice cream or
some other triting treat, then penny.
ante, for keeps; and finally draft into a
game only bounded by their means,
and sometimes without that limitation.
Young men who learn to play at home
and in the houses OF friends soon tire Of
a small game and visit the poker rooms,
of which there are literally hundreds in
the city. From these to the larger
Gambling Houses
is but a step, and in 3 majority Of eases
their ruin is complete. Many a default.
ing clerk dates Ills downfall from the
night when he first opened the festive
jackpot for the limits cents-and
many q woman baS been driven, or
rather drawn, to the bad through the
se6uctions Of that game where it's all
in the draw"
as the interest in the game on the
mcrPase?"
Eyes; decidedly. Twenty-Five years
ago poker playing was q rarity in the
. North. Now il pervades all classes OF
society. II has demOrslized the army.
Secretary Lincoln is trying to suppress