The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-07-20
kings.

ne would cast ABOUT Tor the next best
thing to be done, and there was only
one thing for him to do, which was to
offer to divide the pot
lie picked up his cards, and, finding
that he had not bettered did precisely
what the colonel had hoped for. Nat
urally, when he proposed the division,
the colonel accepted promptly. and
gathered in the $25 he had won by call
ing a 25-cent bet with nothing in his
hand. The opener, under the rules,
showed his cards, and we all saw that
he had jacks only, which was the
chance the colonel had reckoned on.
No Display of Nerve.
'"The colonel threw his cards on the
table, face downward, but there was a
quiet smile on his face, and one of the
other players noticing it, demanded
that the hand be shown. As it was a
called hand, this had to be done of
course, under the rules, and there was
general laugh at the opener.
Among professionals the play would
nave been recognized and appreciated
Instantly, but there was in this party a
lot of explanation and a lot of chatting
before they all saw what pretty play
| it was.
There was no particular display of
nerve in the call, for it didn't require
nerve, but it did show a good under
standing OF the game, clear thinking
and pertanacious determination to
hold on to the last desperate chance,
and those are among the qualifications
that go to make the winners in draw
poker.
TT is by no means seldom, though,
that 1T takes all these, and a great
amount of nerve in addition, to call a
bluff. l have heard and read lot of
stories about two players raising each
other back and forth again and again,
when neither of them had anything
worth betting a single chip on, and
about pair of deuceS or ten high, or
some other absurdity scooping the pot,
when it came to a showdown.
Now, these stories may be all true.
There is no limit to the variety of fool
ishness that can be exercised in draw
poker by people that seem to be trying
to lind out how many kinds of idiot
they can be, but it is safe to say that
no poker player is going to stand a Sc
ries of raises and come back with
raise himself, even in limit game, I'M
less he has some sort of hand to bet
on. And the reason is very simple.
He may be satisfied in his own mind
that the other man has very weak
hand, but if his bluff has been met by
more thon one counter bluff in return,
he knows, or ought to know, that the
least the other man can do is to call
And no man goes on raising against a
certain call when he has nothing in his
own hand, if he knows enough to fall
down when he slips off his feet.
When You Are Up Against IL.
''The real nerve in calling is shown
when you are up against it good and
hard, and the other fellows hand looks
as if 1T might very possibly be good.
and the money it takes to call is all
you have
Il saw case of that sort in a rail-
fr1i in in wi
that convinced me of the foolishness of
playing cards with strangers and at
the same time compelled my admira-
ton for the young fellow whose nerve
saved him.
He didn't know how to play so very
well, for / saw him lay down hands
that were worth calling on two or three
times, and more than once he took
chances that were foolish And the
very fact that he held his cards so that
L could see them showed that he wasn't
in the same class with the men he
played with.
"One, at least, was a professional,
and the two others may have been cat
tlemen They were playing table stakes
and they had each shown up a hundred
to start with, but was sure from what
little knew of the young fellow, that
$500 was pretty nearly the length of
his string. He-was a clerk in a country
store where I sold goods occasionally,
and was sporty sort of a youngster
in the village, but not strong enough
for his company.
The play was not particularly hard
though, and he hadn't been hurt very
badly when he got his chance and
showed me that he had, at least, the
markings of player.
Youngster Against Professional.
1.-THE professional was the only one in
the party who seemed disposed to press
the play, and he, I suppose. had sized
the others up pretty we'll. Three or
four times he had made what looked to
me like outrageous bluffs, but none OF
them had been called, and he was the
only winner.
1.-The others had won occasionally,
but lost more, and the youngster had
only about $40 in front of him when
Jackpot was opened.
II was 81 pot, and had been sweet
ened up to $40. One of the cattlemen
dealt, and the other opened it for the
size of the pot.
The gambler sitting next made IL
$40 to draw, and the youngster put up
MS $50 without a word. | reckon he
mad seized the gambler for bluff, and
he had four flush with an ace and
jack.
THE next man laid down and the
opener made good. We found after
ward that he had aces
In the draw he took three cards, and
looked at them before betting. The
gambler took one and let it lie on the
table face downward. The youngster,
of course, took one.
The opener bet a white chip, and
the gambler, still without looking at his
draw, showed his whole pile forward,
giving the impression that he either
had two pairs or three of a kind, I'M
less he was bluffing. in which case, of
course, he wanted the others to think
he had them.
He had noticed the youngster-'s
fondness for fiushes, and took chances
on his having filed The face of there
being a one-draw card to hear from
however, was an indication that he
might be bluflng, and the youngster
was bright enough to see H.
He had skinned his hand down, and
found he had made a pair Of jacks. OF
course, it was not hand to call on, un-
less the other man was bluffing but if
he should call it was morally certain
that the opener would lay down unless
he had bettered.
Gambler Fairly Caught.
81 am free to say that 1 would have
dropped it if I had been in his place.
but the youngster studied awhile, and
then said, L will call you for my pile
at the same time pushing up his $50.
The opener dropped out, naturally
enough, and it was a showdown.
The gamblers face never changed,
but he picked up the card he had
drawn and looked at it carefully he
fore speaking. Then he looked at his
other cards, and saids
The best I can And is a pair of