The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-12-16

you're expected to mix up with" said
a travelling man who had recently re-
turned to the East after a tour on the
slope. Because 1 neglected to do this
myself on several occasions got into
all sorts of embarrassing situations and
all colors of poker. trouble all the way
from Portland, Or, to San Diego, Cal,
and the fellows with whom I did little
stunts at draW-all good people, bust
ness men l met with through letters
put me down as the worst jay in
game of cards that ever crossed the
Rocky mountains The folks out there
think we're all jays back here, any
how, if for no other reason than that
we haven't enough brains to migrate
in body to the Pacific slope but they
complacently told me that I was the
worst of the species they had ever seen,
simply because I couldn't seem to get
the hang of the queer old game they
call poker out in that country.
The game they dub poker out there
isn't poker at all, in my opinion. It's
a hybrid sort of affair, full of fancy
moves that must have been chucked
into the original game by early Cali
fornia vaQueros with such a taste for
establishment that they had to tack
gilt fringe on to their pants and to
encircle their hats with silver cable.
Whatever they call it, it's not Ameri-
can draw poker by darned sight. The
kind of poker that L was raised on
the real thing, the article of draw that
we play on this side of the Allie
oh OtTc. do 1,J-
count of the JOKER for instance, than
1t does of the card case: but out in
California they think a mans plumb
blind crazy if he registers a kick over
having the joker in the deck. I'd as
lief play old maid or grab for corn
silk cigarettes as play draw poker with
the joker mixed up in it; but out there
[ had to take the game as it was serv-
ed up, and, as between poker with a
joker and no poker at all, I, of course,
accepted the lesser of the two evils
and played.
But got dumped on the game for
about 1000 miles Of coast line and that
too, by people who didn't have to count
themselves because they were so MANY
at the game. The trouble was that I
played the CRANE of draw that l was
cross-bred game and the result was
just about as queer as it would be to
see base ball pitcher chucking up a
Rugby football to a cricket batsman
with a Tense picket in his hands.
I'll not forget my first run-in with
this poker-joker idea. This was my
first visit to the slope, you know and.
although I'd often heard vaguely that
young 'uns, playing draw for beans or
in hill r,I, II
joker into the pack for the fun of the
thing. 1, of course, never dreamed
that rational adult human beings in
any quarter of the earth could have
the nerve to inf1ict such a dismal out
rage upon the noble game of draw as
to. slap the joker into a poker deck.
But 1 found out different the very first
game Of draw that I sat into out in
San Francisco.
was the only Eastern man in the
bunch The other three fellows were
business men who belong to the
Native Sons organization, which ac-
counts for the weird brand of poker
they played. They played what was
taught 'em in their youth out there;
didn't know any better, and thought
and no doubt still think, that their
game is right.
L was banker, and dlShed up the
first hand. 1t was twenty-five cents
ante and S. limit. I gave myself two
rafting good pairs, kings up on tens.
Ali of the other fellows stayed and
the man on my right made 1t a couple
of dollars more to draw cards. This
let two of 'em out of it, but thought
my two pairs were good enough for q
! 81 raise, and so I played with the rails
er. He drew one card, and so, OF
| course, did I. 1t was his bet, and he