The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-08-02
NRAW POKER HAS
~ AN UGLY SIDE.
A Club Game That Went Wrong,
With a Lawyer and Bank
Teller as Victims.

said the gray-haired, young looking man in
the club smoking room, that there is an
ugly side to the game Of draw poker The
mere fact that somebody has to lose every
dollar that somebody else wins at the game
does not impress me as being all-impor-
tant. The loss Of money, in itself, Ia no such
terrible thing as II sometimes seems. 1t is
true enough that the game il a sort OF dog
eat"dog pastime, and nobody can win any
thing without making somebody else suffer,
but that is no worse than thousands Of other
things that happen every day in somebody
experience, and as each player has, at least
in theory, an equal chance with every other
player, I am not whit concerned about
that side Of It.
What does get on my nerves at times
is the fact that there Is fascination about
the game that to some men proves morally
fatal. L suppose If man should forswear
everything that il ruinous to other people
he would have to give up pretty much
everything that makes life worth living,
since excess in almost anything means
death to some. But without going to ex-
tremes of that sort, must say that con-
slider 1t just as great wrong to sit down
TO play with man who Ia afflicted with the
poker disease as it IL to invite a chronic
drunkard to have glass Of wine. | don't
think l am a fanatic in any way, but would
not do either one OF those things know
ingly.
There was thing that happened in
club l belonged to. some years ago, that
fixed that rule of conduct for me. 1t
wasn't place for heavy play. In fact,
there were good many members who
didn't play cards at ALL and there had been
some talk of prohibiting all games for
money, but there we're a few Of us who
enjoyed small game and we kept right on
playing and letting the others do the talk
ing. which find IL the best way to do in
club where there ia any agitation of that
sort going on.
We didn't gamble TO any alarming ex-
tent A dollar limit was about as high az
the game usually ran. and there wasn't
man among us that seemed likely to come
to grief over that sort Of game, especially
as the same men were playing right along,
and the losses and winnings came pretty
near evening up in the long run. Of course,
a man might run considerably behind for a
time, but nobody had done so without
hitting streak of luck afterward that
would make up for his losses II did not
occur to me, and don't think il did to any
body in our set, that any one OF us was
playing for the sake of making money. /
played for the fun of the thing, and sup
posed they were all doing the same
Very likely they were, at first but after
this had gone on for some months, possibly
year. it was noticeable that some of the
men we're getting keener and keener about
playing They no longer had any use for
the club excepting as a cardroon, and they
spent lot more time at the game than was
good for any man who had business to
attend to-
1T didn't seem to be anybody's business,
though, to interfere with them. At least,
It wasn't the part Of fellow club member.
and the game went right on. More than
that, we got to playing table stakes more
often than we did limit game, some of the
men asserting, and l think with perfect
Justice, that the table stakes game was the
more scientific and gave really conserva-
tive player better chance to guard his
game, But while l am satisfied that this
il true, it proved to he true also that it
gradually resulted in our playing consid-
erably larger game. II had not been usual
for any one player to lose or win more than
$40 or $685. at sitting. but at table stakes we
won and lost four or five times as much. Still,
the thing evened itself up, pretty much az
it had before, and there didn't seem to be
any particular cause for alarm.
Among the players who were really
growing infatuated with the game TO a
dangerous extent, though we did not know
it at the time, were young fellow named
Ben jerome, who had been practising law
for four or five years, and Jim Edwards
who was a paying teller in downtown
bank. They tell me that bank employees
are carefully watched by detectives now
adays, and that man who plays cards
for money, even in his own club. il not
likely to hold his place long in any bank,
but it didn't seem to be 40 in Edwardss
case. tie was looked on as tolerably GER
tain to be financial magnate in time. and
Jerome was expected to be prominent
at the bar. having already a practice that
gave him good income for a single man.
~There was no indication that either
Of them was really neglecting his business,
but it came to be true that both were
to be found at the club every night.
and always playing poker if there were
enough others on hand to make up game.
And it was noticeable that they were the
two who were always boosting the game
higher and higher whenever they caught
the opportunity.
What we didn't know until afterward
was that they we're both getting into the
habit Of playing bank after the game
broke up at the club, which was commonly
not much after midnight. And not being
lucky at faro, or perhaps being up against
a brace game. which was more probable,
they were losing everything they won at
poker and not recouping on their poker
losses You may say that the poker game
had nothing TO do with that, and possibly
it hadn't, but have my own ideas about
il.
"The climax came in six-handed game
one night in which / was one of the players
These two were sitting in, az usual and
the other players were wine merchant
named Zimmerman. a partner of his named
Dorner and a travelling man, who wasn't
often with us, named Phillips.
ut should be remembered that no.
body in the club excepting Jerome and
Edwards knew anything about either of
them being in trouble. fancy that they
knew how it was with each other, but the