Evening star., 1900-12-08
Schemes for Making Big Winnings
at Monte Carlo.
Why THEY so SELDOM SUCCEED
Several Instances Where Large
Sums Have Been Won.
SKILL OF THE CROUPIER

their sporting cosmopolitan winter popua-
ticns, one of the trusted employees of the
bank called croupiers made a combination
with nine other Christmas money-seekes to
defraud his own trente-et-quarante table.
1t is a curious fact that scarcely one in
ten of those who play against the game
through Monte Carlo season understands
how trente-et-quarante Is operated. They
see the croupier. or tailleur, deal the cards
into two little piles; they hear him count
the points, and they perceive that red or
back has Won-but why or how they sell
dom take the trouble to ask:
This game, sometimes called rouge-et-
noir, or red and black, preferred by serious
players to roulette because of its smaller
percentage against them, is operated with
six packs of nfty-two cards each. The pic
ture cards count ten each, the others count
their points. In trente-et-quarante, mean
ing thirty-and-forty. the winner of each
deal is the color whose little pile of cards,
SURPRISING 30, comes the nearer to 80. The
taiicur deals first for black. Suppose the
cards come: King of clubs QO, seven OF
clubs (O, two OF hearts (2), ace of dia-
monds Cd, three of spades 90, six of dia-
monds (6) and three of hearts CD. Total.
-. The emplOye announces simply Two.
and begins to deal for red. Suppose they
come: Five of diamonds tJ), three Of ciuDS
(S), jack of hearts QU) two of spades CO,
nine of hearts CD, and six Of clubs 90.
Total, 30. The employe announces Five,
and adds, Red loses"
Details of the Game.
1t is this Red loses.' that the average
player goes by He does not know that
each packet must add up more than 80 and
less than 40, and that the winner is the
weakest total, nearest to 30. Thirty-one Is
the lowest total possible, and 40 the high
est The word black" Is never pro-
ncunced. Suppose black adds up 30 and
red :}6. The tailleur calls ''Two-siX. Red
loses"' Suppose black adds up 81 and red
81, he calls: 'Seven-one. Red wins"'
When both count the same total. say ~,
he calls: 'Six-six. After!'-"after' sig
nifying mo play" tie means no play,
except In one case, when both colors count
Il" This makes the refait, the bank S
commission. corresponding to the zero OF
roulette AS with the money bet on the
even chances at roulette, the refait puts al!
the money on red and black 'in prison.
The next deal decides whether the money
on red or that on black is to he irrevocably
lost. The non-loser simply gets his stake
back.
Even imagining the average player to get
this far he is most unlikely to master the
intricac cies of couleur and inverse and the
manner of calling them. COuleur is black s
first card, lie, the first card of the first
rangec. Couleur wins when it is the same
as the winning cOIor dl tfente-el-uudTdllte te
simple; but the manner of calling 1t is con-
fusing. Suppose the first casd be black.
Suppose blacks total comes, 70 be 36 and
reds "a. The taileur announces the coup:
'SiX-four; red wins and color loses" If the
first card has been red (the winning color
at the simple game), he would have said:
Six -four; red wins and color" When color
loses inverse wins, but the word is never
pronounced.
Beating the Bank
To return to the unfaithful croupier and
his combination. The syndicate was made
up of an ex-croupier. at the time operating
a clandestine roulette at Nice: a man with
out profession. his woman friend en-
pIoye Of the eX-croupier and five other in
dividuals of the morality who got
away. The 10000 francs capital of the syn
dicate was divided equally among the nine,
who stationed themselves around their
partners table. When it came his turn to
take the bank they made ready He gave
the signal. Immediately three or four of
his associates demanded gold for 900 franc
notes from the three other croupiers Of the
table. At the same instant the lady, who
had remained standing, let fall to the floor
a handful Of gold 20-franc pieces. 1t stop
ped the game, because many of the players
had to make room for the servants to pick
up the coins.
At the moment when the attention of all
was distracted one Of the syndicate slipped
into the unfaithful tailleurs hand, on top
Of the other cards he held. several similar
cards arranged to make red win eight times
In succession. The game started up again.
The syndicate bet on red. and in the space
of few minutes relieved the Monte Carlo
bank of 100000 francs, or $4,000.
But Monte Carlo is well served on the
whole. The chef de partie, who had noticed
that all the heavy betting remained faithful
to rcd. even after it had won five, six seven
times in succession, counted the cards later
on, and found thirty too many. The un-
faithful crOupier was conducted to the d-
rector, and, after being passed through the
third degree, arrested. Brought up before