The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-01-29

can pay pOKer dont amount to
 much at it myself, and I don't think you're any better than I am. Very well. You sit Into game with Bur bridge, and I'll deal all the hands my self, and sit by to see fair play-though Burbrldge plays just as fairly as | would myself under the same circum- | stances. Does that proposition suit you?'
 Yes, said the Portland man, I'd
 just like to give Burbrigde whrl un- | der those circumstances.'
 80 the game was arranged Four or
 five of us were invited around to the
 old Willamette House to look on while
 the game progressed. The two men sat 1 down to the game about eight o'clock at night. The Portland man-I will
 call him Tunwell, which is pretty close ] to his right name-had occasionally
 met Burbridge, who was very
 smooth, urbane sort of chap of thirty,
 and so they nodded good-naturedly to
 each other when Tunwell came into the
 room. The contractor was on hand
 with his check book. The conditions
 were simply that the contractor was to
 deal each of the hands, and then retire
 from the table with the remainder Of
 the deck until the call for cards. Then
 he was to dish out what cards were
 called for, and get away from the table
 again until the hand was played. The
 rest of us were to sit around, with the
 privilege of having peeps at the hands. Tunwell was to have the privilege of
 asking the advice of any of us as to proper plays, as Burbridge was to be j permitted to refer hands that heavily | involved the contractors purse to the
 latter-not to seek advice, but simply | to inform him what he intended to do
 in the play The game was to be with out limit, and the chips were worth five. twenty-five and fifty dollars.
 "So the game began, Tunwell soon proved himself a pretty cool man. He didn't put up a stingy game, but he
 simply had the proper sort of regard Il for the worth of the cards the contrac- tor dished out to him, and he played them right, as we who were watching the game and had chance of seeing
 both hands soon discovered. Two or
 three times in the early part of the game T. for one, thought he was bit over-cautious, but in general his line of
 play was always above the average.
 Tunwell was a big, gray-eyed man of
 the type that is jammed full of we'll I controlled nerve, and he held himself
 on this night in additional check be-
 cause he knew that he was up against hard proposition. The play at first
 didn't amount to much-fifty or hum
 dred dollar bets occasonally-and both
 men seemed to be sparring for infor-
 nation on the style of each others play. Tunwell finally decided upon a
 bluff. He had nine high, and he went up to five hundred dollars on 1t. Bur- bridge laid it down. This was pretty good for Tunwell, but he had the sense to show no exultation. Now, af- ter making a thing like that go
 through, most men would keep on bluff l f1ng until called when on steep and , craggy ground, but Tunwell didn't. He resumed the system of playing for what , his hands were worth. This he stuck to for half an hour or so, when he was eight hundred dollars ahead of the ' game, and then he made another bluff l on pair of queens. Burbridge, who had three aces, laid down, and Tun- ! wells pile was amplified by one thou . sand dollars.
 That was cold bluff, Burbridge,' said Tunwell
 1 "fOh, I don't think so,' said Bur- l bridge. There was too much confi- dence in your eye for that Which , shows that even a great poker player is as likely as anybody to get mixed :. when it comes to studying eyes in a game.
 After awhile Burbridge caught pat l full house, and Tunwell filled a still better full hand. It was Tunwell's bet, l and he went one thousand dollars on it. , Burbridge laid down-wherein it was plain to be seen that he was man who 7 possessed that indefinable thing, the l poker players 'hunch.'
 l Now all these plays I'm telling you
 about were simply part of the warming ; up. The two men were simply study r ing each other. They didn't really be- gin to play poker until two hours after r they sat down.
 Then the contractor dealt Burbridge 7 promising set of three, and gave Tun- l well a neat two pairs, with aces on top l Tunwel filled with another ace, and 5 Burbridge got nothing worth mention- 3 ing in the draw, so that his three mines t didn't look very big to us against an t ace full. It was Burbridge's bet. He = was one of those men who lay their . cards down on the table and look up al : the ceiling before making bet. f "'Five thousand dollars" said he 7 finally still looking up at the ceiling . reflectively, and the contractor. wht 7 had seen Tunwell's draw, winced bit : "Tunwell looked at him pretty hard Q and scanned his hand. He raised him . five thousand dollars.
 e And five thousand dollars saic : Burbridge, quietly. Now, the contrac- t tor was pretty game sort of man, but
 we could see that he felt badly over v this.
 . "Then Tunwell laid down. Bur
 bridges bluff worked. Of course, no ? until after the game did we tell hin l what Tunwell held that time, and wher - we did he said:
 : :" I felt from the first, before I made q a bet that he had me beat--but the big r ger a mans hand, the easier it is tt O bluff him out of the money Queer re f mark, wasn't it?
 - "TunWell kept his nerve like ma e jor after this heavy fall. and w n couldn't see the slightest sign of falter : ing in his style of play. The game e went back to the one hundred dollar a het hasiS and was comparatiVe1V min