The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-06-08
HOW TT is PLAYED.
Some of the Intricacies of the
Game of "Baccaraw."
VERY MUCH LIKE WNoT EFT uN
with Features OF sHigh for Luck" and
Seven and HaIf'' Thrown In
How Cumming Cheated.

II 10 doubtful whether, out Of possible
rv.uU newspaper readers in the state of
washington, there are any who have
iaiieo 70 notice with more than ordinary
interest the progress of the trial of Sir
William Gordon Cumming, who was ac-
cused OF cheating at cards, and dragged
MS own fair name into court as a means
OF having it whitewashed. Out of those
VINO have almost daily scanned the head
lines that told brify of the game of
oaccarat that was conducted within the
walls OF the stately mansion Of the place
known as Tranbycroft, it is safe to esti-
mate that the number of persons who
had the faintest idea of what the game
was like could be written in two, or, at the
most, three figures. As piquet is to the
rrenchman, so the game called "bac-
caret is in English sporting circles.
without the United Kingdom it is
rarely, If ever, INDUCED in. and it is, for
the most part. still an unknown quantity
among colonial and provincial subjects of
her royal majesty.
In the first place the game is not called
"6accarat" at all by those who play it.
When the Prince of Wales speaks of it he
pronounces the word .'baccaraw," and
everybody knows just exactly what he
means, because everybody else who plays,
as well as he, uses the same pronuncia-
ton. The game of "baccarawn is not a
difficult accomplishment. 1t possesses
all the elements of chance and some of the
opportunities for the exercise of judgment
that are found in the American game
called draw" but none of the finer scien-
titic points.
In many of its features it resembles the
games, familiar to all Westerners, that
are know as ''seven and half" "high for
luck" and "twenty-one." It is not sta
tionary banking game any more than the
round table variety of "stud" poker, but
the progression of the deal is by differ
emit set of rules.
Six decks of ordinary playing cards are
shuft1ed together in baccarat. The banker,
who at the start may be any one of the
players, divides the cards among the play
ers, who shuttle their portions and return
them to the banker. The cards are then
placed in slanting tray that resembles a
brass galley" used by printers, ready to
be dealt by being slid off one at time and
pushed over the table, to each of the
players. The game is then ready to begin.
The participants have already invested
their collateral in representative values
that are called markers" for want of a
better name. The so-called markers"
may be of rubber, wood, leather, or any
other material, and they serve exactly the
same purpose as ''chips" in American
games of chance. Among the less fastid-
Gus classes, If there are any devotees to
baccarat, beans and buttons might be
1 soA Hyrf 81 q Ok "a 81 u 10 cal
dom that the game is popular except with
the blooded aristocracy and other persons
Of elegant leisure and wealth. Bone and
ivory chips are noisy, as well as vulgar,
and so the Prince and his friends at the
lcDoncaster race course used delicate de-
vice Of Russian leather. each representing
value of $50. The Prince, contrary to
reports, could not, in the nature of the
game, have acted as banker to the exclu-
sion of others in the play who had the
power and the inclination to divide that
privilege with him.
The players sit at table covered by q
green cloth, upon which are three colored
squares, placed to form the corners Of a
triangle. One of the triangles is the deal
ers. He begins by placing card, face
down, upon each one Of the squares, deal
ing to himself last. Two cards are given
to each place. Then the players do their
betting, placing their representative value
upon either or both of the squares on the
players side. The players see their cards,
and the banker looks at his. The numbers
approaching nine, either alone or by sub
tracing ten from them, are most desirable.
A natural" such as a five and four, or .
six and tray, always wins, unless the bank
er holds one, too, in which event the bet is
"stand-ofs' and is the same as though none
had been made. Failing of the exact
number, the nearest one below 1t Is the
winner, or next, the nearest approach to
eight or nine above. As in "seven-and-a-
half" the players are permitted to draw
cards, which are added in the sum total to
the ones on which they are playing. If
both the cards chance to be aces. or an ace
and deuce, the player, believing it fair
chance to win, draws in the hope of get
ting either five or six, to make the total
up to or as near as possible to nine. Court
cards count ten. "baccarat" is a COM
bination making over thirty, which is
loser against anything on the board ex-
cept another ''baccarat. The players are
against the banker. and the banker pays
or takes according to the relative value of
his hand against each one on the board
The deal is changed when the banker is
tapped" or "broke. A player may sig
nifty his desire to ''tap" the bank, which is
to bet the full amount the banker has be-
fore him. If the latter is unwilling to
play for so large an amount, he passes the
tray to the "bluffer," who then assumes
the responsibilities of banker until he, too,
is tapped" Table stakes are played.
The stack of markers" or counters" be-
fore the dealer indicates the limit of the
players' bets. The banker pays from right
to left. It often happens that each one of
half a dozen players has bet the full
amount of the dealers pile. If the first
right-hand player loses, he takes the
money and pays the next one, if winner.
1t often happens that where more lose
than win, the banker, beginning with but
enough to cover one bet, is enabled to pay
all of them and still have lease of life.
In the event that the right-hand player
wins all that the banker has, he takes the
deal and holds it until he is either tapped"
or s'broke" himself.
Suppose, for instance, that, while Prince
Albert dealt the cards. the players on one
side of the table were Mrs. Arthur Wilson,
Sir Gordon Cumming and Mr.. and Mrs.
Lycet Green, while Lieutenant Berkeley
Green. General Owen Williams, Lieuten-
ant Levett and Arthur Stanley Williams
played opposite. The bets having been
made the prince would deal king and a
deuce to the first party, and six and
seven to the second, taking for himself,
parhsns a five and deuce The first PLAYER