The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-09-09
Big Difference When the Bet
ting Is Free Or Restricted.
GAME FOR EXPERTS
WILD RAISES DANGEROUS UN-
LESS PLAYER rs EXPERIENCED
(Chicago Inter Ocean.l

derstand the philosophy of the game. and
not merely 70 dabble in it as an amuse-
ment.
Inc term limit. applied 70 poker, means
simply that no single bet can DC made OF
a greater amount than is agreed upon at
: the beginning OF the sltunS- IL Indy VI
/ ten happen that the player who desires 10
remain in win be compelled TO put up a.
one time two, three or four times the
amount of the limit in order tc De emit
/ tied to a chance for the pot in tEe snow
down. And il may happen that he VIII
have to do this more than once, but the
reason is that he has either to throw
down his cards or meet two or three or
more single bets at once
To illustrate: Suppose that seven play
erS all have drawn cards 1t IS A hrst
that amount raises 10 cents { has.
therefore. TO pay 20 cents for a snow,
which he does. but he also raises II 10,
making 80 cents which d must nut uD if
he desires to bet at all If then he raises
and E does the same, II VIII cost r %
cents for his show 1t IS entirely posi-
bic, however, that he may raise in turn,
and that G will find il necessary TO put
up 90 cents or else drop out If he also
has confidence in his cards he may make
his bet 20 cents, although the limit has
not been removed and is still fixed at 10
cents He has made the largest bet pos
si5le with that limit and that number of
players in the game, and n, having next
say, viii be obliged TO pay O. cents 10
remain in, which Is the largest sum he
can be called on to pay In. 1t Is 10 De
remembered. however lhAt ne Is hoI r.
quired to pay II: No one Is ever oblged
to bet a single chip in poker if he prefers
TO drop out He may, however, have 70
bet with each player In the game the
full amount of the limit or else throw
down his cards 1t Will be seen, there
fore, that G'S bet of 20 cents consists or
seven distinct bets, one with each of his
antagonists who have already put their
money I'D for him to cover, and one IN
which he takes the initiative, and which
will win the pot for him if none OF the
others shall cover his money
Following this up, it will be seen that
each player in turn must put UP 40 cents
as long as each one retains enough con-
tidence in his hand to bet the limit on IT
when MS turn comes Ihere IS no recofu,
so far as the writer knows, OF seven
players all raising in turn for more than
a single round, but there is no reason why
seven hands good enough TO suggest such
play should not be held in any deal The
chance of its being an actual occurrence,
oDever. is practicaIly nil The hands
would have TO be remarkably good TO IN
duce any but the most reckless players
to continue to raise while six other play
ers were all raising, and seven remark
ably good hands are not to be looked Tor
in one deal.
The limit. therefore, fixes the amount
which each man may bet on his own mi
tiative when his turn comes to bet. but
before he can make a bet OF his own he
must cover that of each one of the play
ers before him VINO has made one When
a limit is fixed. however. IL dlSpOSeS OF
one objection that is sometimes made TO
unlimited game This objection Is that
d man may be forced at any time to lay
down hand that would probably win, or
else TO bet much more on II than MS JUG
ment approves. Those WHO make this OBJ
3
known to make it, seem to forget that
the man who forces them to such an al
teLndIINe u oIdg Ing 2oh 4 VI ny : noLS
highest type, and that the game Is con-
tinually Offering them opportunities TO
do the same thing, providing they have
the courage TO play aSSresslVely
1t can hardly be said that the most ag-
gressive player is the most successful
though the aggressive policy Is probao bly,
is small, but it is true that the limit IS
a serious hindrance to that species of
I rl1Q MI &c hgl cd
the personal strength of opposing play
erS rather than on the actual strength
of the cards in ones hand In its true
significance. therefore. the limit IS a
safeguard to those who lack the requisite
perts and while it is invaluable in this
regard. it totally prevents the kind of play
in which the expert delights For this
reason those who are learning the game
and who are at all concerned in regard to
sitting Should never play in a game in
which the limit is not fixed at a sum
! small enough to keep their losses within
bounds. No positive statement can be
/ in a given time, even in a, limit game,
/ but a fair estimate can be made
Limit on Average Loss
! Tt is reckoned that in a four hours sit
ting with seven players in a game no
, player is at all likely to win or lose more
than a hundred times the amount of the
limit 1t is true that an extraordinary
run of good or bad luck may cause these
( figures TO seem small. A PLAYER however.
who should win more than 800 in four
/ hours in dollar-limit game would be
/ entitled TO consider his luck extremely
| remarkable, while he who should lose
more than 800 would he considered eth
er an extremely poor player or else a most
miSerably unlUcky one
There are instances on record in which
! even $50 times the limit has been Won or
/ lost by a single player within the time
I mentioned, but they are referred to with
establishment and always attributed to a
run of luck which is not to be looked for.
except at rare intervals. The highest
( winning or loss that is to be expected,
according to the law of averages. by any
one player in seven would probably be
/ from forth TO fifty times the liTnit-pos-
| Sibly less than that-while it is extremely
/ common to find at the end of the game
/ that nobody has won or lost ten times
/ the limit.
The beginner. therefore. or he whose
in playing what may be called poker of
: the more advanced kind, may easily cal
culate what sort OF game II IS safe for
him to play by setting aside the sum he
I is willing to lose at single sitting for
/ the chance of making as much. and then
playing with a limit of 1 per cent or not
more than per cent, of that sum
But while this is "A DraisewOrthy and
even a necessary precauuon for the play
er whose inexDerience or lack of means
makes him tinaid. he must remember tina [
he IS by no means likely. to learn TO play
good game of poker in a limit game
The most he can hope to do by playing
thus is to become thoroughly familiar
with the rules of the game and the run
of the cards, and to attain a. measureab BILE
degree of confidence In his own play.
If. after having done all this he shall
come to consider himself a fairly good
player and shall desire to learn more of
what poker really is. the best plan is 10
set aside a sum he is willing to risk and
sit in at a table-StakeS game His pre-
Vious training will be sufficient so far as
il goes. but he will have to reconstruct
his estimates in betting. or, rather, to
form estimates on the basis of entirely
different relations between the betting
and the cards in hand. The system is so
radically different that he will ind the
bets commonly made in the tabIe-stakes
game to be entirely disprOpOrtiOnate TO
those which would be discreet in the
small limit game.
Small and Big Games.
1t will be observed. again. that a dis
tlncton IS implied between the game with
small limit and the same with a LARGE
one 1t Is not an arbitrary distincfion
Tor the moment the limit is fixed an n
iarger amount than would naturally t,a
Nentured blind on a small hand no onno
/ SlUlon having developed. that nlornenr fha
character OF the game changes In All
limit games the tendency with most nlaI--
ers IS 10 make the usual bet equal 10 the
limit Where the limit is large eDo,1oh
70 De considered important money thee
comes q certain elasticity in the baffins
which gives some variety 10 the osr, .
though not enough to make it reseTof1fs
the table-sJakes play. There are SOM
! players in most games who will be- fbe
limit nearly always, either as an attemnt
at bluff or from Impotence OF the 49,
restraint they h = "a