The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-18
SYSTEM PLAYING IN FARO.
CURIOUS METHODS ADOPTED m
THE SPORTS.
Fascinating Principle of "ProgreA-
ston,' and the Experience of 81
Syndicate tn Heat Il Bark.

Syndicate to Heat Bark.
From the New Orleans Times-Democrat.
New Orleans used to he a great place
for system players in the day when
gambling was wide open" said an old-timo
sporting man. MANY people imagine
mot system is a scheme that is sup
posed to always win. but that is a ms
take As general thing it was merely
a formula for placing bets ana Is only
purpose was to avoid haphazard euessing.
which every Old gambler believed to be-
disadvantage The percentage is a.
ways against the guesser' is provero
among faro tieuds. but as the guesser and
the player are one ana the same, the rea-
son is not very hard 20 discover.
The system about which there was SO
much talk in the old days were, as / said
before, mere formulas or rules which were
not supposed to have any special virtue
as FAR as winning was concerned. Faro.
when squarely dealt. is purely a game OF
chance, and the odds that any card WIZ
WIN or lose are exactly even. To bet
naphazard was a greet strain on the
nerves and when player would put down
a stake he was almost certain to be tor
ihehted by a premonition that he had
guessed wrong. Such wear and tear was
relieved by adopting a system. This was
thoroughly understood by the old-dme
gamblers, and was one reason, by the way
why they stood the pace so well Most
OF them We're naturally methodical men
ana me system enabled them to apply
InelAod 70 their play When they lost
tIeY would simply say that the cards
Werent coming their way The favor
lie faro system in New Orleans WIS
three-one;' in other words. PLAYING eac,
cara To W once and lose three times or
wee versa The other well-known systems
were 'doube-out.' meaning two winners
ana two losers; 'sngie-out.' meaning a.
'efnate winners and losers. and .colors.
WH'ch was based on a complicated system
of suits
How the Systems Work.
Tnere was never any special reason for
peneVlns tha' the cards would come out
according to a system but sometimes tbe,,
did and then there would be bic win,tres
II me right man happened to be plaving
Inc systems that were supposed "a he
sure winners continued the vetara,
were entirely different things. and were
all based on the principle known anong
Saihp'eIs as progression 1t Is nothing
more nor less than doubling the bet at
each losing, on the theory that one m,,st
win sometime and when that baprenei he
'osses VIII be recovered, plus the original
amount risked. Suppose, TO illustrate
that l bet 30 cents and lose Then | her
a dollar and lose again. Then bet 81 ana
win My books would stand: Debt a "a.
credit, 81; net profit 50 cents. That's pro
sresslon' IN a nutshell and all sure-thing
systems are mere variations of it,
The schema Sear1oe parfoct a., .t,1z-..- ,...
the trouble about it is that the doubling up
process is so terribly rapid SupDos., n
payer began with 50 cents and lost ten
times which. while unusual is nv no.
means unknown; his eleventh bet would
be $Ol2. He would already have lost 51l q
SO he would be risking, all told 81 O23. 50 to
win paltry half dollar. To protect them
selves. the games all put limit on the
amount that can be wagered at any one
time, and the progression player soon
bumps against it. In games here where
ten-cent chips We're used the limit was
usually $3.50. and the eighth doubling of
dime exceeds that amount by exactly 80
cents, So the progression player would
md himself hOpelessly stalled at his sew
enth consecutive loss.
Nevertheless the progression idea drove
many man crazy. There used to be q
number of progression cranks here In
New Orleans and they spent most OF their
time figuring odt new systems They
must have covered bales Of paper. and
ever now and then some fellow would i'm
agine that he had at last struck the right
thing. As rule 1t would be based on
the plan of setting aside a certain per-
centage of winnings as a sort of sinking
fund TO make good the deficit occasioned
by runs of bad luck, and frequently it
could be figured out TO a nicely on paper.
just as they figure out the debenture
-..t,a I-E-. L. IL L.
coed.
FIattened Out IA Syndicate.
As soon as the crank had it calculated
to his satisfaction he would rush off TO
find a hacker, and IL was surprising how
many intelligent people were persuaded to
risk their money on such insane enter
pr.ses In that connection | remember
quite an interesting story.
About a dozen years ago man who
gambled a good deal but was not a pro-
fessional figured out a scheme for beat
ing the bank 1t was very elaborate ana
involved alternate progressions and reduc-
lions combined with a sinking fund. The
inventor of the thing was known to be an
expert accountant, and he demonstrated
the system so plausibly that several bust
ness men formed a pool to back him. They
put up $500 and, of course, he lost every
cent Then they submitted his calcula-
.
and, strange to say, actually made a IA
vorabe report. 1t was claimed that the
trouble was the small limit insisted on
by the New Orleans games, and these
hackers, all sensible hard-headed men or
affairs. raised another fund Of several
thousand dollars and sent the man North
10 try the system at Long Branch, where
the limit was more liberal. lie lost again
and that ended it. The story Is not gem
orally known. but is true. exactly as I
have narrated it, and only last month I
saw the original blank book In which the
calculations are set down in detail. One
of the syndicate preserves It as a souve-
mir
That reminds me Of a peculiar conf
dence game that used To be worked here
to a very considerable extent. A well
dressed visitor al q gambling house would
be accosted by a stranger, who would take
him aside and say mysteriously do you
want 10 win some money? Well when
they begin the next deal at that game over
there put a bet on the ace and six spot /
know they both are going 10 win, but I
haven't a cent TO back the Dip II seems
preposierous, of course, but the fellows