The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-06-29

GERS The producer is the man who
makes money by some other means
than gambling. Sometimes we call
them suckers. Some producers be-
come gamblers. but until they have
| fOresWOrn all other means OF llVeil-
| mood they are outsiders and cannot
hope TO learn the tricks of the profes-
sion.
No Honest Gambling.
Il have been a gambler nearly all
my life. and | will say lOW that the
! honest gambler has never been bora.
1t is impossible for him TO be honest.
Times come when he does not cheat,
but it is for lack of opportunity. We
are out to win 1t is our business to
win. Gambling is all chance TO the
honest man. We have to eliminate
chance as far as possible if We are
to make a livelihood out Of it.
All successful gamblers make a
business OF it. Take my own case. |
don't drink-never was intoxicated in
my life. | needed my wits with me.
| Moreover, [ am a specialist. Draw
poker is my game The others can
play the horses, buck faro or roulette,
but | made up my mind that II |
mastered poker must devote my at
| tention to that game and no other. II
| | had devoted the attention, the brains
and the energy TO some other calling,
| might have been a millionaire. But
have done fairly we'll as il is.
Let me tell you what work is in
yOved OF course | had to learn 10
play the game. That sounds easy
when boys pick it up in few nights.
| learned more than the value Of
| fushes. full houses and tours. |
| learned when to Law down a good
hand. when TO bluff. when to play my
hand pat when a pair of deuces would
have beaten it. | studied men. | knew
/ rhp meaning the slightest tWitCh
Of an { brow. no matter how i'm
perturabIe ~ opponent was. | learn
ed to make ~ ny mind to raise or lay
! down when the slightest hesitation
meant going out and hunting man
| to stake me to enough to buy chips
! for another game. | had to be bold
enough to cheat when the slightest
| tumble would have meant exposure
and distraction | played in "a gen
! tleman's game.
There is no such thing as a gen
! tlemen's game unless you know the
| history of every man at the table
and even then it isn't For nearly
! forty years | have played. | have be
! longed to some swell clubs. Of course
| | have cheated | could not have won
| enough TO pay my dues regularly ii
| | had not | did not win all the time.
! That would not have been wise. But
/ | lost to the right men. They were
not cOnfederates. for | had none. But
| | lost to them. and when complaints
were made by those whose money |
| had won the others came to the front
and mentioned my losses to them.
Was Wary of Work.
| Il wore good clothes, had a good
! appearance. and no one suspected
that | was a gambler and cheat. |
lid not make the mistake of playing
all the time at one club. One night
week was enough at each. Often my
business compelled me to leave town.
On these little trips | went to other
cities to play poker. Once after run
of feigned hard luck | quit playing
! entirely | was careful to announce
the fact. What do you suppose | did
| in the interval? | drew SIS week
! for marking cards.
That is the principal secret of my
sucess-marked cards. | knew how
to do it, and practically all ms life
as a gambler | have played with
decks so marked that | could read
the backs Of the cards as we'll as
others could read the faces. There
are few packs which cannot be fixed
in this style by little time and pa
thence on the part of an expert. OF
course it is possible to buy brace
decks where the marking is done in
the printing Thousands of this sort
where the denomination and suit of
each card is delcately traced on the
back so skillfully done that the keen
est eye cannot detect it unless the
combination is divulged.
But | preferred to mark my own
cards. | saw to it that they were used
at the clubs where l played. If | could
not hOodWink the steward | found out
where he bought his cards. There
was always some way to work it, es-
pecially as | enjoyed confidential re-
latiOns with certain persons in the
trade. OF course the others were at
my mercy. They might as we'll have
spread their hands down on the table
face up. | knew what every man
held. When | dealt I could decide who
should take the pot. But | did not Of
ten resort to crooked dealing. 1t was
TOO hazardous. and then-it was not
necessary. | could wait until luck
came my way. A man can bet pretty
freely when ne has a small full house
and knows the best hand out against
him in an ace flush. But that isn't
all of it. Suppose a man opens a
big jackpot on a pair Of jacks, and
doesn't better his hand on the draw
How easy it is for me to stand pat
on a pair of trays and bluff him out
, of the pot.
There are all sorts of ways to mark
cards. The simplest is the best. To
, the casual observer there must be no
difference between the cards. Take
this pack do you see anything wrong
about the backs? Look closely No?
\ Certainly you would not, if you saw