The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1892-02-26
HE PLAYS TO WIN.
How an Expert Gambler Makes
His Business Profit able.
a Variety of Intricate I;ut Certain Meth
DDS Employed by Profession ais bS
(which the Amateur l. IIeeced-
- Warming to the Jnwsrg-


The idea of honesty among cRrd
.sharpers in the practice of their profess
sion is romance said an old and cN-
perienced gambler to a Kansas City
-earrreporter. The only place over
Aoticed any fairness or truth in a
gambler was in some third-rite el
by some author-uSually i wOman-
who didn't know anything of the mat
ter discussed. 4 gambler business is
% win: that's the way he lives, and
You can figure that hes rot only hool<-
ing for the best of il. but nine timco in
ten he's going To have the best of il.
There are n thousand WAYS tS'thcat
and rob a victim, but a gambler does
not call it robbing or think nf it in
that way. He gets 50 used to IL as a
proposition that it strikes him per
fectly Legitimate.
chambers divide card games into
two sorts short card and long card
short card il the name of any game in
which hands are dealt, like Scvcn-up,
poker or high five. Faro IL = Il l0ug-carl
game. Men who follow cards to live
generally have some specially There
il always some form of rugucry or
cheating at which a man s. InOrc cX-
pert than ut others. He viii practice
this inccsSantly when alone sOnc may
be- able to deal second another shifts
the cut. anothcr's strong point is
holding out then there are top or
bottom dcalcrs-I'm talking Of short
cards now-and any of these tricks. if
the proper work can De done in con-
nection with il, Will keep man from
want.
NOWADAYS an expert With cards
l Il. l.. 4
right on top of the table. lie can't be
regarded master and do dess. II 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
little mirror while dealing Others
would mark deck: there were men
whose strong point was dealing sec
,ond.' L always looked on this Last as
the best and safest way to rot, L man.
N man would file the head off n
pin and paste il on the inside of his
thumb with gold beaters' skin The
sharp filed point would project slight
TX. This was used to mark the cards
By the time a dozen hands We're dealt
Nr. Sharp, with his pin point w"uld
gTve; all. the cards he cared to mark
such as the ace, king queen, jack and
tea, we'll say. punch which would
leave n little protuberancc ON the back
of the, card in what would be the right
hand corner as one dealt. This punch
was naile at varying distances from
the CORNER. y certain distance like one
fourth OF AN inch marked an ace, a
half-inch n 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, hut .nimed to reserve it for him
self, he gave the victim the next card.
or second curd below, and all 80 dcftly
that none could tell This is called
dealing second,' and by picking out
his cards in this fashion the robbcr in
evitably got the upper hand.
How WAS the mirror used" The
dealer just rested it on his raised knee
and dealt over it. He could see the r.
Election of every card and n strong
trained memory kept him posted as to
the value of the hands. These two
schemes are specimens of what one can
work while dealing. The 'hold-out'
idea is good at amy time. The catgut
was one sort of hold-out. 1t was "a har-
s1crs of maa and extended by an at
Lhchment down the left leg. 1t was
fitted with n German silver tla1 clasp
which held the cards just a. you've seen
in street bands for holding music This
clasp was under the left arm of the
wcaser and his hand ot cards was in il
already when he sat down. When he
got ready tn use il he ,vould palm mis-
proper cards and reach inside his vest
to rearrange his clothing, fix his shirt
front or anything. \ move of the left
foot brought the cold hand right
up to where he cclSld get il
and put his proper cards instead
Another move of the foot and the
hold-out would retire under his arm.
All through the game cate-ut man
would fix hands and fix them ready in
his hold-out for an emergency. Fat men
a re the best To- work n catgut. Is they
are usually the most uneasy about their
clothes. Nou think anyone could detect
all this work and flourish No doubt.
But you should reflect that these peo-
pie are no experts as Hermann or Kel-
lar at whatever they are doing.
"A sleeve hold-sut was something the
same, b.,t yyoI lled in the left sleeve II
was n ciuusy thing. though, and as
the frame ysas steel one had to be care
full and not strike IL against the table
The noise wculd give you dead away.
..Itgut cost two hundred dollars. y
sleeve bold-out was worth fifty dollars
''Short-card players have lot of
signs. Zoe. Very often couple of gam
rlcr~ >trp'rers Z" each other. find