Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-01-15
INFERENCEs OF DRAW POKER.
A Keen Discipline and Skill I'm Forcing
Opponents to Make False differences.

From the New York Sun.
1.-THE intellectual part Of draw poker" said
a veteran player, lis comprised in the wide
range of calculation on the possible strength
of your opponents hand based on the number
of cards that he draws. If, for instance, he
draws three cards, you know for a certainty
that he cannot hold more than a pair. If you
hold high pair you have an equal chance of
getting as good hand as his if you also draw
three cards.
''But suppose your opponent draws only two
cards. Then you are at liberty to infer that he
has three of kind. Very often he wishes you
to infer that when he has not got them. A bold
player who opens jack pot when he has only
one pair of jacks will often hold another card
and draw but two for the purpose OF leading
his opponent TO infer that he has three OF a
kind. Timid players are often caught by this
subterfuge. IL your opponent draws one card
you have the choice of a variety OF inferences
You may infer that he is trying to fill straight
or flush. or full. The fact may be that he
has nothing at all in his hand and draws only
one card for the purpose of leading you to in
fer that he is drawing to something. He may
have two pairs or he may have three of kind,
and he may wish you to think he is drawing to
two pairs. 1t is easy to be misled by apparently
logical inferences For instance, once knew
said. i wish to lay down one card face down
and draw another. and at the conclusion of the
playing / will show you that the card lay
down pairs with one in my hand. to prove that
had enough TO open the pot The inference
from this was obviously that he wished to
break his pair for the purpose of drawing to
something-a straight or a flush. This infer
ence naturally led the opponent to believe that
he only had to combat the probability OF a
flush or a straight being filed on the draw.
no foot hat bn ma W n down q
card did not break a pair at all, but still held
four of kind in bis hand. and adopted this
method of leading his opponent to believe that
he playing desperate game.
lone evening some gentlemen were playing,
when one of them said: i advise you all not to
bet. as have four of kind The fact was he
held four aces. One of the party said: If you
will let me draw the queen of clubs / will bet
against you The man with the four aces
jumped at the inference that his opponent pro-
posed to bet on four queens. The fact was that
the man who got the queen filed royal flush,
which knocks four aces higher than a kite.
Indeed. the beauty of the game of draw poker
consists in the opportunities for misleading
your opponent into making these false infer
ences. 1t is a common trick to get a reputa-
ton for blufing by number of small losses,
because if your opponent thinks you are a
buffer he will bet against you at the very time
when you want him to bet If YOU get the
reputation of being cautious player, who
never pets except on good hand, your
opponent will be likely to keep down your
winnings by seeing your bets without rails
ing. In order to induce them to bet you
must lead them to infer that your hand is in
feriOr.
BOLD players will often stand pat and draw
no cards. in order to lead their opponents to
infer that they hold high hands. But good
player will not act on such an inference if he
holds anything. II is a common play when the
jack pot is opened for one of the players to
come in and stand pat on n moderate hand
and raise the bet to the highest limit when the
man who opens the pot draws three cards. The
man with the pat hand hopes that the opener.
if he does not fill, will be frightened of, and
sometimes he will be if he has not the nerve to
reject such an inference. Frequently bold
player. who has had hard luck, will recoup
even when he holds poor hand. by betting
high and standing pat in the hope that the
other players will infer that his luck has
changed. and that he would not risk further
loss on a bluff.
The differences of poker depend largely on
the players knowledge of each others peculiar
manner of playing. To the onlooker it is often
surprising to see how often players who know
each other well will guess at each others
out with big hand on the shrewd and accurate
conclusion that some other hand is bigger
Such players find it very difficult to deceive
one another with false differences; but even
they are often deceived by the arts which the
intelligent nervy. and diplomatic poker player
knows SO well how to practice