Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-04-05
POINTS ON GAMING.
ONE or THE CRAFT WHO SEES MORE
SCIENCE THAN PLUCK IN POKER.

New York consincntl


Against Hesvy Odds
New York eonsincntl
Zone frequently hears draw-poker
spoken Of as game Of chance" SAID Q
gambler to Washington Star reporter.
sand yet the definition does not apply ss
all. II IL essentially Q game OF skill, a.
which the better player has . certainty IN
his favor.
"Of course, do not mean to imply that
the most Accomplished expert can wan
every time he plays. but merely that In the
long run the proficient is sure to come OUT
ahead.
!" For one reason il might seem strange
that 80 many persons are addicted TO POKER,
the fact being that nearly every one mus
it losing pastime. This Is SO oecause ~
Is the exceptional man who knows now 70
play. and he wins all the money.
Take any party Of o score or more ,e,-
lows who form the poker crowd in ciuo
or are otherwise in the; habit OF playing
with one another, and you will inyariaply
find that in the long run two or three OF
them do all the winning. Inc rest Mn
sometimes, but in the course OF year tnsy
are behind. Usually those who WIN WIZ
NOT Autult IL, huu tuuo ~ 20 eA<e-N~~ - ~
that everybody has lost
cLuB-RooM WINNINGS.
ut is well known that there are young
gentlemen In society in New YORK anu
other cities who IN quiet way, tnougn
the game is nominaDy prohibited. earn at
poker in the swell clubs about all they
have to live upon. Their knowledge OF the
art brings them in as sure an income as II
| II were 80 much bank stock.
"In the fashionable clubs of Washing
ton poker is absolutely prohibited, and It
| is an excellent thing that it shoula be SO.
when party of young men get play
| ing the game habitually they almost M
yariably carry the betting beyond their
means. As result they owe one another;
the play comes to be largely for wind IN
stead of cash; this in turn makes the
waeers higher some get so deeply IN oeos
| to others that they cannot possibly pay,
| and there is bad feeling and hnai aisrup-
ton. n - !.
always causes rows. The poker dive under
the name of an Incorporated ciuo rs quise
| an institution in Washington, as SHOWN py
the records of the Police Court.
HOPELESS FOR OUTSIDERS.
| ain such an establishment gambling Is
reduced TO its most hopeless possible terms
| for outsiders. If tho proprietor taxes
| hand in the game the chances are tnat ne
| has some one to stand in with him.
"Of course sny two players working
secretly in partnership IN poker game
can clean out the rest Of the crowd. They
| can 40 manage il that mo adversary can
ever call and they can raise him out OF
the pot every time. That is called the see;
saw game. II is western invention, ana
ON occasions has caused considerable
bloodshed.
stand how a man could be fool enough TO
play poker with strangers. unless, perhaps,
he was q very experienced gambler: But
| even /. long as has been my study OF sucn
matters. will not assert that / might not
be cheated, though to accomplish IL wouiu
require more scientific methods than o
see-saw or a bug under the edge OF
table for holding out cards.
FOLLY OF GAMBLING AGAINST BANK.
"pll 90 q step further, ano tell you
frankly that, in my own opinion. there are
few follies so completely foolish as that or
the person who CANDLES against bank:
1.-THE percentage is SURF to beat you In q
very little while"
"Usually, too, players select roulette az
the game to tackle. presumably because II
is easiest to understand and for the sake or
the wheels picturesqueneAs.
"As a matter of fact, faro is the most
reasonable game, inasmuch as 1t can be SO
played as to makeit almost an even chance
between the bank and its adversary. But
its winnings are so certain IN the long run
that there is hardly to lie found better
investment for money than gambling
house affords to its bankers.
CAPITAL TO OPEN Up WITH.
ITO start frst-class establishment you
want anywhere from $4,000 to 100000
capital. The former sum IS enough III any
city outside of New YORK and Chicago,
but IN those cities play Is higher. and
800, 900 is nearer the proptr mark;
{" You must not imagine that the whole
capital of gambling housa is put into the
bank at once. An establishment Of the
first order will begin each day with, say,
SIC. 900. IL part of this amount Is lost II Is !
made up to 10000 again the next day, and
so on. ,
"You must not imagira from what
have said that gamblers, always WIN; l
have known q house to aEit loser at the
end of each week for slx months.
1.-Two gentlemen Of ny acquaintance
went to New York awhile ago and set up q
email but select concern. They mad SSo,,
600 with which they made ten S8,O0O
banks. In six weeks they were dead-broke
and had to telegraph to tbeir friends tor
money TO get homo with.
THE WEAKNESS OF HUN. " NATURE,
".There are other advantages besides the
percentage which the gam ling bank pos
sesses against the player: One OF these
lies in the weakness of human nature
which renders it impossible for the ave.
rage man to leave off betting so long as ne
has dollar left in his poclst.
IF he wins he is spurret on by greed
! supposing that he loses. l,e IS anxious &c
retrieve himself. He is PLAYING with very
limited capital against capital that :
practically unlimited, ancS the result Il
almost inevitable, !,
, Another advantage for fhe bank exists
in superstition entertained by its adver
, saries. People think that because a colol
, mas turned up several timea in succession
it hasn't as good chance ot coming up OF
: the next turn, and so they double theil
bets and pile their money 2n the Opposite
color. 4,
: I'm this way long run, on a color Il
sometimes worth fortune to q bank.
/ THE CHANCES OF Red AID BLACK.
obviously the fact is that even though
black has turned up fifty times in success
sion, the chances are precisely even 10
: black and red on the fifty. first turn, an'
: vet it is impossible to convince ninety-nln
people out of hundred that such Is tn
case. -,
However, you can easily prove the pro
: position by small amount OF arithmetic
At one turn, beginning TO deal, black
chance is exactly one half, of course. Thu
you may represent blacks chance throug
q series of turns by II, u, q, q. u, etc
4 The product of any given number OF thes
: fractions represents exactly the proba
u bllity that black will not turn up tina
y number of times in succession. Multipl
/ ~ 80, ~
J. YOU discover that the chances are sixtee
y TO one that black will not turn up fou
times in succession.
8 CHASING THE "MARTryGALE"
: They are thirty-two TO one against
= run of five on the same color, sixty-tou
;. to one against run Of six, and so on. .
= But you see that while the chance
y against the run increase enormously WIT
y aonh fraction rnultinlied the chances Al