The record-union., 1893-10-14
GAMBLING SJJPERSTIIIONS.
Old Card and Dice Players Are
Tainted.

Some Common Beliefs as to Good and
Bad Luck, Among the Most Firmly
Rooted Being the Idea That Man
Can't Beat Gambling Machine.
1t is rare that man is found, no mat
ter what his general intelligence may be,
who has not some superstition about
cards or dice. He may not be willing to
admit that his feelings make any differ
ence to him, but observation will show
that he not only has gambling supersti-
tions, but that he acts on them, and, how
ever he may ridicule his fellow-players,
he has some point of weakness in him
self. There are many gambling supersti-
tions. One of the best known, according
to the New York Sat2a, is that it is bad
luck to win the first hand, and that the
winner of the first pot in poker will be
loser in the game. Some men are so in
fluenced by this that they will not come
into the first pot ev en- if they have good
hand, and, if they find themselves in
through the necessity of the age or jack
pot they will throw up their hands unless
there is SO much money up that the per-
centage overcomes the superstition. 1t
is nard to find the origin for this supersti-
ton, which is the most common. Every
man recalls any number Of instances to
sustain it. If he wins the first hand he
recalls that fact, and if he is loser at the
end of the game attributes his loss to the
winning of the first pot.
Another poker superstition is that the
same man will beat the same man and
lose to the same man during the game.
That is, If a, B, G, ID and E are playing
together, A will win from B, 3 from Q,
G from d, d from e, and E from A stead
lily during the game, so that it would be
good judgment for i, after he had lost
two or three pots to A, and so by expert
ence determined who was the man around
the board who would regularly beat him,
to refrain from betting against A as much
as possible and TO reduce the amounts he
would stake on his hands, while with G,
whom he has been beating, he would be
safe in being venturesome and in risking
more money. This superstition is based
on the observation Of old players, and it
has the same foundation that the run-of-
luck superstition has.
WAITING FOR LUCKY CHAIR.
The reverse superstition exists about
dice and matching, though here and there
are two directly opposite superstitions,
each of which shaS its followers. The
school which believes in what is known
as a 'change of luck" has more numer-
Gus adherents, though it is likely that for
another reason these men are the greatest
losers. One of these superstitions is that
the same thing has tendency to occur in
series of two, and the other is that the
same thing has not tendency TO repeat
itself. In playing roulette the believers
in the first superstition will play the red
If the red has already won, or in faro they
will play the ace to win If it has won
once, and copper if it lost the time before.
The other school play the black if the red
has just won, and the ace to win if it lost
the preceding turn.
An old gambling superstition is that
the turning around of his chair by a
player reverses his luck. This supersti-
ton extends to the position of the seats
around the table, some of which in long
game Of poker become known as lucky
seats and others as unlucky seats. 1t is q
frequent thing for one player to ask an
other player to change seats with him or
even to offer money for the exchange.
Much more often is it the case that a man
waiting to come into poker game when
one of the players drops out will de-
lay his entrance until lucky seat is va
can't.
performance of ceremonies or incanta-
tions over the chips. There are men who
think that kissing a chip before they put
it into the pot will make the chip come
back to them, bringing the rest of the pot
with it. Many men believe in the eff
cacy of cash money to change their luck.
When the stack Of chips which was first
issued to them is exhausted they will
take money out of their pockets and put
70 to III
stack of chips.
Men who match or toss coins have gam
bling superstitions of all kinds. There is
the man who always wants the other man
to say what he will do instead of deciding
himself; then there is the man who be-
lieves that more bills have even than odd
numbers, and the man who believes that
tails come up more often than heads. They
are less numerous than the man who is
willing to let anybody to try to match
him, but will not himself take the initia-
tive in matching.
HARD TO WIN AGAINST A MACHINE.
1t is popular belief that machine
Will always beat man. Thus it is a
gamblers axiom that if in a machine
there are an indefinite number of balls,
half of them being odd and half of them
even numbers, or half of them red and
half black, with mechanism which, ire
IL
out one ball at time, the machine will
eventually beat the man who bets on the
color or number of balls. 1t is belief in
the virtue of mechanism over the per-
Sonal equation which exists in every
man more or less. The same thing ap-
plies to the human matching that offers
to bet against any even proposition the
other man may make. He will put down
the coin and offer to take any proposition
q INIT a
will decline to make the proposition
himself. He puts himself in the position
of the man who runs roulette wheel or
a faro table. and who takes all the bets, no
matter what they are, provided the
amount is not beyond his limit.
Betting on case cards is as even thing
as matching. 1t is as even a form Of
gambling as is known, for there are no
odds either way and no percentage for the
game. Yet it is claimed that the men
who bet on case cards, and thereby elimi-
nate the mathematical percentage of the
game, are really the men who lose the
money, for they cannot eliminate the
personal equation which, according to
this superstition, is always loser when it
runs against the machine. 1t is hard to
find any mathematical foundation what
soever for this superstition. but it is one
| of the most common superstitions of all.
| 1t may be explained by the ordinary linn
| its of individual resources which restrict
the average players loss to smaller
sum than the possible amount of money
| he may win. When he gets ''broke" he
| must cease to play, and in the ups and
downs of play it is more likely that he
will lose the money that he has with him
| than win the banks much larger roll
| 1t is evident that if two men sit down
to match dice for dollars, one with capi-
tai of 500 and the other with capital of
$40, the chances are largely in favor of the
| man with the Sl00 getting the other mans
$40 if the matching is continued until
oil r hl1, I