Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-26
FLORENCE ON POKER.
The Popular Actor Had Just Prepared
a Volume on the Game
AS A SCIENTIFIC AMUSEMENT.
Rules to Be Followed to Prevent De-
generacy Into Mere Gambling.
FEATURES OF THE AMERICAN PAsTIME
rwRrrTEN FOR THE DIsPArcH.l


Actor William j. Florence he entered the
Office of George Rutledge & Sons, in La
fayette place, and seated himself weariedly
in q chair.
81 want you gentlemen to get through
with me in a hurry" said he, ''for I'm &
sick man. I've just got in town on train
and a hard time had of it travelling
iell fat on the floor of the car once through
sheer weakness, and the porter had to lift
me up
The publishers brought some proof sheets.
and Mr.. Florence hastily read them over
and made few corrections Then he threw
aside his pen, and said he had to take a
train to Philadelphia and dreaded the trip.
One of the managers offered him some fine
Scotch whisky and he took few drops.
This seemed to cheer him, and he drove of
10 the station in a cab.
Was a Great Poker Player.
The proofs that Mr.. Florence was revis-
ing were for book on draw poker, which
he had finished writing only short time
before, and which it was proposed to put
upon the market very soon. Mr.. Florence
was very fond of a social game of poker
His acquaintance among men of standing
who were poker players was very large,
and he was the author and hero of MANY a
good poker story of wide circulation He
was generally recognized as an admirable
PLAYER.
The nature of the book is set forth in the
following excerpts from the advance proofs:
The game of poker has become popular
during the last two decades and is now
known in almost every civilized land, I
hofr - -,Alo -a1 ~
the streets of Cairo and by the Piute In
dians on the plains of Nevada. L was
present on one occasion when a poker party
was made up OF a reigning monarch, a
future king and three princes imperial
That might we'll be called ''roval flush"
That the game which could hold such
competitors must be a fascinating one can
not be denied. 1t is indeed held by some to
be the most dangerous of all games of cards,
since 1t can only be played for stakes; but
1t must be remembered that this is true of
all games in which the player conceals the
value of the cards he holds
Certainly Not an UnsociaI Gamr
To the objection that poker is an unsocial
game, since it admits of no partners, each
participant striving for himself alone it is
TO be said that since one object of the game
Is to mystify your adversaries as to the
and badinage are permitted, nonsense
may fly from tongue to tongue, fast and
furious, TO any extent, providing it does not
delay the game A hand shown down de-
tects its owners futile attempt to mislead
the table, rousing laugh usually follows.
so that the fun is always kept up. OF course
one may have bad tempered or a churlish
companion at the table. but such one gets
the worst OF 1t when he betrays his peevish-
ness.
As in any game of chance or speculation.
there are in poker opportunities to cheat.
Long before poker, however, was invented
cheating at chance games was practised by
the unprincipled. 1 have seen loaded dice
taken from the ruins of Pompeii and Her
culaneum and now preserved in the Govern
ment Museum at Naples. So poker is not
responsible for all the charges brought
against it, 1t is well, however, to be care
tul about going into game of poker on an
ocean steamer, In railway carriage or a
Western hotel without some knowledge of
your companions.
Harmless if Played by Gentlemen.
But with party of gentlemen, and for
limited stakes, poker is a fascinating and
harmless pastime. While a number of
books have been written about it, none can
claim absolute authority. Though the
rules of the game are really simple, the
deviations, alterations and amended allow
ances, and the fact that almost anv party
sitting down to play may and often does
make its own rules about certain matters,
render poker a by no means easy game,
such regulations, for example, as to the
value of a straight" playing around the
corner" passing the buck, +" ''blazes" and
Jack pots. 1t is to fix the positive and long
accepted rules of the games that this book |
is written, the rules herein set forth having |
been sanctioned by the best custom where |
ever draw poker is played in its integrity. |
Whatever its origin, poker is now con-
ceded to be one of the most intellectual as |
it is doubtless the most fascinating of |
card ga-es. Attack and defense are in it |
developed to amazing perfection, the op- |
portunities of seizing strategic advantage |
being wonderful. There never was seen |
such combination of logic and luck, of cal |
culation and speculation. 1t has by some |
been declared the offspring of the famous |
and difficult English game of s'gleek,'
which we know to be 800 years old, while |
others de5cribe it as a direct development |
from the English game of ''brag.'
Evidertiy Originated in England.
The derivation of the name from the old |
English pot and pair" seems fanciful, but |
the striking analogy between the use of the |
poker terms seeing" and "seeing YOU
sgain," or raising, and the ''vying'' and ire
wing" or seeing and reseeing referred to
by Ben johnson in every Man in His
Humor' is notable and suggestive
1t would seem by all odds, therefore, to
have sprung, like so much of what is best
in America, from ''the right little, tight lit
tie island" Sir Walter Raleigh may have
brought It over and Captain John Smith
NAV, in defiance of the legend, have won
his life and Pocahontes' hand by blufing
her old red father
Baron Rothschild advised speculators:
ffCut short your losses; let your profits
rum Poker is so admirable an exposition
of human nature that it is fruitful of max
inns. Play literally with liberal players
and closely with close players. The father
Of American poker, Genera! Bob Schenck,
said: THE main elements of success are
good luck, good cards, plenty of cheek and
Poker Book adds, ''and plenty of pa
tience." To these it is not misplaced to add
this: 'Push your luck when winning, stay |
out when losing until little better hand
than the average comes TO you.
Etiquette of Raising the Limit.
It may not infrequently happen that a |
PLAYER who has had a run of luck desires to !
raise the limit and increase the ante This |
procedure is much to be deprecated, as it is
apt to be a sacrifice of the comfort of all for |
the caprice OF one. OF course in that method
of playing known as stable stakes, wherein
any one player on depositing in full view
on the table the sum total of what he is
willing TO risk, has a right to ''see" any
hand for that sum, a raise of the ante or
limit beyond the amount SO deposited is i'm
possible. And in the game of 'freeze out, a
variety of poker, any player losing the
Al s.l-I E.