Omaha daily bee., 1883-01-10
GAMBLING AS AN ART.
The Theories ola Devotee OF the God
dess OF Chance.

NOW, bhlu N NtItI bu kohItutOh w
Philadelphia Telegraph reporter, -
don't mind giving you some ideas o
mine about gambling, and ss l have
pursued it az a profession for twenty
years. hope l may be excused thu
vanity of thinking / know something
about the subject.
zone of the most curious doluslonI
is peoples thinking they can devise
systems Of play that will inevitably
win, Experience has shown mi tina.
there is 10 system that will beat faro,
or any other game Of chance where {
percentage is against you and no iudg
ment is concerned, and yet men have
spent a whole lifetime trying to elab
crate q method which, like
the philosophers stone and
the seoret Of perpetual mo,
ton, they thought It possible to at.
tain, though it continually eluded
them. Around the gaming tables q,
Monaco and other great gambling
places In Europe you will see the
players prick off upon a little card
the numbers and colors as they turn
up, and stake their money accord
ingly. Nine out Of ten OF them
never quite lose the idea that they
will eventually arrive at the great
secret which will enable them to bea,
the bank--a combination of probable
ties which shall DO q certainty. Sc
far no such system has been discov'
cred, and the percentage in favor Of
the bank is sure to beat you in the
long run.
"But there are various things which
give the bank the advantage besides
the percentage. The fact is, when
you play against a bank you play
against q machine, and a machine car
beat q man every time. The average
msu. Ia not satlsfied with winning Q
reasonable amount, but goes on until
he loses every centin his pockets. He
is playing with o limited sum agains!
a capital that is practically unlimited,
and Of course he will lose In the long
run, even IL the percentage be left out
Of the question.
1.-The most important point. how.
ever, In favor of the bank, Is one
which concerns the eccentricity OF
luck. Why it is, no one knows, but
1t is certainly true that luck runs In
streaks, first good and then bad. To
follow up the good streaks and II.
back on the bad Ia the only way
know of winning by any sort of gamb
ling system. Most men, however,
haven't the nerve to practice. They
win o few times, and then bot small
sums, fearing O change in luck
whereas they ought TO back 1t for al
it Seems worth the minute they see 1
is running. Then when their bac
luck comes, they double and double
until they have lost everything.
"a long run on q color is sometime
worth q fortune to o bank. Pespl
seem to think that because q color ha
turned up several times in succession
1t has as good q chance Of coming Vi
the next, and so pile their money an
double their bets on the opposite color
As q matter Of fact the chances ar
always exactly even, though it Is Inn
possible to convince ninety mine PEG
pie out OF q hundred that this is tn
case. OF course the chances agains
q run on q color are more or less, ant
can readily be calculated, but tn
chances on each individual turn O
the card are exactly given-for how l
it possible that an individual turl
can be affected by previous turns
which lie in the past, and which Ca
have no conceivable influence7 Thi
IL q question which has puzzle
everyone who has over thought abou
it. The chances are so great agains
o on a color that at the first glanc
IL seems apparent that on the sixt
turn, for instance, the red havin
come up five time in succession, tn
chances are much In favor Of tn
black. This is, however, not tn
case. OF course this theory pre-sup
poses that at each turn there are tn
same number of cards of each color /
the pack, which Is practically the ca,
in rouge.et-noir, at least as far as tn
player can tell, every fourth card onl
being turned up.
"But what do you think about tn
game of poker?" asked the reporter
do you think that Is oil luck, an
that there 10 no skill concernedT"
. .--"By no means. What / said iu.
now about 'systems,' does not appI
to . game like poker, where you nc
playing sgainst q bank. You wi
hear people say that poker is all lucl
a but don't you believe it. The luck
sure to come out even In the Ion
run; but 1t Is skill AMI judgmer
. that enables man to q,
ahead Of the game. The ma
who reduces his play to q methemat
cal system 10 sure to come out ahes
of your sentimental player. who see
a bet Or doesn't just as he happens
feel. My method of playing poker
. so simple that 1t Ia astonishing 80 fe
players pursue a similar one, but 1t
very o r to find o man who sticks
a method and avoids entirely the Sol
timental games. Ofcourse, no methc
is worth anything unless it Is backt
up by good judgment. The system
speak of is founded upbn a matthew
tioal calculation of the chances.
"In the long run it may be oonsi
cred absolutely true in the game
poker that the player who goes In be
will come out best oftener than b
simple ratio to the number Of 9th
players; and hence II he goes in @
- court cards only, while others go in
small pairs, his game will win; for Il
ss Other players are playing against