Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-02-01
FRUNl.hR GAMBLING
PLAY IN THE DAYS WHEN STUD
POKER WAS THE RAGE.
II Was Game In which There Was
Little or No Chance to Cheat and
out OF which the House Got big
ProIt-Onc Exciting Hand.

You don't see a game of stud very of.
ten nowadays remarked the old time
sport, "but it had its day. In the earlier
times stud poker and faro were about
the only gambling games in the west, and
| think stud poker was played more than
faro because no extensive layout was
needed for stud, as is the case with faro.
"Thcrc have been games of stud poker
running in Kansas City within the past
few years, but | don't know of any now.
The law got after them very hard, and
then the percentage was too big in favor
of the house. The game in its prime was
played where there was licensed gam
bling. Then one man, an employee of
the house, dealt all the time, played a
hand himself and ran the bank as well.
This gave the house a chance to manipu-
late the cards if it could it gave the deal
or the advantage of always playing from
a big stack of chips, and every time a
pair showed up chip went into the hole
in the center of the table. -Four or five
fellows could sit down to a game with 50
apiece, and in a couple of hours all the
money originally in sight had gone into
that hole as percentage. 1t was great
graft" the old sport remarked regret
fully.
THE game OF stud poker" he continued,
was played like any other game of polk
er, so far as the value of the cards is CON
oerned, and the difference was all in the
dealing. The first card was dealt face
down on the table, or buried This was
called the card in the hole Every man
put up his ante after looking at his hole
card If he thought it was good enough.
The next card was dealt face UD, and the
man with the highest card in sight led
the betting, the others staying in or not,
as they saw fit The other three cards
were then dealt, all face up. the man
with the best hand in sight doing the bet
ting after each card was dropped. At
the end the whole thing depended upon
what a player might have in the hole.
\ man with three aces in sight was no
better than the man with three kings, for
the latter might have Il fourth king in the
hole. On the other hand, the holder of
the three noes in sight might have n
fourth in the hole and 'cinch hand
1T was a great game to draw man
on. for if he had a good hole card or
something in sight he hated to let go, 50
if the other fellow was betting pretty
strong on a leading hand it became quite
expensive before the fifth card was dealt
This was n great game for Cinnamon in
the mining camps, and it was queer
crowd at the table you'd sometimes see.
A cowboy or miner or two might be
playing with a Chnar'an, n negro and
a half breed Indian. The soldiers used
to play it great deal in the towns near
the galrisonS.
at was not game among friends: it
was free for all, and any one who could
put mp for n stack of chips could get a
hand. You'd see two or three playing
one minute. and then the table would be
crowded with seven or eight players.
You see, there was no discard or draw,
so the cards would go around five times
for ten players.
"Thcre were some big stakes played
in these games of stud When the whole
thing depended on the hole card, things
used to get pretty exciting at times.
saw Il fellow write bill of sale for 5000
sheep one night when sheep were worth
So a head and make raise with the pa
per. The bluff went. for it was bluff,
but he had n good hand in sight, and it
shook the other fellows nerve.
There wasn't much chance to cheat at
stud on the part of the players because
all the cards laid on the table. and a
man couldn't monkey with them very
easily. There was hard up gambler
dropped into II big house in Butte one
night and bought chips with his last FIVE.
He anted away nearly all of his stack
and was getting desperate when he saw
q chance to slip a card from hand
near by, which had been abandoned. but
in the excitement of the hand had not
been gathered up. lie concealed his
card in his hand and on prctensc of
looking at his hole card looked at both.
1t was the one he needed. His intention
was to slip the first hole card away the
first chance he got. Unfortunately for
him he was playing against wild eyed,
desperate looking chap, who held then,
for the first time that night, the best
hand in sight. This fellow was watch
ing the other players like hawk, and
something in the movement of the hands
of the gambler with the six cards at
tracted his attention. He watched the
other n moment, and then, suddenly ris-
ing in his chair, he drew a big buffalo
ekinnlng knife from his belt and without
warning he pinned that mans hand to
the table. The knife passed through the
back of the gamblers hand. through the
cards underneath and stood quivering
in the wooden table. The victim gave "A
Shrek of agony which brought every one
to his feet In the seconds silence which
followed the first cutlery, the quiet, tense
voice of the man who threw the knife
was heard saying, You'll find six cards
in that hand and he was right, Little
sympathy was wasted on the gambler,
and he was hustled out to find Il doctor
the best he coulu by himself. He was
barred from the tables of the camp from
that night and soon driftcd out Of town.
"rrhe buffalo hunters used to come into
the little towns along the Yellowstone
river in the spring and drink and play
stud until their hard earned money was
gone. While it lasted, times were lively
around the stud tables. The game was
such an apparent good thing for the
house that it led to the first legislation in
the west against gambling law was
passed in Montana making it INSIDE
meanor to play percentage stud. The
law defined the game as being one where
one man dealt all the time and the table
had n hole in it for the percentage. The
gamblers got around the law by letting
the deal go round and letting the man
playing for the house extract the hole
percentage. The doom of stud poker
came when Montana and nearly every
other western state and territory abolish
ed licensed gambling" - Kansas City
Star.
waiting For Things
Ii,on.