Omaha daily bee., 1896-02-29

Several Instnncesa Given OF the Per.
vcrsitics of Luck.

vcrsitics of Luck.
Poker? I've played poker all my life"
said gamester to a reporter Of the New
York Recorder.
i've gone into a game with s. stack
and cashed in 500. I've gone in with 800
and have left the table without cashing in
anything. I've made phenomenal draws;
been beat out on four kings; I've stocd pat
on pair of jacks and I've stood pat on four
of kind. .,
I've been flush and been broke, but the
worst move Of my life was when caught
one of the best poker players in Syracuse.
Il rolled into Syracuse from Rochester
after most unsatisfactory week at the table.
am professional, of course l don't make
any bones about 1t. l make my
living by It, and l have to take my
chances against the best men In the business.
They did me in Rochester. hang EN-;
took my heart, almost. But heart! That's
everything in poker. The man without heart
CT nerve, whatever you like TO call H. is no
use in poker game
81 had my heart when l landed in Syra-
cuse, and about 60 cents | went to the
hotel, got a meal and a cocktail, and as |
leaned up against the clerks desk wondering
how soon 1t wouid os before ! would get
hungry again, drummer appeared who had
known me In Rochester.
He gave me the glad hand. and after he
chance to get in game at night.
IL said. OF course and he said that II
could get one man he had two statesmen
quaintances who wanted to play a little
while, and IL we could meet privately in his
room at O'Clock, might spend the even
ing pleasantly. l agreed, but where | was
going to get my wherewith was quandary.
Il had about made up my mind to strike
the clerk for loan until my firm should
send a check when my eye lighted on a
ma NOR w oh 1pv m, bn 1pSl N .
sample from a steel house, and 1t was
made in imitation CT a pile of half dollars,
making in all stack that looked like $50.
There! / was heeled.
when the clerk wasn't looking captured
it. l procured piece of paper from the
clerks pad and, going into the coat room,
wrapped up Mr.. Paperweight until he
looked so natural that any bank clerk that
ever lived would have bought 1t for $iS and
smiled at his bargain.
"At o'clock | was on hand. There was a
fellow l supposed was a young drummer in
the party who said he was making his first
trip out. My drummer friend had brought
him along as a snap.
"TIe didn't know me, but I supposed of
course, that he was all right, or his friend
would not have invited him In the game.
So when we were seated about little round
table he said, Let Lew meaning me, be
banker
"No one ever kicks against a suggestion
Of that kind and l was made banker.
II set up my roll of steel and took $50
worth of chips, and everybody else took $40.
l put their money and my roll on chair
and We began playing.
II lost on every hand I played and my
$50 worth was soon gone. / took another
stack, and remarked that the clerk would
make me good. Then luck changed-I won.
The green drummer was the only other
lucky man in the party. He was hard man
for me to buck against He beat me every
time
FINALLY, stood to win $50 If l cashed in, |
steel roll and all, and was inclined to COM
plain of cold feet and quit, but l took one
more hand ,t
-Four sevens! Sevens! The very hand that
a man told me once to play until died"
"He-that slim. green uninitiated drum |
mer. took one card. ;. He raised it dollar, |
when l bet a chip. and all that other gang |
stayed out. We banged away at one an |
other for some time. looked at him closely, |
and somehow he seemed to have changed. |
He didn't look like the weak backed drum
mer. He had the steely eye, the marble
heart Of professional.
II said, eXasperated: I'D like to bet |
little more than the limit
Well said he. and l thought he trem
bled, i might take one big be.' Je4,4in s...
II reached over and picked up $50 bill
which lay on the chair. I'll bet this
Blast him. he went down in his sock and
raised me $40. There was just $40 left on the
chair and my roll Of steel.
"'Ill raise you $20, said l.
"Ill raise you,' said he.
"He wasn't scared / could that, and
my four sevens were small. felt confident
that he had made full house, and the
money was mine, and / called HIM, simply
because there were no more paper-weights in
sight
1--we got small two pair said he.
81 knew he had two pairs of one kind, and
remarked Mine are sevens.'
-Four eghts,' said ne.
I'm broke gentlemen, said l. and !
picked up my overcoat and left before he
could open the roll Of steel.
81 went downstairs and told the clerk that
I was going out to make borrow. l got |
out of town on the cannot BALI at O'Clock,
and got off at Oneida because that was the
first STOP and the conductor rather insisted
on it,"
This may sound a little fshy, but every
poker player in Syracuse knows of it. 1t is
on the same plan as the famous Charley
Perkins story.
Perkins was a Rochester man. He played
poker in Denver or in New York-whereyer
he was. One occasion found him aboard
steamer loaded with corn. There
was party playing poker with corn-red
corn; there was no white corn in the west
at that time.
Perkins sat in and went broke. He ex-
cused himself for moment and went out
went down into the hold and felt among the
ears in the dark. He got one and shelled
a lot Of kernels.
When he came back he found jack pot
had just started. He remarked that he ;
would stay" He threw in some kernels,
md blest If they were not all white.
He was called down "for fair" as the boys
say, and he had to quit.
The next morning he went down In the
hold and looked around, and there was not
mother white ear of corn in the whole 10000
bushels stored there
-
TOWING A MlLE-LONG RAFT.