Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1885-11-25
The Champion Poker Player

A year ago L met young man who
had come out west to grow up with the
country. He was graduate of Harvard
and had pleasant manners, but had evi.
IDENTIFY left comfortable eastern home
with exaggerated notions of The west.
In three weeks after his arrival he was
strapped and had all his best duds
pawned. / was somehat interested IL
his fate at the time, but did not see
him again until a few days ago. BE
had the ear-marks of prosperity about
him, and I was told later that he had
graduated from a coal dealers clerk as a
crack poker player, and he had learned
it all within few months. Some WOE
derful stories were told OF this young
fellows nerve, and it is said that he had
good fat bank account, and sat regU.
larry in a stockman's game. The tide
of bis fortune was turned by his grit in
playing two deuces in big game. He
had been drifting into gambling for
some time, and knew q great deal about
deck of cards. Three of the players
had laid down their hands af the draw,
leaving only two contestants. The hero
of this story had been winning, and bet
freelo 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 S2500.
The clerk In the coal Office put on his
thinking cap. He had two deuees uu-
supported, and he looked at them, then
cody eyed his antagonist. This lasted
two or three minutes, and not q facial
muscle moved.
81 call you," he said at last, throwing
his deuces down on the table. They
won the pot. The other mans hand
was not ace high. am told that this
young Harvard graduate is one of the
best poker players hereabouts. He calls
q bluff instinctively. His luck is
charmed, and the oldest and most luck
less players tremble when they go
against him. The great art in poker is
to know when to call and when not TO
call. With 800 in the pot and S. bet
by his antagonist, L once saw the best
gambler in Missouri lay down three ola
kind. "Why did you not call him; it
would have only cost you S5?" said !.
He had better hand hand than did,
and / would have been Just s. out.
Men are born gamblers, and 1t Is this
intuition to call at the right time that
makes them successful. In big game
at hotel here. 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 4
few hundred dollars additional before
dropping out. At length $4,000 lay
on the table, with two players fighting
for it. stood behind one of them. He
had three queens, having drawn two of
them at the start. His opponent had
drawn three cards. The latter at this
junction coolly announced raise OF
$4,000. The man with three queens
was fairly staggered. His antagonist
might be blufing. He might have drawn
to an ace and king and caught nothing,
or he might have caught another king
and two more aces, or he might have
drawn to a pair and caughs full hand.
Was he bluffing? That was the question.
After thinking the matter over nc did
not consider his queens worth that
amount of money, so both hands went
to the deck, and the man on the other
side of the table raked in the stakes. |
found out afterward that all this money
was won on the following hand: Ace,
Jack, ten and two skies, The three
queens would have won by large ma
lority.