The Saint Paul globe., 1904-06-19

"Thfs was not Of itself remarkable,
but Tibbets was beaten on good cards
and the betting was high. He had
pulled ahead three or four hundred
before that. but he was down to a
hundred when he caught three aces on
the chiefs deal. and came in without
raising. as he sat next to the alderman
who had the age.
Thought of Garvey's Play
II held two small pairs, sitting next,
and ordinarily I would have raised,
then and there, to keep the others out;
but I had been thinking of Garvey's S
play, and said to myself that over
play was what / had most to beware
of, so l trailed.
"Garvey came next and he trailed.
Then the mayor made it $25 more to
play, there being only SIT in the pot
at that time
would have made on my two pairs if
had sat where he did; SO / was not
particularly impressed, and I don't
think the others were. The chief laid
down, having nothing, and the alder
man declined to make his ante good,
having only a small pair, as he said
afterward, so that brought 1T to Tib-
bets again.
"He evidently sized the mayor for a
bluff. as had done. and he made It
SIS more to play. That. of course,
drove me out, and Garvey threw down
his cards, and We all looked to see
what the mayor would do.
'tHe studied a bit and then made
good. On the draw Tibbets took one
card and the mayor stood pat. He
pretended to hesitate, but he did not
overdo 1t, so that it really looked as
if he might be playing two pairs, as /
had suspected at first
'"Tibbets knew well enough that IL
he bet a white chip he would be raised
for the size OF his pile, and he'd have
to CALL so he did the wise thing and
showed his money all In. He hadn't
bettered, though, and the mayor show
ed down a flush, Scooping the pot, Of
course.
Then to my amazement, he had a
sudden attack of cold feet. 1t was
early, and he was usually the last one
to want to stop playing. Moreover, al
though he was a winner, he hadn't any
such sum as to satisfy him. and he
didn't advance any excuse whatever.
HE only said. I reckon I've had
enough and pushed his chair back
while he handed his chips over for re-
demption to the boy who was attending
to the house business.
'"The alderman yawned and said he
guessed he'd quit, too, giving another
surprise; and Garvey remarked, tndif-
ferently, that as four handed poker was
not game that he cared about, he'd
quit
'I looked at the chief and saw, or
thought I saw, that he was as much
surprised as /. He was a square man,
if L am any judge, and I'm sure he had
no more suspicion than / had at that
moment. doubt If he had any after
ward, but never discussed 1t with him.
Then we both looked at Tfbbets and
saw that he was not only puzzled, but
angry as well, and it came to me sud-
denly that the $500 he had lost might
be important money to. him after his
previous losses. I reckon that was
true, too, though he didn't say so. What
he did say was:
''T wouldn't have sat In your d-d
game if I'd supposed you were going
to quit this early. I always thought q
man would be sure of run for his
money. at least, In this game
''Garvey said nothing. He had all
the self-restraint that is characteristic
of most professional gamblers, but the
mayor spoke up readily enough.
: don't know of any law that COM
pels a man to play poker any longer
than he sees fft,' he said. but If you are
sore about your $500, I'll play you for
half an hour longer. Only If we play
we'll take the roof off. No more table
stakes unless you declare your whole
pile in at the start
'sTibbets was furious could see
that. But he kept control of himself
I didn't make the rules of this
game he said and I'm not looking for
/ a limit I'll play you out under the
sky if y0u like. only I don't care for
two-handed poker
Neither do T. said the mayor. Are
any of you gentlemen in?' And he. turn
ed to the rest OF US.
Frankly T didn't like It. I had a
rooted objection to no limit game in
the first place, and the sudden turn OF