The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-17
WHEN TOBETAND WHEN NOT
\ PROBLEM ~ POKER THAT
OUTRANKS ALL OTHERS.
Advantage Of the Last SAY, which May he
shifted by y Raise at Any m -AnA',s's
of the WAY Two Pots We're Contested
-Goos and had play In the Great Games.

All UTDDletllr III poker tnu Wv $500 ."
legion are finally resolved Into the one crue'ai
question, Shall We bel OF lay oo"h' II
must always be remembered that up to the
moment of the call or the SURRENDER "h'ch
decides Tin. ownership Of the poi each feature
| Of the play j. In anticipation OF some iuTther
dev.Ionm.pt Whatever is done before the
draw l. done tentatively. The player either
has enough in his hand TO Justify the risk OF
hi. chips or he believes that he has a chance OF
betterine his hand and that this chance is good
enough. considering the amount IN 'he POI, 10
| Justify "A bet at the percentage offered, And
after the draw no bettor. excepting the player
who has The last say, can know whether The
bet he puts mp will be all he VIII De cailro 10
venture to protect his chance Tor The pot.
This privilege Of the last say IL always liable 10
be transferred from one player TO another by a
raise. Before the draw, and on the first round
of bets utter the draw, provided no one raises.
It belongs To the age. or to the player on the deal
er'S left. an arbitrary arrangement necessary
in order TO preserve the due order OF betting,
but though the age never passes according
to the rules, its value disappears the moment
a raise is made by any player excepting the
first one TO the left Of the age. II remains
true. therefore. that the final say can only be
ndu Nv Ihe ltSt IldNfI " i'u ''N '''' "'
the Others. excepting the man who raised
have had the opportunity TO play or lay down.
II l. ONLY the man who has this last say, there
| fore, who can know whether his bet Is the final
one. II there remains with any one the privt-
lege OF raising, all the others who remain In
must see the raise under compulsion. Obviously
no man can know positively whether he is
going TO win or lose il he bets and on his jndg-
.-t - -,Lvt, tli- yruuh n1astlnn WhanHNpF
the play comes To him depends his success
in poker. IL he holds n royal flush lie may
know that ne canno, !ose. hut he cannot know
| that he will win, since there NAV be a royal
flush ont against him.
II is equally obvious that no positive rule can
BE- laid down hv which n man can determine
positively whether any bet will win. II it
were possible TO do this, poker would no longer
be n game of chance. or, in fact n game In any
sense OF he word. II is entirely possible, how
ever to analyze the playing Of a few sample
hands. and form an opinion of the Judgment
shown by each PLAYER. thus arriving AZ certain
general rules Of value in actual play.
For example. the following hands were held
last week by a party of seven. and the way they
were played was not only interesting. but inSrlc-
tive. Before the draw. 4. who held the age,
had two pairs, aces and tens. Is held "A pair
Of queen. { a four flush Of diamonds, nine,
seven. four and three. u queen high + three
fours, + a pair Of skies and q a pair Of Jacks.
The ante was 10 cents. calling a quarter.
b came in. holding his queens 10 be well worth
q bet considering the possibilities of the draw
c also came in. Had he held the age, no raise
being made before 1t came TO him, he would have
raised on the theory that he had nine chances
In fortv-seven of making a tolerably strong
hand. and. moreover. that the raise would
be likely 10 force some Of his competitors out
thereby decreasing the chances OF hs flush
being beaten In case he should get IL. Sitting
where he did. however, lie considered the
chance of some one else making the raise 10
be fairly good, and his possible hand strong
enough 10 play against any single raise. even
with all seven players in. This theory Of play
would not be- followed, however, by all good
players. II would be equally detensible for
him TO have raised II, since some OF the hve
players yet TO hear from, would be likely 70
drop on, II he raised and The fnsh hr would
hold. even By filling. would hardly be strong
enough for him 10 desire too much competition
The play would be sound cit er way.
ID having no pair amt no prospect or a straight
or u flush. passed on, a. any player OF even
moderate caution would do. + raised it the
limit, which was 80 cents, entirely. Tor the
pnrpbSa of driving the others ont. HIS hand
before the draw was undoubtedly strong. but
The chance ~ is heinz beaten In the draw. If all
should stay IN. was FUZZY equal To- his chance Of
lettering, which he could only do 10y drawing
a fourth four or "A pair of some other
tior.
having only a pair Of skies To draw to. had
either 10 relinuuish his hand or 70 put w 70
cents To- play, wien there was only 81 IS
IN the pot. with TWO players vet 10 hear from
and two more who might possibly raise back
when il came their turn To make good In
stead Of dropping out IL ordinary caution
would have dictated, however, he put mp
his Is tents oi course he had n fair
chance ot making thrce skies, a emotec chance
vi making II full house IN the draw and a still
NOR. remote chance OF making tour skies. As
opposed IA tfeS'' chances there was \ moral GER
iHlnty that the three layers already In had
Al least a. good cards. and probably better
than he held. with q strong pre-umptio that
one Of them had Al least something better than
a pair oi aces, II there had been u large srn
already IN ti. pot, the play might have been
Justified bV the percentage OF the bet, but as
il was II was reckless in the extreme.
G., play ing \ more cautious game, dropped
hi, two lacks. IL. would undoubtedly have
come IN II 1t had hot been for Is raise, since h.
had a fair chance oi making three Jacks, which
would have been n strong enough hand 10 play.
His passing ont. however, was bette play than
II would have been to put up rs cents
against tour hands already in, one OF which ,EI
wHk presumably a strong one. another OF which
~ Wa probably ~ good or better than his
own aud The other two probably az good. More
over. here was only $40 in the por. so that lie
would have got hess than three 10 one odds. md
there were still three chances remaining that
he would be obliged 10 put up more money 10
protect lat, IS cents,
4. having ace, up, came in, In the first place,
II cost him only - cents against the 81 10
in the pot. 80 lhaI his odds were better than
c. for the amount OF his ante il not TO be
rcckoned as "A part of his bot. since that was
irremediably gone, anyhow and secondly he
held a moderately strong hand with four chance,
in fOrty-Srven of making a very strong one.
This hand j. considered ny many players strong
enough Ia justify a second raise, but b and &
were yet 10 hear from on the original raise
one or both Of them would raise. As PLAY,
therefore. IN imply making good was unOues-
fiOuably sound.
II remained for b and e 10 come in on rs
raise, but 4. being a conservative player al all
times, and having had poor luck for the pre-
against a raise that had been seen by two other
players. In this ems" run Of luck il ordinarily
held 10 b. q unsuitable factor In Determining
the play, and while his coming IN, If he had de-
cli.d to play, would not have been open 10
criticism, his passing out was equally good
poker
{. on the other hand. having his four flush
pui MP hi- 80 cents mheSilatingly. and raised Il
again 80 cents. II Will be- observed that his
position ihls time was altogether different from
what IL was when he came 10 originally Then
ne had hN" players Ia hear from with no means
Of Judging their hands. Moreover, there wa,
only 70 cents IN the pot Nov, however,
there was 81. 10 in the pot, which he made
s32i 10y seeing Is raise. His own raise of 80
cents, therefore. NaS good poker. since he had
only three ANTAGONISTS and might hope To force
one or possibly two Oi them ont. He Judged
rs hand Ia II" strong, since he had mad. IN"
| first raise. bat ttought thar i and 4 had come
in hoping 10 better. but having only a prospect
Ia play un. His iudg mcni of the hands was lc-
IuTutp ~ 10 I1DIpupl but lI. hone of forcing