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

| take no substitute.
! Canadian Pacific, in competition with
| the transcontinental lines of the
| States, gives all passengers using It's
| line across the continent the privilege
of this delightful water route, leaving
the train east-bound at Fort William,
coming south and catching the train
again at owen sound a fine sail of a
! week. There are thirty or forty i'm
mense boating palaces for passengers
only. on Huron and Superior, in the
Duluth-Fort William trade.
Gambling is strictly prohibited on all
| these boats, but the prohibition can
not extend to stateroom groups, and
here is where the big card games
| flourish.
While there is not the glamour
around the lake vessels and their card
| games that surrounded the old Low
er Mississippi river boats, money is
plentiful among the lake card play
! ers, and some big pots" are raked in
! by the fortunate gamblers. While the
rule is to exclude professional game
sters it Is difficult to distinguish the
professionals from the average play
err who drops in to while away the time
| in little game of draw. Poker is
almost the invariable rule. The COM
| panies can and do prohibit faro banks.
Here a banker is necessary and con-
siderable mechanical layout, but the
| draw-poker games flourish where half
a dozen kindred spirits gather with
deck or two of cards and a table. The
! scandals that develop usually come
| from the charges of cheating, With
| the wild crowd of tourists that come
down from the great Canadian North
west through the Fort William gate
way, and swing back and forth be-
| = ~ ntA9 ,F cfa toe
| ing both ways over this delightful
water course, it is nothing unusual to
witness games in which a man re-
| quires all his faculties to win in
| draw-poker game.
From the West has code. the Gus
tom Of playing with two decks, using
the joker as a fifth ace and to fill
fiushes and straights. This facilitates
cheating to an alarming degree. 1t
also makes the game faster, and the
! fellows who want action on their
money get the greatest possible excite
ment out of the game. While the
dealer is putting out hands the man
to his right is shutting the deck that
| has Just been used. This makes cold
decking easy and gives the expert who
| can run up hands every opportunity
| to practice his art with the least pos
| sible chances for detection. Then, too,
the danger of gun play or a knife
| thrust that contributed to make the
old Mississippi play exciting does not
obtain here. An armed man in Can
ada is the exception, and a gun play
would certainly mean a term in prison,
| whether the victim was caught cheat
| ing or not Gamblers say this i'm
| munity from summary punishment en-
courages crooked card playing. Be
that as it may. it is nothing unusual
for a man familiar with the tricks
- a. NvR6 6AC
boat tables the most extravaganza re-
sort to crooked work to get the money
ChiId's Play for Experts.
The cheats usually work in pairs. and
If there are but six in the game, which
is the rule, it becomes mere child's
play for experts to clean out the game
sters who are not wise. If there are
six in the game the two cheaters do
not resort to the run up of hands, such
for instance as shutting up three kinds
so that they will fall TO a certain
player, the cheat at the same time
getting three aces or a small flush.
They use the old count down. 1t is
simple, and has been worked by cheats
wherever the great American game has
been played. The cheaters sit oppo-
site each other. That leaves two play
ers between each. The cards are cut
to the left where two decks are used.
That brings each cheater into position
where he cuts the deck his partner has
shuffied In shutting, the cheats see
to it with their deXterity that set
of three of a kind are left in the deck
Immediately under the first thirty cards
to come off. This is especially easy
where six are playing and the six
hands are death around; the pot (for
all are jack pots) is opened, and no
player stays. Even where several
L. se s,a.nf F.zu. .lE eli L.
calculation to leave the deck after
being shutfied with a set of three of a
kind under the top thirty. Then when
the man to the right of the cheat picks
up the deck IL has been shuffied, and
is passed to the cheat on the left to
cut. He makes a false cut, and the
innocent dealer hands the cards out
according to the way they have been
counted down. The crooked play comes
when the pot is opened The cheat
to the left of the deal knows when he
draws cards a set of three of a kind
must come to him. The rule, wher
possible, is to count down three face
cards. Therefore, if the cheat has a
pair of any kind he Immediately raises
the opener, knowing he must come
out with a full. II he has not a pair
he holds up two face cards or ever
one in the hope that he may come oui
with four of a kind. But these games
are pretty fast, and three of a kind al.
ways in the hole, as they term it
makes a certain cleanup for the
crooks.
Unless a man knows what ii is M
cannot, of course, appreciate for
minute what is going on. The count
down is varied by these cheaters witt
an equally mysterious cheat to The
novice, known as the spread. This I.
| worked in tiushes. cheat gets &
four flush. The pot is opened. II,
J raises If the opener plays back, the
fourfush man plays his hand like &
house afire," in the vernacular of III,
craft. He signs UP to his partner in
stantly, who prepares for his part o.
the play. OF course the signs are
framed up in advance. The man with
the four OF one suit signals to his con.
federate that he wants a heart. HI
draws a card Perhaps he gets tn,
flfth heart honestly II he does not
so much the worse for the other Eel
low. He signs that he did not get 1t