St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1892-01-30
HE PLAYS TO WIN.

SSesn La Rue Burnett. In Youths Companion
HE PLAYS TO WIN.
how an Expert Gambler Makes
His Business Profitable.
4 Variety Of Intricate hut Certain Meth.
"ds Employed by Professionals by
Which tho Amateur Is Eleeced-
A Warning to the Unwary.
The idea of honesty among card
sharpers in the practice of their profess
sion is romance" said an old and ex-
per!enced gambler to a Kansas City
Star reporter. 1.-The only place I ever
noticed any fairness or truth in a
gambler was in some third-rate novel
by some author-usually a woman
who didn't know anything of the mat
ter discussed A gamblers business is
to win; that's the way he lives, and
you can figure that he's not only look
ing for the best of it, but nine times in
ten he's going to have the best of it
There are thousand ways to cheat
and rob victim, but gambler does
not call it rob5ing or think of it in
that way. He gets so used to it as a
proposition that it strikes him as per-
fectly legitimate.
Chambers divide card games into
two sorts short card and long card. ;
Short card is the name of any game in
which hands are dealt, like seven-up,
poker or high five. Faro is long-card
game. Men who follow cards to live
generally have some speciality. There
is always some form of rogucry or
cheating ut which q man is more ex-
pert than 1t others. He will practice
this necessarily when alone. One may
be able to deal second another shifts
the cut another's strong point is
holding ont then there are top or
bottom dealers-rm talking of short
cards nOw-and any of these tricks, il
the proper work can be done in con-
nectiOn with it, will keep q man from
want
Nowadays an expert with cards
does all his work with his hands and
right on top of the table. lie can't be
regarded As . master and do less. 1t all
goes on the theory that the hand is
quicker than the eye. In an earlier
day card people used various devices to
cheat with. There were divers forms
of 'hold-Outs,' like the sleeve hold out
and the cat gut Then some used a
little mirror while dealing. Others
would mark . deck: there were men
whose strong point was dealing sec
ond' j always looked on this last as
the best and safest way to rob man.
A man would file the head off a
pin and paste it on the inside of his
thumb with gold beaters' skin. The
sharp fled point would project slight
~. This was used to mark the cards.
by the time dozen hands were dealt
Mr.. Sharp. with his pin point, would
give Ill the cards he cared to mark.
such as the nee, king, queen. Jack and
ten. we'll say, . punch which would
leave . little protuberance on the back
of the card in what would be the right
hand corner rs one dealt. This punch
was made at varying distances from
the corner. A certain distance like one
fourth of an inch marked an ace,
half.inch king, and SO on. When Mr.
Sharp dealt he was always feeling for
these points When one came along
and he didn't care to give it to the
victim, but aimed to reserve it for him
self, he gave the victim the next card.
or second card below, and all SO deftly
that none could tell This is called
dealing second and by picking out
his cards in this fashion the robber in
evitably got the upper hand
..tiow was the mirror used? The
dealer Just rested it on his raised knee
and dealt over it. He could see the re-
flection Of every card and a strong
trained memory kept him posted as to
the. value of the hands. These two
schemes arc specimens of what one can
work while dealing. The hold out
idea 10 good. at any time. The catgut
was one sort of hold-out 1t was a har-
ness Of catgut which went on the shoul- |
flcrs of q man and extended by an at |
down the left leg. 1t was
fitted with Q German silver fat clasp
which held the cards just as you've seen
in street bands for holding music. This |
clasp was under the left arm of the |
wearer aud his hand of cards was in il |
already when he sat down. When he |
rot ready to use it he would palm his |
nrouer cards and reach inside his vest |
20 rearrange his clothing, fix his shirt |
Frout or anything. A move Of the left |
loot bror3ht the cold hand right |
10 to where he could get it
md put his proper cards instead.
Another move of the foot and the |
,old-out would retire under his arm. |
All through the game q catgut man
vould lix hands and fix them ready in
lis hold-out for an emergency. Fat men
IRE the best to work . catgut, ss they |
ira usually the most uneasy about their
:othes. You think anyone could detect
II this work and flourish No doubt.
sut you should reflect that these peo-
lie are no experts rs Hermann or kel-
ar 1t whatever they are doing.
"A sleeve hold-out was something the
anne. but won ked in the left sleeve. 1t
vas ! clumsy thing. though. and as
he frame was steel one had to be care
nj and not strike it against the table.
The noise would give you dead away.
catout cost two hundred dollars A
leeve hold-out was worth atty dollars
..Short-card players have lot of
iens, too. Very often couple OF gam
,icrs, strangers to each othe-. lind
hemselves in the same game. Each
iscovers the presence of his skilled
,rother mighty quick. Now the
hances are these two thieves 20 into
partnership right under the
iseim's nose and eyes !