El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-11-17
POKER sUPERsTITIONS.
Some That Are Held by Men VINO
Play the Game

"A man who plays poker can heip
being superstitious. declared an oiu
club man the other evening IN any
prolonged game such extraoi uina.'
streaks of good and bad luck are .e
tain tn occur such strange coinciueh
COS will take place in the draw ana
N much apparent fatalism will attacn
tn certain cards that player VIII
loot around instinctively for some
r,,acot mr. boodoo to hold responsible
for the phenomena The commences
.uperstition, ! suppose. is that the ioot
of a spectator on the rung OF one
chair brings bad fortune CONFESS
cans stand it. Not long ago ! was
nI.vinR in a friendly game at a nshins
club on the lakeside. when man sat
douyn behind me and rested his loot
c,reIessly on my chair Instantly luck
laft me and after | had lost hve or
six good pots in succession got ues-
peate and titled forward IN the nope
of shaking the fellow on Thereupon
he removed his foot from the rung ana
r,,t n ON the floor l glanced around.
and seeing il directly beneath the rear
chair leg decided to take anorripie
revenge So I settled back and came
down square on his toes. but TO my
amusement he never turned a hair-
He was chatting with somebody at the
time and seemed to be totally uncon-
scious of the fact that the chair lew
was resting on his pedal extremity
with a pressure of about zoo POUNDS
TO the sauore inch That uncanny
episode made me so nervous ! quit
the game Later on, l learned that ne
had a cork foot Another queer thing.
tbeold club man went on, rs the way
a player will attribute changes In luck
to the most grotesque and outlandisn
incidents Years ago friend OF mine
a veteran river captain, was one OF
poker party in a hotel at Hot springs
He was losing steadily and glanced
around sIyly to find a mascot A gen
tleman wearing very long rrocK Goa.
was sitting near him with MS Dack
turned and the captain quietly picked
ND one O fthe flowing coat tails and
tucked the corner Under his leg he
did So on the theory well known 10
confirmed poker players that some
outre act will change the run OF the
cards As chance would have IL. ne
Immediately began to win and was on |
the high tide of success when the other l
man started to get up. Hold on! ex-
claimed the captain, clinging like grim |
death to the coat tail. for heavens \
sake. don't take away my mascot But /
confound it, sir replied the other. |
when the situation was explained. do
YOU expect me to sit here all night so
you can keep my coat tail under your
lep?' bright idea struck the captain |
III tell you what I'll do he said, I'll
buy your coat. What do you want for
it, a hundred dollars answered the
stranger. All right said the captain
handing over the money. now slip out
of il as easy as you can Next morn
ing he told me that the deal had netted |
him $3.50 profit.
Out in Arkansas" continued the
story teller. the throwing OF a match /
stump or a half-burned paper cigar /
lighter under aplayer's chair is sup
posed to be a hoOdoO of deadly type
An ex-judge of the supreme court told
me once that no man had ever been
known to fill a bob-tailed flush while
seated over a charred match. L don't
pretend to account for it. sir" he said.
it is simply one of those mysterious
laws of nature that are beyond human
ken The way to remove the hoodoo.
according to experts. is to pick up the
partially consumed fragment. burn II,
completely and rub the ashes on the
head of the individual who deposited
il under the chair This ceremony
generally requires an assistant to hold
the other fellow. Cats and dogs cut
a largs figure in poker superstition.
but opinions vary so widely that no
rule can be laid down Some hold. for
instance that the appearance of a cat
is assure omen of good luck. while 9TH
ers believe the exact reverse. i know
an irascibie old physician who has an
absolute horror Of the animals. One
night last spring he was playing a lit
tie game of draw at a mountain resort
in Tennessee when a portly German
strolled into the room and took a seat
in one corner. Directly afterward the
doctor was beaten twice in succession
On good hands. The second time he
ost he wheeled around abruptly and {
.iared at the stranger. What Is your
name. sir he demanded. fiercely. :
Katz,' replied the astonished German.
I knew it, exclaimed the doctor and
talked out of the room Almost ev- G
ny old poker player has some pet su- E
,erstititon of his own that he is gen. q
rally ashamed of and tries to observe
N the sly. I used to play occasionally
nth an insurance man who would in
rariably slip a ring of his left middle =
niger and transfer it to the other hand
'efore beginning the game. He had
one that one night years before and
ron some extraordinary amounts of
money and the incident gave birth to
he ceremony. Another old crony had
pair Of lucky shoes and insisted he b
ould win In no others They became
o shabby in time that he kept them o
the club and would change just be- =
ORE he sat down to play. One evening
e became disguised with streak OF
ad luck. and, swearing that the shoes
ad suddenly turned into hoodoos, he
brew the mout of the window. They
II an Italian candy vendor on the top
Z the head and instantly the fellow
cyan to howl and talk about a damage 81
nit My friend gave him $50 bill as d