The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1885-10-15
GAMBLERS, TRICKS.
Means by which Professionals Pluck Their
Victims.


GAMBLERS' lhlCAos
Means by which Professionals Pluck Their
Victims.
from the Philadelphia Times.l
No one looks upon o professional
gambler as o shining example of hon.
esty, but only few people know what
crooked sharpers most professional
gamblers are, or the ingenious mechan-
ical coutrivances which they employ to
aid them in winning" the dollars OF
their Victims. The man who makes
gaming q profession rarely or never
depends upon luck for his existence.
In faro, roulette, monte, hazard, and
in all other games KNOWN to the gentle
mer of the green cloth, there is GER
tain well-understood percentage" In
favor of the proprieters. This is I'M
derstood by all who play, but it is 80
trifipg that they are willing to pay it
for the privilege of hazarding their
money. There is another percentage"
in all of these games as played ut many
places that is only understood by the
professional dealers, and is never sus-
pected by the players.
In the game of faro the known per-
centage is very small. When two cards
of the same denomination come out OF
the silver-plated "dealing-box' togeth-
er, the dealer takes one-half of the bets
which happen to be on that card on the
layout" Sometimes an entire deal is
played without this occurring, and it
rarely happens more than twice in a
deal, so that the visible percentage Is
quite small; so trifling, in fact, that If
q faro game is dealt fairly it must have
an almost unlimited capital or eventu-
ally become bankrupt.
1t is to guard against this mishap
and to make the game a profitable one
that the unknown percentage is intro
duced. To accomplish his purpose the
gambler has both the cards and the
dealing-box fixed" This fixing"
process of the cards is done as follows !:
A new pack is used, and one in which
every card is exactly of the same size
to a hairs breadth. There is an almost
imperceptible difference in the sizes of
the cards in nearly all cheap packs, so
that the gambler buys for his purpose
expensive cards that have been "squar-
ed" especially for faro. The first step
In "fxing" is to separate the low and
and high cards; that is, to put in sepa-
rate piles all ranging from the ace to
the six, and from the eight to the king.
The seven being neither high nor low
is equally divided, two sevens being put
with the high and two with the low
cards. Then with pair of sharp
shears, made especially for the purpose,
the gambler clips thin slip from the
end of each card. The high cards are
clipped in this way from the upper
right-hand corner to point on the
lower edge, about the thirty-second
part of an inch from the lower right
hand corner. The low cards are clipped
In the same way, except that the gam
bier commences at the lower right-hand
corner and clips to point on the upper
edge near the right corner. The cards
now are wider at one end than at the
other, but the difference in which is SO
slight as to be almost imperceptible
except to the touch. The cards are
then shuffled, care being taken to keep
the wide ends of the high cards and
the wide ends of the low cards at OPP
posite ends of the pack. 1t is an easy
matter now for an expert manipulation
to catch the wide ends of the cards be-
tween his thumbs and forefngers, and
so draw all of the high cards into one
hand and the low ones into the other.
When the game is in progress the
dealer shuffies the cards thoroughly,
and then in this way separates the high
from the low. Next he so shuffles them
as to sandwich" each low and high
card, and when the pack is in the deal
ing-box they should come out alter.
nftely.
This wouldn't suit the dealer at all,
as he must not only know just how the
cards are arranged, but at the same
time have perfect control over them.
In order that he may have this power Q
specially arranged dealing-box is pro
cured. The ordinary dealing boxes
lave slit in the side just wide enough
to admit of one card passing through il
at time; the special boxes have slit
wide enough to allow two cards to pass
through them. Armed with these sim.
pie contrivaAces, all the dealer has tc
do is to watch where the bets are and
win every time by either showing out
one card or two, as occasion requires
If player bets that high card will
win, the dealer can very easily make il
lose or vice versa. OF course the game
keeper is confederate. and at sign
from the dealer can tell how to arrange
the ceases" SO that they will tally with
the cards that are out. This is what is
called "brace game" probably be.
cause it can only be successfully
worked by "brace" of rogues. Thou.
sands of faro-players who think that
luck is always against them are simply
victims of the brace game"
clearinghouse and cards prepared in
this way can be procured from Chi.
cago firm, which issues private cata.
logues to gamblers containing samples
of marked cards, with directions fol
reading the backs. The firm also sells
roulette wheels so arranged as to make
the red invariably win if the wheel is
turned in one direction and the black
win if turned in the other. These are
known among gamblers as fright and
left" wheels, and are used with grea,
success in many places.
The Creole's Favorite Weapon.