Daily Yellowstone journal., 1891-08-21
POINTS ON CARDS
a Few mark About the Nations
Ganae of Poker.


a Few Remarks About the Nations
Game of Poker.
The ordinary American citizen whU
hasn't got at least one good poker story Oh
the end Of his tongue ought to be a lie can.
didate for a dime museum. There are
probably more stories rife about this ar
Eeular game than almost any other aIb
iect, because, as a matter Of faCt, poker
brings into play about every emotion that
IS common to humanity. When you play
poker with a man al Of his characteristics
are brought at once into bold relief You
can tell whether be is brave or cowardlyt
whether Ge is mean or generous, whether
he is quick or slow. whether he Is open or
shut, whether he Is Louest or dishonest,
whether be is urIe oc false. You can tel
what Kind of "a lover he make You can
place him among husbands. 4ou can tell
70 a hair just how much nerve he has, and
IN short you can know him better than IN
any other way.
The best telescope in the world TO ex
mine a mans soul with is his pocket, and
nobody ever plays poker except for money.
1t Is a gambling game, pure aud simple
and the moment the cash element is
thrown out o. it it l}ses all interest. Il
like TO play poke: just for the fun Of it,
says one. Il don't want the limit ~ Be
any higher than ten cents" Whay be
really means is thai be don't care 70 risk
any more money, and nat he is going to
do his level best to win all he can out OF
that ten cent limit. II. as he says, be
wanted 20 play tae game purely for fun
be would play IL for fun, and nothing elsa
So that you can set it down as a safe rule
that poker is purely a gambling game. and
II people begin by playing II for fun they
invariablS end by playing it for money.
The tendency the game has Is to cheaper
b value of money, ami the best illustra-
ton of this is that when the same people
play together for some time there is a con
slant craving TO increase the limit.
A man who j. learning to play poker will
start on a ten cent limit becLuse he cannot
lose much, and then again a dollars worth
of blue chips at ten cents each looks larger
than it does later on. BY and by he wants
60 make these blue chips worth a quarter,
then a dollar apiece, and as his confidence
IN himself increases he makes the limi
larger. One Of tLe strangest facts in pokel
= that the more a man Loses money the
more his confidence ia himself increases.
And this is the most "'tent force that aids
the professional sharper - fleece his vic
tim.
There are stories without lum5er Of the
peculiar fascination u the -tn--uOw one
game has been carried % I.rdIys together.
how meals were forgotten, etc. But one
Of the most pathetic things / ever wit
messed ] saw last winter ia an Arkansas
hotel. One rainy afternoon six men GOT
together IL "a game Of poger. They
bad been playing for some little time,
and had been in the habit OF changing
around from room 10 room. so that eacb
member Of the party was in turn a host.
In the last room of the corridor Of the SEQ
Ond floor Of the hotel there was asick man
The next TO this wa occupied by ora
Of the players, who on this particular dap
acted as the host.
The game began early IN tne afternoon
aud the chips ratified merrily. There WA
a transOm over each door, which made
more audible. Very o Vt be
came evident to the players that the MAJ
mex doOr was pretty sick. They could
hear him g-oan- The doctor came, said
the man was dying, but the game next
door never tagged. l stood in front Of the
rooms, and heard the groans Of the dyinI
man in one room and the laughter and rat
tie Of chips in the next room Finally one
Of the players. who had a wife in another
part Of the hotel, got up and cashed in his
chips. Gentlemen" said he, I've had
enough. I'm pretty tough, but this is
more than ! can stand Not long after
this the sick man next loOr, in poker par
lance, 'cashed in his chips but the game
vent on.
To change the train Of thought.
The other day a gentleman told me of .
sgale game Of draw he was in not long ago
There we're four Of us in it," aid he
~and the dealer was a stranger 20 me. Ona
held four twos, the dealer held foul
hves and / held four threes. It was O.
interesting situation, / can tai
you. and the man who held four two
dropped everything he had"
What did you do2"Iasked
oh" be answered carelessly, II drsppes
ukS ToN MASON