The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1899-10-19
YAKIMA'S MONTE CARLO.
The "Chubber' Victim Of Gambling Capital
Something About Games Of Chance.

Something About Games Of Chance.
Yakima after nightiall shows up good
many games Of chance. In the various
public resorts men OF all nationslities
may be seen eagerly wooing the tickle
goddess Of fortune with varying degrees
Of success. Here are be to seen nickel.in-
tbe-slot. machines, crap games, roulette
and faro tables and all the psraphernalia
OF we'll equipped gambling rooms.
Talks with various sports bring out
some curious facts. In one house firm
of four gamblers have pooled their indi-
vidual capital, amounting to $1,000.
Against this banking capital the man
with few dollars to bet, the "chubber"
az he is called, stands but little show to
win. In faro game the percentage is
only ) per cent in favor of the dealer,
while roulette has but per cent in his
favor.
I'm all gambling games" said an old.
time sport, "there is a percentage in
favor Of the house Anybody except
born fool knows that q man couldn't az
ford to equip an establishment, hire help,
pay rent and defrsv all the hundred and
one incidental expenses unless he derived
profit that was based on some fixed
principle, and not dependent upon mere
luck or chance. Just where the
profit comes in, however, is something
that very few people understand. Most
of them imagine it is derived from some
slight advantage in the arrangement of
the game, such as the zero numbers in
roulette or the splits in faro, but they
are very much mistaken.
ut really depends on principle that
applies to all games alike, and is what
might be termed the percentage of cap.
ital.' Strange as it may seem, could
take capital of $1,000 and begin pitch.
ing nickels, in which the chances are
perfectly even, letting the players guess
either way they wanted to, and would
make a steady profit, dav i n and day out.
The secret ia this: The average player
has only limited amount of money and
slight run of bad luck wipes him out
He is Obliged to quit, and somebody else
takes his place, while the house keeps
right on through good luck and bad, con
tinuallv swelling it's reserve with the
cash of the broken players"
Another one of the magic brotherhood
said: ut is really astonishing to see
the fascination the slot machines have
for some people. 1t is only a nickel,
yet many a nickel makes mickle for
the house. A man playing against the
machines has about one chance in four
to win and the machines ordinarily pay
the running expenses of the house."
prominent mathmetician kept tab the
other night on drummer, who deposited
SLIPS and won 1925 from his nickel in
the slot investment In an electric
machine in prominent avenue saloon
Some odd calculations are sometimes
made with "short cards." as some other
gambling games are called. Here Is a
curious calendar made from an ordinary
pack of playing cards: There are so
cards representing the number of weeks
in year; 365 spots corresponding to the
1855 days in year: ~ face cards repre-
senting the II months; four suits repre-
senting the four seasons; Is cards in
each suit representing the 10 moons in
each year, and the joker makes up for
the extra day in leap year.