The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-11-30


won't play if there is any man at the lay
out wearing any lind of diamond Rather
than buy stack and Ill in when there's
diamond in light on the person Of any
player al the table, he'd pick up his doll
rags and 90 horne or to some other place.
He can't Explain his aversion % diamonds
and faro bank IA "a combination, but he q
got it, and he SAYS he cant help II. He
often wears diamonds himself, but never
when he starts out to play bank.
1T has got 80 now that the fellows around
the able-they pretty near all know him
smile when they see him come in and pro-
coed TO take of their gig-lamps without
| word. only exchanging indulgent glances
| with each other The game suspends while
they twist their rings OF their fingers and
| undo their studs and tuck EN- away In
| their pockets.
The man with the PECULIARLY is a good
| fellow, and they're willing to pamper him
| in this little way Strangers, too, al the
table will do the sane when the things
| explained TO them. ! often have had TO
| lean over to a new man and an unknown
| one to me and say to him:
Pal, don't take il to heart, but that
| got the bug that his luck is on the glin
| when there's rock on anybody around
| the table. He's good people, and I'd take
| 1t kindly If you'd just pull that sinner OF
your finger while he's playing and tuck It
| away in your paiam's.'
A man addressed in this wsy'll nearly
| always respect the superstition OF fellow
! PLAYER and lie agreeable about it.
! OLce not long ago, however, a hard loser
| with a sore head 10 whom put the request
| ranigged over it, and | Just tipped the
| wink to the manager and he understood
| and went down the line 10 another plant
| for his evenings amusement, | am glad
| to say that ] ct $500 Of the unCb lying
| chaps coin be ore turning the box for the
| right. and had to stake him to ten-spot
| for EXPENSES until morning.
| Most OF the players here are regulars
| who've been coming for quite a stretch OF
! years. and they've got used to certain seats
| at the table and want thee seats all the
| time. This, of course, Is often out OF the
| question. owing to the introduction into
the game of new men.
when a regular drops in and finds his
scat pr, enpted by a stranger he scowls
| and m lmbles and refuses TO be comforted
| It's iule TO point out to other tables where
seats at the same Interpretations are empty.
| They want the regular table and the regular
| seat, and, in many cases, the regular chair
itself that they've been used to, and they
sulk If they cant be accommodated.
| a contractor and builder who comes
along here every once in while has got a
: queer habit He always keeps cases for
! himself, in very neat strokes. with a blue
pencil, and he keeps all Of his case cards.
! When he's through for the evening he
tuck Ike his filled up cards into his pockets
and carries them away with him He's
| been doing that TO my own knowledge for
eight years now. What on earth he does
/ it for IL beyond mo,
! Il asked him about il one night and he
! only smiled and shook his head and famed
/ the question. Whether he's trying to frame
| up book on the maturity Of chance based
I on the cards-the ace having come out
right so many thousands Of times in so
! many deals, and wrong 20 many other
| thousands Of times, and 20 on-is a prob
| lem.
He's got one case-card that would be
worth framing, though. II happened about
/ two years ago, and il showed the ten-spot
! TO have won seventeen straight times,
! which il about equivalent TO getting the
! thirteen trump> in game of whist, or
nearly so.
Nine lucky players out Of ten will i'm
mediately froth at the mouth and cash in
when other PLAYERS al the table start in to
| follow their plays, They have firmly
| fixed belief that as soon as even one other
! bank player begins to string along on their
plays. their luck shakes them.
| As a matter ~ fact. they've got grounds
! for Welding 10 this kind of a bug, for during
| all the wears that I've been sitting on this
! side of the table I've always noticed that a
mans bank luck Is pretty quickly tapped
when other fellows butt in TO try 10 share il :.
"On the other hand. some Of the SWEETEST
| faro buckers in the world don't mind II
! little BIZ If the whole plant essay to swing
| in behind his procession and bank their
checks up alongside his on the cards. Pat
! SheSiv, man with some sort of a mental
faculty in faro playing that is little short Of
/ intuition. doesn't care a bean If everybody
in the room follows him He only warns
| them pleasantly that he's always found that
| 10 ba bad job, both for the original lucky
PLAYER and his followers, and then goes
! ahead, b"aming, as usual
But no ordinary rules Of luck appear to
hold good when Pats PLAYING bank. He's
| a citizen without a superstition in his head
himself, and a faro fatalis' IL that doesn't
! sound paradoNiral | mean 20 say that its
his idea that when you're going to win
you're going TO win, and when you re going
To lose. lose YOU do
That's as far a. his superstition goes
Nothing ever rattles him in a game. and it
wouldn't bother him if every other man
[ seat ID at the layout was crosS-eyed
There are plenty Of PLAYERS, too, who
get sore and hustle To cash in when they
find that there's another man AT the table
engaged in coppering his bets H. ~
sents the coppering as sort OF reflection
bad enough To fight the bank itself but 10
have another mans luck pitted against his
own is too much of "A handicap.
This is unreasonable, and a mark of
nervousness characteristic Of poor player.
chap VINO coppers another mans bets
AZ faro table generally engages in the
trick only out Of "A spirit Of whimslctlness,
Nevertheless. il j. the modern rule for the
dealer to stop man doing thar II he makes
the thing persistent nd annoy- the other
PLAYER
-Four out Of five bank buckers .ide-step
AT sitting down AT a layout when they sea
man with glasses or srecteCles in the
game. This bank superstition dates back
way beyond my time. and I've never bAen
able to get at the bottom Of II.
The four-eyed man is looked upon as
! dead certain hoodoo for all hands by the
! bred-in-the- bone buckers, and few Of them
will sit into a game ~ all with one Of them
And yet | have dealt EN- out for many
man wearing glasses or spectacles who
! forced me 70 take To the brush after night
| Of scientific play
-One of them was a former United State.
Senator from the Far West He wore eve-
glasses, and il there was any hoodoo in II
il was for the bank
1T happened down AT Long Branch,
and when he had sliced of a little chunk
assaying about &35 600 worth in two nights
play he pulled of his glasses, wiped them
carefully on a silk handkerchief tucked
them away in his waistcoat pocket, an Il
said that he thought he d had about enough
| diyersiop for the sDaaou,"