The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-11

hut goes right along and makes the
bluff as If he has it. If he is called
he rnurmufs AL red" and casts his
hand face upward on the table IN
bunch, holding, however, the NTH ana
dead card back in his hand. His part
ner reaches over, with a heart con-
cealed in the palm of his hand, race
inward. and, with the remark, lets
see what you have here" spreads out
the hand leaving, Of course, the nee
essary fifth heart. 1t is such a nat
ural play that only the wise ones 1ol-
low it.
These gamblers have discarded the
hold-out machine with the gooseneck
running down the sleeve and operated
by the knees, so popular in the West
ern states. So, too, do they regard
taking the bottom card, the dealing
of seconds, and other simple but very
common methods of cheating.
won't Play Fair.
The talent know these amateurs are
easy for them, even in a square game
but they won't take an even chance.
The best one of the ordinary players
in these boat games can get is the
worst of it, but they get wise very
slowly, and seldom come over the
same route twice. Most of these card
sharps are Americans, but the young
Englishnen and other tourists are
anxious to be initiated into the mystic
ries of draw poker. and they are not
hard losers. Only when the cheats
get desperate and cold deck some man
for a large amount does trouble follow
The cheats understand this point, ana
seldom resort to it. 1t is the rule they
observe never to beat a big hand for
producer" but to give him a run for
his money. Let him think he is wise
player and Just win what he has by
the time the trip is concluded. That is
their game, and with their various de-
vices it is not usually necessary to use
a cold deck. The novice might re-
member this point. He is not being
cheated, as a rule, when he loses on
four of a kind. This is too coarse for
smooth cheats to be guilty of. Only
in rare instances is this done. They
regard it as bad for the green poker
player as for the faro bank dealer who
is dealing brace bank to whipsaw his
victims. 1t gets the money too fast.
But when these sharpers note some
greeny who has plenty of money and
will not lose very much except on set
of fours, they prepare the cold deck
which is most feared and disliked by
professionals because of the chances
of exposure and detection. The cheats
have cards similar to those in use on
the steamers. They see to that all the
time for an emergency. Noting the
position of the man they have conclud-
ed to cheat heavily. one of the cheats
excuses himself for a minute, steps into
the toilet room, and arrangeS f1Ve
hands so that their intended victim Will
get four kings and some other player
a full. he reSerVing for himself or part
ner the top hand-four aces. When 1t
is coming the deal of the man who has
the deck in his pocket he substitutes
it for the one on the table that is not
in use. Sometimes they are in league
with the waiter who is serving the par
ty with drinks. He is given the crook
ed deck and instructed by signal when
to come in with his tray or drinks. The
hand holding the tray carries the cold
deck Thus concealed, the waiter rests
the tray on the table over the deck,
and, picking it up, leaves the substl-
tuted cards. Then the deal is made;
the close player sees a chance to clean
out the game. The play back comes
before the draw and afterward he gets
the double barrel" and too late dis
covers that he has not got the top
hand.
Turning the Tables.
Sometimes the cheats gets the dou-
BILE cross from the waiter, and that is
exactly what happened in big game
on one of the boats out of the 500 the
other day. They arranged with a
waiter to cold deck particularly
green but wealthy player. The cheats
borrowed capital on their diamonds
from the captain in order to have a
stake heavy enough to make a kill
ing" The waiter told the intended
victim, and suggested that they turn
the table on the crooks. 1t was final
Iy agreed. The victim was to have
four queens beat with four aces, and
the waiter received the fixed deck. He
changed the victims hand and placed