The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1885-09-25
Poker Games In the West.

-Fl
"A year ago I met young man WIN
had come out West to grow up with
the country. He was a graduate. Of
Harvard and had pleasant manners,
but evidentally left comfortable
Eastern home with exaggerated no.
tions of the West. In three weeks af-
ter his arrival he was strapped and
has all his best buds pawned. I was
somewhat interested in his fate at the
time, but did not seehim again until
few days ago. He had the ear-marks
of prosperity about him, and I was
told later that he had graduated from
coal dealers office as crack poker
player, and he had learned it all with
in few months. Some wonderful
stories were told of this young fellows
nerve, and it was said that he
had a good fat bank account
and sat regularly in u stockman's
game. The tide in his fortune was
turned by his grit in playing two
deuces in a biggame. Hehad been drift
ing into gambling for some time, and
knew q great deal about a deck of
cards. Three Of the players had laid
down their hands after the draw,
leaving only two contestants. The
hero of this story had been winning and
bet freely on his hand. His opponent
kept seeing him and raising him, and
finally, after the pot had grown big
enough to be worth fighting for, raised
him 81, 500. The clerk in the coal
office put on his thinkingcap. He had
two deuces unsupported, and he looked
att hem and then cody eyed his an
tagonist. This lasted two or three
minutes and not a facial muscle moved.
~ call you," he said Mt last, throwing
his deuces down OH the table. They
won the pot. The other mans hand
was not asgood as ace high. lam told
that this young Harvard graduate is
one of the hest poker players here
abouts. His luck is charmed, and the
oldest and most reckless players trem-
bic when they 60 against him.
The great art in poker is to know
when to call and when not to call.
With 500 in the pot and SIS bet by
his antagonist, once saw the best
gambler in Missouri lay down three of
a kind. "Why did you not call him,
it would only have cost you $50" said
l. He had a better hand than did,
and I would have been just$5 out"
Men are born gamblers, and it is this
intuition to call at the right time that
makes them successful. In a big game
at hotel here not long ago, in which
five or six friends took part, there was
an exciting illustration of this deliri-
GUS sort of doubt. Every player had
made good his ante and some of them
had put in Al few hundred dollars addi-
tional before dropping out. At length
$4,000 lay Oh the table, with two
players fighting for it! / stood behind
one of them. He had three queens,
having drawn to them at the
start. His opponent had drawn three
cards. The latter at this juno
ture coolly announced raise of $780,
600. The man with three queens was
fairly staggered. His antagonist
might be blufling. He might have
drawn to All ace and king and caught
nothing, or he might have caught an
other king and two more aces, or he
might have drawn to IL pair and caught
a full hand. Was he bluffing? That
was the question. After thinking the
matter over he did not consider his
queens worth that amount OF money,
SO both hands went to tho deck, and
the man on the other side of the table
raked i'll the stakes. Hound out after
ward that all this money was won OH
the following hand: Ace, jack, ten,
and two SKIES. The three queens
would have won by large majority.
Kansas City Letter to the Cincin-
natl Star.