Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-10-21
POKER PLAYING.
WHAT AN EXPERIENCED NAN OF FHB
WORLD HAS SEEN.
fhs Peculiar Fascination Of the Game fbr Prac.icsd
PlAyss-PsvAlsnes Of Gambling in
Great Cities Just Ansr
the War.
Nee York Sun.

Nee Yo,k san.
OF all games of cards poker is the most
sOcisb'e 1t gives you the chance to So
lsct yOur party, and when you have it you
have the right to chaff ard BLACKBOARD
your fellow-plsyeIs, AID do every
thing You please with them. This is
something which no other game admits Of
In poker you play your men more than
your cards, auy way to put your sdyer.
sary ont Of temp or annoy him Is perfect
ly legitimate as Icing as ii is done in q
gentleman ly manner.
SThe poker player is practically in the
society of five or six men, and at the same
tiue be is entirely alone, for ut no stsgs OF
the game has be any partner or other hand
to protect. he has his five cards, and he
does with them just as he plsa.eL They
mSy not be worth q cent, aud they may
bring hundreds of dollars if the player has
pluck and if tbsre is any amount of be ting
against him. Toe game comprises more Of
the gambling element than any other game
except baecarat, roulette, faro, and few
Osher so-called games OF chance
Altar the close of the civil war, when
everybody had q great deal Of money,
poker became the flyorite pastime Of 8
lsrgs number ofpSOp'e. It is very likely
will there be more gambling OF every kind
gong on than there was stwesn the years
1865 ard 1880. The gambling houses in
New York were the curiositits of the city.
There msy have been greater number in
the West, but they could not compare
with the New York houses in luxury Of
appointments or tie liberal way
in which Cu9toues WHO were known
to the owner of tie house were treated.
Yery often customer who had oveip'ayed
himself, especial V when he happened to
be- "a little tipsy, was not bothered for the
payment of money, provided be did not at
nmpt 10 gambla sg Iin in the house where
M had lost. There is slSo 9 Nod reason to
believe that, at least in the principal
hou zee, the deals were sbIolatslY square,
except, perhaps, in case where man
known 20 bs wealthy wo1ld come and
lave = psrtifulsr streak CT luck, IlIying
very high and frightening the proprietor.
ThSn "a expert dealer would take the
Chlir ard try to gtt at least some ef the
money back sgRin.
Poker players had nothing 10 fear fcom
tbs police at t1at time, and the game was
plaJe1 in all the hotels. The players
were only anxious the game should not be
much talked about, and the results of it
net reach th,i- family or business circles.
This desire OF keeping the game ut least
partly sec e, induced 3 great many men
of tho same occupation to form private
poker clubs, which usually met on par
lor floor taken IN some quiet private house,
with negro attached to is a. q steward,
and with tbs necessary arrangements
fyr tbs purchase of cards, cigars, liquor,
aud light supper. There were
doz,ns of these clubs in New York.
Dry goods men Of different lires, iron
men, coal men, in fact every branch Ct
tIada and every profession had their clubs
Of this sort; and stu many of the menu
bars re,e never suspected By their families
o: by tier iEtipa,e sSsoCia'eS CT ever
touching cnd. The s;zs of the game
varied from $3.50 to S25. People playing
higher than the SIS limit were not likely
70 care atont botheIing with the club.
They plsyet either 10 their own hOases or
at any of the large hotels. The ST. james,
tie Holman House, the Brunswick, the
New York Hotel, tas St. Nicholas and the
Astor HoJss always had q number
Of ont-of.town people, who, coming
together for business, also eUt r
tuned each other up at a social game of
draw. But the Ne Y York residents played
mostly at the cid Mason D)ree, on Uuion
SQUARE, and at pc'moniCO's. In these
places the gems was sometimes very high,
nut that was "a exception. As rule, the
people who paved there were all intimate
hienSs. ead cid not wish { n fact cJuld
ros aiTJrd) 10 cIuss any ores ruin. STILL,
know several cases where suns ranging
FROM So eco 10 $50, 900 were lost. In two
cs,es at lea4t men won enough to buy =
seat ia the Stock Exch Inge, and to enter
Business with from $50, 900 to 500. 00O
Tae7 bad, toSevsr, a eculiar knsck in Sc.
lee Jog their fellow players, ard did not get
into any party wh're they knew the game
world have elements Of strength in it.
Tney slso never drank anything, or very
i;tls. ! remen b II that ore Of the men
allGds II WAS particularly careful on thai
poiat Ga Vsry cold, wintry day met
him on New G., and asked HIM to 90
20 DaimOn'cl's to take = cocktail. 'Oh,
no." he answered, don't you krOH We
are gong 10 play to.night?' That srswer
gave ms the secret CT his success One
fs'I ~. when he had made spme $50 900,
married, blug-t q Stock Exchange seat,
add practically retired from the poker
tahls. Tiers were CtisrS, however, so
fond OF the game that they could not leave
IL, whether thsy were winners or !oters,
aud some Of them NhD had apparently no
or. a. finaucial RESOURCES managed to live
very we'll and to play n very high game.
Bot all tbiI has changed, and the ma
iori.y of people nowadays do not seem to
be 80 anxious u play IS they used to be.
A large number OF the old layers have
diet, while otte,s have either So broke CT
have had TO give up late hours oa account
of increasing in6rmitiss or aga. Otcour'e
there are plenty of games played yen but
wtecess SIX or seven years ego rooms had
To be eDga ged 81 place ike Dalmonleo's
days ard scmesimeJ weeks in advance,
there are now, on an ayersge, barely ons
or two TO M occupied by card players.
"We-e tie gamis always square, you
NAV ask. Yes, in thu majority Of csse'
thsy We c. TSOS Or three private club,
started nv b,scklegs, mostly from Ne"
Ose,us and ihs West. tIisd to intrcduee
markell cards which, of course, gave
Knowing ooeI a chance over the unknOw-
ing: bug tie unkEoWiog o hes scou found
oui this trick, aud the h uses could not ex-
lat Outside Of thiS, tina only cheating
Pr c iced in these private clubs, as we'll 81
IN some Of the peri, ely honest ganea was
the freszpg out Of 'nsXperien'e or timid
rllyers by the o. hands. This ke'zing-
gu. prccs IS was done by two men, sppar-
ENTITY net particularly friendly, and cf'sn
engaged IN little disputes, playing iItb
each others hands
The saying that Individual peculisrities
tf character are seldom better Ciiclosed
apyah ere than at the poke: table Is strict
lvIorse,. The selfish man, fer instance,
never giving S. toward chlrity and squesz-
irc every cent he can oat of the working
hands he employs, will lose sewers thous-
and d,llsrS st poker and apparently not
fe, the loss. He W II come att again AID
ag.iu, trying to get back the money he
losss. There is q man 10 New York city
who il extremely wealthy, not being able