The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-01-05
Contractor Feeney'S Game With
Contractor Carm0dy.
PLAYING FOR BIG STAKES
ONE-HALF INTEREST IN A
S35O,OOo JOB CHANGES HANDS.
Feeney's Six-spot Made the Men
Business Partners and Friends For
Life, But the Onlooker Conceived
An Aversion For the Game-Draw
Poker Is Good Enough For Him.


Chicago Inter-Ocean)
Somehow or another, don't like the
game of stud" said a government con-
tractor from Portland, Ore. It's too
much Of a strain to play stud. There
are too many Misunderstanding and head
ache-producing possibilities attached
to the mysterious card the other fellow
has got in the hole. I'd rather take
the chance of guessing what all of his
five cards are than to engage in the
perspiring business of trying TO figure
out the horrible possible value of the
one blind card, especially if the four
cards he has exposed are capable or
being amplified into a hand of the top
per kind by the addition of that bit of
pasteboard in the pit. | can't get away
from the impression that it's just like
putting all of your money in one sock
to play stud. Now, there's a good deal
to the game of draw besides mere
bluffing. In fact, bluffing is almost an
obsolete feature of the game among the
experts at draw poker. The man that
plays his hand in draw will beat the
buffer every time in year-in- and-year-
out play.
THE folks out my way had the stud
poker fad pretty badly about eight or
ten years ago, but now they've got back
to their first love and stick pretty gen.
orally to the game of California draw.
l was a witness of a heart-diSease fin
ish of game of that kind few years
back that coused me to decide .hat or
binary draw was good enough Cor my
money right along. 1t was right after
the big fire that ate up the best part
of The Dalles eight years ago. AS soon
as the building contractors of Portland
got word to the effect that The DalleS
was being licked up by the flames, they
hoped aboard trains and made for The
Dalles with an eye to business. They
knew that The DalleS, which was chief
ly a wooden layout before the fire,
would be Immediately rebuilt in brick
and stone, and that the contractors who
got on the scene of ruin first would
scoop in the bulk of the business. Two
of these contractors were-well, III
have to side-step on their names, for
they're two of the most prominent citi-
Gems out on the banks of the William
cite, and both of 'em walk up the mid
die aisle on Sundays as if they never
heard of such a thing as stud poker.
Both of them are Irishmen, which is
why neither of EN- could see that he
was licked on this occasion.
THE EARLY MIR. CARMODY.
zone of them, We'll say, was Dan
Carmody, and the other was Tim Fee
ney. Carmody got into The Dalles a
few hours ahead of Feeney, and he
made those few hours count by picking
up a lot of contracts amounting to
$3.50, 000. When Feeney arrived on the
next train, Carmody met him at the
depot. Feeney's jaw fell.
when did you get in, DAMP he
asked Carmody.
Three hours ago. replied Dan, with
a grin.
''Feeney made a funny motion, as if
to jump aboard train that was just
pulling out for Portland. but he came
back to his cheerful rival and asked
him:
Anything doing, DAN
"Carmody executed two very shifty
jig steps in token of his happiness, and
then re-assumed his dignity.
"'Well, I'll tell you how it is, Tim
he said These people here are pretty
badly chewed up, y see. Now, maybe
they'll be wanting to rebuild a few
chicken coOps and outhOuses-I don't
know but what they will. Now, there's
a chance for you, Tim
''Feeney didn't look very merry over
this Says he: Chicken coops, is it?
And who's going to throw up the new
business buildings and the opera house
and the hotel, and the like?
"Carmody was laying for that ques-
ton. He drew the contracts out of his
pocket.
Looks as if I'm In over here, don't
it, TIM asked Feeney, as the latter
read the contracts with a gloomy coun-
ance. Nice work, hey? That's what
you get for monkeying around in bed
all the morning, Tim. Why don't you
be like me, now? 1 never go to bed
"Carmody started in TO open wine by
way of celebration, so that by the time
the night boat for Portland was ready
to leave her slip he was pretty comfort
able. Both he and Feeney took the
night boat, and I happened to be going
down to Portland on the boat myself
that night. Feeney had taken TO the
bowl himself a bit during the day to
assuage his depression over his lack of
success. and he YVES pretty mellow
when the boat pulled out Carmody,
with about a dozen quarts under his
belt. dug Feeney UP as soon as he got
aboard. and the two walked up and
down the main deck. arm in arm. Car
mody keeping up his merciless string
ing of his friend. Then Carmody heard
the clatter of the chips in a $10-limit
game of stud that had already started
in the cardroom, and suggested two
handed game of stud to Feeney, with
some accommodating non-player to
deal the cards. Feeney was agreeable
and Carmody, seeing that l wasn't
mixing up with the game in the card
room. asked me if 1 wouldn't dish 'em
out for an hour or so of stud between
himself and Feeney It was to be S110-
limit. and $40 ante. The two men didn't
get up to the 500 limit at all until af-
ter they had played for half an houra
and Carmody was $500 Or 500 winner
Then Feeney found himself with kings
UP on tens in front of him. and card
that he either liked or elected to bluff
on in the hole, while Carmody had
three aces face up and a card in the
hole that he appeared to think a heap
of, judging from the way he bet.
These kings up of mine said Fee
ney. with the transparent air of a man
making a winout bluff. may not look
very pretty alongside those three bullets
of yours. Carmody. but they suit me.
at that. You can have a. peep at the
blind one for $780,
I wouldn't think of paying so little
money for the privilege of gazing at
such a good card as you think you've
got, Tim said Carmody. Now, having
already got you beat on the show-up. I
guess | can afford to charge you an
other 500 for a glimpse of the other
one-spot that I've got in the pit
FEENEY'S WINNING KING FULL.
This kind of talk went on for ten
minutes, the two men raising each
other back at 500 a clip until there
was $1,000 in the pot. Feeney talked
and acted like buffer all the time. but
nevertheless Carmody began to suspect
that, after all, Tim might have some
thing in the hole to beat him So when
Carmody called Feeney's last 500 raise
the later knew that his friend with the
contracts in his pocket didn't have any
four aces, and he just Scooped in the