The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-06-08
YOUTH OU7W|T1'ED
THE Willy GAMBLER.
Made a Bold Play at Right Time
and Won.
AND THEN He DREW OUT
tan Depended on How the Youngster
Played His Hand. and He Showed
Nerve at the Proper
Moment.
AND THEN HE DREW OUT

IT suppose Their are just as many ways
OF playing poker successfully as there
are OF making love- said the gray
haired, young-Iooking man in the club
smoking-roon, .'and l never heard Oh
anybody yet who had discovered the best
way to win woman. I reckon in either
case a good deal depends on what your
hand is, but 1t is beyond question that
good deal more depends on now you
play it. whether it's a Jackpot. or wo-
man you are trying to win.
My own notion is that the man who
keeps his eyes wide open Tor the little
advantages that are TO be had IN the
game and is quick to seize them, will
come pretty near winning over the man
who plays his cards for their actual value
only and resigns his chance too readily
when the odds are against him in the
betting In poker 1t is true enough that
the man who knows when to lay down
Will have the best of it in the long run.
but the surest winner Is the one who
knows when not to lay down.
"a seemingly hopeless situation can
often be carried off successfully il yon
call your adversary's bluff, even though
y
VALUE OF PERTINACITY.
las good an example of the value of
pertinacity in draw poker as ! ever saw
was in a game that was played among
lot of nlillionaires right here In New
York last winter Colonel A. G. Paine
was one of them, and as I have heard
him tell the story himself with great
Elee since then he Will not object to haV-
ing it repeated, more especially as ne
was the man who won out in the face
of oyerwhmeling odds by clever a
play as ] ever saw.
The game. though /: was small one for
the men who were playing. was too big tor
me to be more than an onlooker Tor
don't play serious poker any more, ana
fiye-dollar limit means important money
10 me- OF course, to those wao Wee
PLAYING It meant only odd change. There
were seven at the table, anyhow, SO
there was no room for any of us VINO
were watching the game, even II we had
wanted to play.
1.-THE white chips were % cents. and
the ante was two calls five, but 1hey
PLAYED a round of Jacks on every three
of a kind that was shown and as every
body was playing a wide open game
more for the fun of It than for money,
they were soon making the Jacks up 10
the limit each player chipping 80.
IS LIMIT A TEMPTATION.
"of course. with five-doliar limit, that
made IT a temptation to play whenever
the pot was opened, whether a man hau
ANYTHING in his hand or not Tor unless
there was a raise it only cost iive 10
draw cards, with chance OF Settihs
good pot It was. Ike All nm. saiies'
where the limit Is small practically
erow down every time, and as SAID.
the limit was really small to these
players. a,,,,,, +o-
about an hour. and everybody was
warmed UP to the game SO that 'heS
We're all taking long chances, when the
,,c;dent : mentioned occurred. The luck
had run about even. and there had been
some nots won ON ridiculous drawing,
and as a natural result nobody stayed
ont unless somebody else showed signs
of strength.
at was jack pot of the usual size
when the man on Colonel Halne S ieit
opered it Tor IS. The Colonel was deal
ing. so he opened it under the guns. and
nobody could guess what anybody else
had =.
.one after another they all came in,
hit nobody raised. so that there was
$40 in the pot when the Colonel threw IN
his blue chip
cards. showing that he had only sin
Gle pair to open on. The others drew
rariously, two of them taking one card
each, and one man taking two. but as
there had been no raise before the draw,
II was evident that these three We're
fishing.
THE COLONEL TOOK THREE.
1.-The fifth and sixth men took three,
and the Colonel took three, indicating
that they probably had pairs. though as
the game was running. any one of them
might have been drawing to an ace and
king.
Under the circumstances there was a
fair chance of the openers getting away
with the pot, but unless he had bettered
his pair there was also an excellent. or
rather six chances of his being beaten.
ard naturally he wouldn't care about
betting first in either event. So he threw
IN a. white chip before he looked at his
cards.
Zach of the other players until 1t
came to the Colonel, looked at his cards
carefully and threw them in the discard
nile, and then, and not till then. the Col
onel picked his cards up from the table
and skinned them down carefully. l sat
where I could see his hand. and l saw
that he hadn't bettered his pair of deuces
so / expected naturally that he would
throw them down.
ITO my surprise he hesitated for quite
while I didn't understand it, but afte,
thinking q moment or 81 i SciiSi utt,
that he was doing it to trace the mar
who had opened.
.Of course he couldn't beat openers
and unless he intended bluffing / didn'1
sec why he hesitated unless it was from
rure mischief. The opener hadn't looked
at his draw, though. and it wasn't 8
yer. good opportunity for bluff. ever
n the fve-dol!ar limit with the size o.
the 20. and the wide-open game they
were all playing had not made it almos'
Impossible to carry a bluff through.
.'If he had bluffed. the opener would
surely have called him. even If he hat
not bettered. and IL he had betterec
would be pretty sure to raise back, anc
in either case, would. of course. win thu
pot
.'It is right there that the Colonel made
tho clever play am talking about
Alter studying his cards. as said. HI