The sun., 1894-05-06
BOOKlES ON SYSTEM PLAY.
Mr.. IKE THOMPSON sAYs he LoTBs
4 MAIZENA, TICTAN'S MONEE

10 DOtn DOOkmhkefa anu Turf epecuIhtOra
the subject Of systems bJ which to beat the
races ls an intensely interesting one. and the
article in THE Sun OF Sunday last on this sub
isct has set the race track devotees talking
systems seem to have been the one topic Of
conversation among the bookmAkers and
sporting men during the past week. In the
st James. the Hoffman House. the KensinR-
ton. and in the various Offices OF the different
racing associations and other places where
bookmakers are wont to gather when there Ia
no racing going on. the subject has been dis
cussed in a most interesting manner.
The biggest book makers and heaviest plunR-
ers In this country are In this city now waiting
for the opening OF the regular racing season
on May 10. Judging from the staten ents OF
number who were seen by Sun reporter DUR
ing tho week. the bookmakers. as a rule. are
not believers In systems. although many OF
them allow that big money may be won by
means Of a clever system-for a time. The
system that is lninllible. however. they say. lie
yet to lie Invented. None OF the systems
worked nowadays insures a man against loss.
unless his capital is something In the neigh
borhood Of n million dollars. Even then. ac-
cordng to the bookmakers the capital will
dwindle awav II the bettor keeps at 1t long
enough The systems that have been tried
are many and varied. and therewas q COM
plete analysts OF each and every one in The
Sun OF SUNDAY last.
Probably no man in the bookmakina busi-
ness to-day is more com petent to discuss the
chances OF the public against the books than
the veteran bookmaker. Ike Thompson.
Thompson has been a book for thirty
years. and is generally believed to be very
wealthy man. He says himself that he has
never been able to make more than a good.
comfortable living out Of the races. but some
idea OF the bank roll he carries can be gained
from the fact that he often stands to lose as
much as $4,000 on race. In single bets he
has lost as high as $50. 600. once losing that
amount to that king OF plungers. George Smith
better known as Pittsburgh Phil. To a Sun
reporter who met him in the Hoffman House
cafe the other afternoon Thompson said when
asked his opinion about systems:
Young man. system or:no system. the man
who plays the races 10 o fool or. to express IL
In less delicate but In good race-track par
lance. a sucker. You can't beat them. and. as
a speculation. the game is worse than that
lambs game known as roulette I'm q book
maker and have been for thirty years. and nat
urally know few OF the tricks OF the busi-
ness. A man to be u successful bookmaker
and how to take in bets. There are are certain
people who must at times be avoided when
at other times their bets must be grabbed with
avidity. But at any time a. system PLAYERS
msthemstician's money in any time than a
Those systems succeed for a time maybe.
but they all fail In the end. as is only natural.
read the story in Sundays SuN. and a most
thorough treatise on the subject 1t was. Yet
every bookmake er who is any good at all knows
all about. We have had these games played on
went out to make room for the open books Of
the present day. You might compare the sys-
at 1ne sboS the same as the oSc
They win at iirst and then lose. or vice versa,
but there's always S a lose after the win: Ia
break him. and sometimes he may last two and
pocket. A popularity about a system player
Is that he never stops until he is broke. There
tenn but to keep 1t up until his last penny Is
gone. and you can make up your mind when
be devotee OF systems standing around with
out bet on the race about to be run that he
hsspt tS as much ass a. ~ 2 70 his name s In faro
system. but as the race track never Like the
green angels who star chorus girls as
prima donnas are the system players at the
Now. II q man will look carefully into these
the spectators for putting their faith in them.
They are certainly works OF art. and interest,"
animate runco steerers. Still. so plausible do
they seem when carefully worked out that 1t Is
st Rhsrs rs o,Rers
tens. however, that are 50 ridiculous on their
fe that SsnnGs 6aw hoE
popular system OF the, day, for instance.
that Of handicappiag; Nearly essEy other
been irreverenty termed a dope book. This
book contains the record OF each horse. A full
daily papers. including the weishts carried
the Jockeys. the distance run. the time, and
These handicapr.rs clip the SUM aries from
the papers each day. and when they go to play
bss sIe ~ sa.h as
horse. Il sometimes takes them over half an
hour TO figure the race down to one horse; who.
according to their system, should win Then |
they rush OFF and plunge on the horse. Well.
sometimes they win. but more often. as re- |
of seeing the horse they figured down as
a lead-pip cinch come galloplng In |
Sm wfs SohSa fRs onS rSubs Win
these handicAppers is that they make no al |
did. however We It t would make KENO no dii1ersnee. as
horses are eccentric and run with amazing |
disregard for the handieapperIs ngurins;
away from, the races. My second is, il YOU
take q tOut's advice or let any one steer you |
You will lose even under these circum stances. !
but your chances to win are better by hun
2" In my career on the turf have met and
know personally all OF the big pluneers, but |
among tneul all know out one VINO mas ever |
won In the long run AMI even he. thoroughly |
believe, will die poor. although at the present |
moment he is worth hall million dollars / |
refer 10 Pittsburg Phi, the young est and nerv-
lest plunger OF them all. His luck on the turf |
has been phenomenal. His tets are trsmen-
dous. and his winning s or losings run very high |
each week during the racing season. He's not |
a system player. He simply watches the |
horses. and when he thinks any certain one Is
due to win he backs it. I've known him to go |
two and three days without laying a bet sim- |
ply because ho didn't see anything he liked.
There's Nike Dwyer. another plungsr. He |
bets mostly on his own horses. and. like Phil.
with total disregard for money when no |
thinks he's going to win. There's been great /
talk about Dryers losings last year. It's my /
candid opinion that he lost quarter Of mil
ion dollars and also think in his efforts to l
get It back he would have lost his last dollar
on earth had not the financial strinRency come |
upon us and forced the banks 10 refuse to re-
spond TO the demands OF dspOsitors.
les. sir; the system 6ettor can make as
high bet as he likes with me. He may beat
me. but in the long run some other book will |
boat him. II | don't That. however. is the
chance We bOOkmak eTs have 10 take"
Fred Walhaum. the King Of Guttsnburg and
laAdaF of fla famOuS '-lfiU EoIF ROnfFOls