Arizona republican., 1906-09-15
THE PERCENTAGE
 IN DRAW POKER
'AH lacks" and a Small Limit Ruin
 the Game.

little group of men who sat discussing games of chance in q place uptown which has been (ofhcially) closed for months. They were talking of percent- ages and as usual there was much argument Suddenly one man turned the talk into new channel.
 "In playing faro," he said, "I disre- gard the percentage entirely. l play short. quick game, and if the luck is with me the percentage doesn't count. If it's against me I'm beaten anyhow. In a long sitting of course it's differ ent but when it comes to draw poker I sometimes think it's all percentage and I seriously doubt whether anybody understands it. Of course there are some who have mastered the mathe- matics of the draw, though there are comparatively few players who under stand that well enough to govern their play by 1t. When the percentage of one two or half a dozen other hands and the odds in the betting are added to the problem, question whether the human mind is capable of reaching sound conclusions in actual play. Then, when you remember that the closest reasoning and the soundest play count for nothing against an accident in some other players hand, it seems to me that poker is the most intricate game there is"
 "One trouble with the game of polk er" said prematurely gray man, 'is that so many people are not content to play poker They are forever making improvements on the game, or what they consider improvements. The re- suit is a non- descript amusement which follows some of the rules of the real game but which will throw the Ness ,lox 0f new varieties is so popular in New York just now that I venture to say 1t is played in two out of every three poker circles in the city. I mean all jacks with a small limit.
 'In the first place jackpot is an in novation. It did not come in till about thirty years ago, and the proof of this is that General Schenck, who wrote the first authoritative rules of the game said nothing about a jackpot. It was introduced to avoid a waste of time in abortive deals, and grew in favor be- cause players quickly saw that it pro- Voked high play. By playing all jacks, however, the number of abortlve deals is increased rather than decreased, and the placing a limit serves the double purpose of preventing high play by the man who should play high and of tempting the man who would stay out to what is actually high play, consider ing his cards.
 ''Now I know of no reason why peo- pie who like that game shouldn't play it. If they play with a joker, as a good many do, why that's all right, too. They may play the game with the big and little casino, the double pinochle, his nobs and his heels. and still be within the scope of thei rpolitical rights as citizens of the United States. unless. indeed. they play for money. In That case I suppose it's an open ques- lion.
 "It is impossible to quarrel with a man for amusing himself in a way to suit himself, but it remains true that these people are not playing draw polk eF even though they think they are, and they call it that.
 Whether a man plays draw pokAr or all jacks. and whether he plays a limit or table stake game, it remains true that four out of every five players lose whole lot of money that they have no license to lose. The only req son they don't go broke or quit the game is that the people they play with play equally badly.
 Nobody will pretend to say that an amateur with average skill only can play poker with party of professional gamblers without mourning the prac- tical certainty of losing as much money as he is willing to put into the game. As a consequence of this. most people say and think that the professional gamblers habitually play a crooked game. They believe that if the pro- fessionals played fair the amateurs would stand a fair show of winning.
 ''Now this is all wrong. I admit that professional gamblers, nearly all of them, will cheat when they can't win otherwise. Personally. I don't see why they shouldn't. They stand outside the pale, and they play for money, not for fun; and since the whole object of gambling is to get money that belongs to the other man-but what's the use arguing that question. It's too old to be interesting. What remains is that a professional will play a crooked game if he can't win playing straight.
 When it comes to poker, though, it isn't necessary to cheat in playing with the average amateur. It is too absurd ly easy to win from him by avoiding his errors and playing a sound game.
 Of course, if five men play together and all persist in making the same er- TOTS of play, there is no advantage 10 any one of them; but let sixth man sit in and avoid those errors, and he will presently have all the money un- less somebody has a run of luck such as may always be expected in poker
 The indictment sounds strong enough" said another man in the group who from his appearance might have been a lawyer. Seems to accuse most everybody of something Some few specifications might be interesting More than that, if there's any way of playing poker that makes it absurdly easy to win, I'm open to argument"
 Its not the simplest thing in the world to explain" said the other. 'and reckon it won't be everybody that will understand it when it is explained but some general rules may help.
 "In the first place, the money you put up in poker is bet either against a mathematical proposition or against a bluff-a bluff being nothing more or less than an attemnt tn misstate tha