St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-01
WON AND LOST AT POKER.
Houses, Lots and Cattle Ranches
STAKE ed at Cards Out West.
A Stockman's Game in Which Two
Steers Constitute an Ante.
Kansas City Letter.

lcSSlOnal gamDllng amounts 10 alulo>I
nothing, but there are some stOckmen's
games that would make cold chills run up
the back of the average business man.
l have seen sos, GOO change owner
ship in a little friendly game on hands
which went back to the pack without ever
being seen. Unsuspecting people never
dream of the extent Of the poker mania. L
believe if the World would look it up it
would find that if the poker-clearines We're
included in the weekly statements they
would 20 long way towards Oifsetting the
loss of 30 or 40 per cent. that the metr0pO-
lis IS suffering. At all events. it would be
so If poker-piaying IS rs popular in New
York as it is in Kansas City.
THE ETIQUETTE OF THE POKER TABLE
Woe unto the man who jumps the game!
Thrice disgraced is he who jumps the game
when he is winner, Five rich stOcEmen
hired room in the St. James hotel on 4
Friday night week ago. They had poker
layout. The blue chips were worth S25.
the red $40 and the white -. IL was $40
ante and no limit. The night few away
apace and morning dawned on the absorbed
players. Some were poorer and some richer
10y thousands. Breakfast and dinner and then
supper We're brought up. but the play went
ON. Late Saturday night one OF the par
uclpantS Signiied his intention to 90 home
10 MS wife and babies. but he was kept by
the promises of his friends that they did not
mean TO play much longer. Another day
break soon peeped in upon the players, and
still the click of the chips never ceased.
Breakfast. dinner and supper were again
served. The play was higher and more
reckless. Jack-pots. that would each Duya
ranch, were ralled in By first one player and
then another. At breakfast time Monday
morning the man who wanted 70 20 nome
Saturday night swOre that nc would wait
no longer. As he plunged through the
doorway he was followed by this scathing
remark:
Damn man who would jump game.
y year ago / met young man who had
come ont West TO grow up with the coun-
try He was graduate of Harvard. and
had pleasant manners. but evidently left a
comfortable Eastern home with eXag-er-
ated notions OF the West. IN three weeks
after his arrival he was strapped. and had
al his best dudS In pawn. was somewhat
interested in his fate at the time. but did
not see him again until few days ago.
He had the ear-mar6S of prosperity abOu;
him, and / was told later that he had grad
uated from coil dealers Office aS a crack
pOEer-player. and he had learned it ali
within 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 a
stockmen's game.
The tide i'm his fortune was turned by his
grit i'm playing two deuces in a big game.
He had been drifting into gambling for
some time and knew great deal about 4
deck Of cards. Three of the players had
laid down their hands after the draw, leav-
ing only two contestants. The hero OF this
story had been winning and bet strongly 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 -. 500. The clerk in the
coal-Oiice put on MS thinking cap. lie had
two deuces unsupported, and he looked AZ
them and then coOly eyed his antagonist
This lasted two OF three minutes. Not a
facial muscle moved.
Il call you," ne said at last. throwing
his deuces down upon the table.
They won the pot.
The other mans hand was not as gOOa as
ace high.
am told that this young Harvard grad
uate is one of the best poker players here
abOutS. lie calls bluff inSlimctiyely. His
luck is charmed. and the oldest and most
reckless players tremble when they 20
against him.
The great art in poker Is TO know when
TO call and when not 10 call. With SIOG In
the pot and - bet by his antagonist. l once
saw the best gambler in Missouri lay down
three of a kind.
''Why did you not call him. 1t would
only have cost you So. said l.
ale had a better hand than / did. and l
would have hapr inst - puf
Men are born gamblers, and K IS this in
tuition 10 call at the right time that makes
them successful. In biz game at a hottie
here not long ago, i'm which five or six
fTicuas took part. there was an exciting
| illustration Of this deliriouS sort Of doubt.
! Every player had made good his ante. and
some of them had put in a few hundred
dollars additional before dropping out. Al
! length $4,000 lay on the table with two
players fighting for il. | stood behind one
of them. He had three queens. having
drawn 10 them at the start. His opponent
had drawn three cards. The latter AT this
! juncture, cOoly announced a raise of
| SO. 900.
The man with three queens was fairly
staggered. His antagonist might be bluff
ing. lie might have drawn 10 an ace and
king and caught nothing. or he might have
caught another king and two more aces. or
he might have drawn TO 4 pair and caught a
full hand. Was he blunng? That was
the question. After thinking the matter
over ne did not consider his queens worth
! that amount of money. SO bOJn hands went
TO the deck, and the man on the other side
Of the table Taked in the stakes.
l found out afterwards that III this money
was won by the following hand: ace, Jack
ten and two skies. The three queens would
have won 10y n large majority.
Ii is one OF the delights 81 the stOckman
whose fortune has grown up on him like q
Jacks beanstalk, To do ahsurdiy extraya-
CANT things. These nabobS will actually
shake dice for nice house and lot. first
dash out of the box. SealSkin overcoats
are worn over hand-me-down suits. and
immense diamonds fash from flannel shirt
/ fronts. y rich ranch owner would ask no
better fun than To throw silver dollars into
a crowd Of street gamins.
There was one poker game here in which
every chip-red. white and blue-repre-
scented a steer. When a man anted. what
he threw to the center Of the table repre-
scented a steer, and it took another steer to
make il good. This was gilt-edged game
and nobody who could not count his cattle
on a thousand hills dared take any part in
/ it. 1t would make poor man dizzy 10
think of the money that is won and lost in
this steer game. Ii is evident that a stock
mans game is no place for poor man any
way.