Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-09-02
The List DAYS
Of HARRY ALBRO.
A LITTLE TALK WITH THE FA-
NOUS SPORTING MAN WHO HAS
NeW RETIRED TO SOUTH
ERIN CALIFORNIA.

O1OSL Scl6npUlC poker p1dyel IL on0
world lives retired among the orange
groves of Pomona Valley in Southern
California.
He is one of the scant few profess
sional gamblers that ever got together
q fortune in cards and kept it. He
WAS born in philadelphia in 1888 and
was a famous poker player in Wash
sngton before he was %. He taught
the Prince of Wales the principles OF
poker, and in 1870, when Gen. Pail
Sheridan was in Paris, ne was asked
bY the General Ito inform no less per-
son than Napoleon ILL.,, the mysteries
OF the great American game.
Albro Is in poor health, and with he
fortune saved from the hundreds OF
thousands of dollars that nave passed
through his hands, he has babe fare
well to the green table and the clicking
chips.s He won't even play friendly
games of whist nowadays.
Il learned my first card game III
ago" said Mr.. Albro, as he sat beneath
the shade of an orange tree and lnhal-
ed the odor of clumps OF roses. l
showed an aptitude Tor cards, ana
when went to Washington to be
mage in the House Ga place secured
for me by Thaddeus Stevens) l saw
the finest players OF poker and faro
there were anywhere. l have watched
J.. @. Lamar, Stephen A. Douglas, Ben
TftIl and Samuel j. Randall play poker
many a time.
Eyes, Thave laid by some money, but
II + had never had a good sister, who
made It point to beg me every time
she saw me through some years to In
geSt my earnings in real estate and
take a solemn vow never to sell or
mortgage any part Of it, | should have
been dead broke, like every man have
ever met around the green cloth.
II suppose that superstition will al
ways be the chief characteristic OF
! gambler. It's part of a sports life as
argued that was above such nonsense,
but since I've retired from the profess
sion and for the first time in my life
begun to look at problems OF life from
the standpoint of legitimate business
man, l see how whole lot OF super
stitions possessed me and didn't know
ii. The most common superstition
among all professional gamblers is that
ut is bad luck to win the first hand,
and that, sure as fate, the winner or
the first pot in poker will lose the
game.
For years I've kept out of the first
jackpot in the game TO the best OF my
ability, and when I've been forced In
it and won, I've thrown UP my hand
for half an hour or SO, until the bad
luck has gone away. A common super
Stition of gamblers in the far West,
but not in the East, is that the mixing
OF bank notes or any form OF paper
money with piles of gold and silver In
yites ill luck. l knew a man, Harry
Parker, the greatest faro dealer, by the
way, ever known in Helena, Mont, to
quit the game for good when he saw
that some one about the table had
carelessly mixed the paper and coin
stakes.
IT krsew that.I myself had six days
run of wonderful luck knocked silly
west once Dy Il IOOl WbO pilri d oSsTOh VI
golden eagles on top of some paper bills
at my side. The most common supersti-
ton the world over-you see admit that
it is a superstition, but believe in it just
the same-is that turning around in ones
chair reverses the luck. This belief ex-
tends TO the position of the seats, some of
which IN a long game of poker become
known as lucky seats and others as I'M
lucky seats. 1t IS common for one player
to ask another to change seats with him.
I've seen many g. man pay money, $40 or
500, for an exchange of seats in a big
poker game.
Everyone knows how some gamblers
will kiss a chip before they put 1t in
pot or toss it on a faro board to WOO the
Goddess Of Fortune to that bet. Hun
dreds of men believe that an occasional
cash bet instead of chips invites luck, and
I've known even so intelligent man as
Senator Wolcott, of Colorado, to believe
that he brought success TO his play at a
critical moment by putting golden coin on
the table when the others in the game put
up chips"
What was the biggest game you ever
saw, East or West?' Albro was asked.
i OD L can answer LIlat quick, SAID AL
bro, for ii was a wonderful game in
Virginia City, New, in 1870, when the
Comstock mines were turning out profits
of $4,000 day for Nackey, Fair, Flood
and o. Brien, and gold dollars almost roll
ed in the streets. 1 was called over to
Gentry & Chittenden's late one evening
to see a stiff game among the big bugs OF
the Comstock lode, and 1 wouldn't have
missed that game for small fortune.
Gentry g. Crittenden ran the most prod
igal gambling house ever known on this
continent, and I've been in all of them
from Mexico to Vancouver and Boston TO
Honolulu
"This~tirm every month set aside S. 900
for table expenses alone, for wine flowed
as freely as spring water at Saratoga.
A bettor could not ask if there was a
limit to the game. A sport who had sand
and cash enough might bet $4,000 on a
single card. The banks hackers counted
their millions as Eastern gameSers
counted their thousands"
Monarchs az Athletes.
The German Emperor is an adept
at tennis, having his private court,
where he practices assiduously. At
fencing, too he is no mean exponent.