Evening star., 1899-06-10
The Festive Game of Poker Has Some
Weird Features.
EULBS THAT JAR ON ONES NERVES
With a Few Cards Thrown Out and
the Joker in Use.
COMPLICATIONS THAT ARISE
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

| Special Correspondence of The Evening Star
PARIS. June l. 1899
quartet of Americans who wanted to
play poker stepped into the Grand Cafe
and asked for cards. The waiter brought
green velvet mat. a basketful of odd
chips and a French pack of cards One of
the party only was familiar with these
cards. He won the first four pots and
then the conversation started up why.
darn it," said the man who thought he had
full, these queens have whiskers on
them!' The jacks look like the queens
and the queens look like kings Worst of
all, these French cards have no indicators
in the corners. Now what have l got
here?' inquired the possessor of a straight
He spread the five cards out in his hand
BY the time he had looked at the third
cara ne mad forgotten the first All the
lace caruS nave names. The kings are
Aiexandre. David. Charles and Caesar The
queens are Rachel. Judith, Pallas and Ar
slne- The jacks are Lancelot La,hire Ho-
gier and Hector. 1t almost took a fight TO
convince the man from Georgia that Lance
lot, Argine and two mines could not beat a
pair OF tens. Pallas. Rachel and Lahire
will not beat aces up.
NOW. come here. garconr' we said VIII
you kindly ask the chasseur to chase him
sen around to the bureau de tabac and
ouy US pack Of cards marked in the
"Aaaah," said the garcon. twisting his
neck to express regret and helplessness
impossible, mesSieursi / know the gentle
men would play the pockairei Impossible,
Cafe" ''''U
He said great deal more, but this was
the gist of it. We paid our bill. bought a
pack of American cards for a dollar at a
toy shop and adjourned TO the Cafe de la
PalX- Here it is comfortable, bright and
gay with ladies everywhere. and every
BODY playing cards We asked for jetons-
chlpS-and got them: square chips. oblong
chips, six-cornered chips for counting ma
nile and picquet. The inquisitiveness of
the gerant was tempered with admiration
LOT the extensive orders of toast and tea.
poker.
Professional Players
The Grand Cafe is large, with several
halls that lead into each other. Every
where are little chairs and tables. Five
hundred people are smoking drinking chat
ting, reading and playing games from dom
inoes to whist. A group Of four professional
card sharps sat around a table in a secluded
corner. Carelessly dressed, with no love of
pleasure i'll their faces, chatting indiffer-
emily with all the bored airs of shopkeapers
waiting for business, they were putting in
the time. Gould we come into the gama?'
Certainly" a lot of fine mother-of-pearI ri
chips were taken from d morocco-covered
box Two new packs of cards-David.
OHdFitS ana Alexandra, Hector. Judith and
Argine-were ordered from the attentive
waiter. tn take so worth of chips" re-
marked one of the Americans. The faces of
he poker sharps of the Grand Cafe re-
iapsed again into the habitual listlessnass
EEerybory starts with 2Ob francs" theV
said. Another volunteered frankly that it
was possible to win 500 francs in their
game.
As we sat there waiting to see some one
win 500 francs one of the party began talk
ing TO US coniidentially. slim youth of
and a shifty pair of eyes. IF we could
find two more We might make up smaller
game
Queer Dealings.
At the Grand Cafe you can always find
two more to make up a game. Up came
an elderly type with dropping eyes. The
next man, with a red necktie, about thirty
years of age, was supercilious big and vul-
gar, with a nasty smile that spoke of self
content and small esteem for the outside
world. We each put up 20 francs. The
young man put the gold pieces in an enveI-
ope and said that he would let the waiter
keep it. He might Just as well have kent
it himself I hope never again to see such
barefaced 'monkeyiIg' with cards as that
exhibited to our astonished eyes by this
nervy Partisan trio.
Although the ''artistes' always came in
to draw cards only one of them remained
each time to bet-and win. The other two
were always busy stirring up the discards
have filled my fushn Between them they
had fifteen more cards from which to
make up tho next deal. Two deals in each
round we had no opportunity TO cut BY
the time that we had lost half of our money
We told them we were superstitious and
begged TO cash in. There is no use for a
foreigner TO make row in Paris cafe.
An Honest Game.
The time had come to strike an honest
public poker game in Paris. We found it
in the basement of Plots Billiard Academy
in the Rue Vivienne. Plots is well known
for its exhibitions Of crack billiards. but
/ fancy that few Americans find their way
downstairs to the four tables of the Poker
Cub. There every afternoon and night sit
twenty or more Frenchmen playing honest
poker after their own fashion. Pat Sheedy
has recently spoken contemptuously of 1t
as French poker and a showdown"
Nevertheless, If you ! were playing with
Mr.. Sheedy any other way-up poker
hero, might have cause to be thankful
for the safeguards of this Showdown" as
he calls 1t.
To begin with, they take the twos. threes
and fours out Of the pack. Whether this
lis done some pretend, with the genial
idea of throwing the newcomer out of his
calculations, whether IT is, others say
to make the pack too small to monkey
with, both objects are attained. In six
handed game the dead-wood has to be shuf-
fed up to complete the draw-something
disconcerting to several systems of fraud
ordinary idea of the value OF a hand.
Changed Conditions.
The twos. threes and fours being taken
from the pack, pairs, threes, straights
two pairs and fulls are easier to get, while
the flush only remains as hard to get as
ever. According to these conditions. a
straight beats two pairs, three of a kind
beats a straight, a full house beats three
of kind and flush beats a full house.
1t is a jackpot game all through, jack
pot and table stakes, with permission to
buy more chips only after losing the last
one in front of you. Every one has a sight
for his money, and every one may be raised
the amount he happens to have in sight.
This is the Showdown ridicued by some
of the American sports who have visited
Plots basement; but the Frenchmen like
1t, and it is their game after all. In the
smallest of the games 1t is the habit for
each player to start out with 81 worth of
chips In this way he regulate his
losses. The French are careful even in their
gambling.
The dealer puts up franc chip, the only
ante. The players generally pass on pair