The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-30
DOKER GAME IN
I WHICH ALL WON
And in Which a Fair Minded Bur-
star Proved the Humpbaek'S
Mystic Power.

TRf1lfl IlNA lIiAt AAH1 - sAh'0A ~
70 the day Of the canvas back terrapin,
while the poker player longs for the game
in which everybodyTl win.
And while il looks p~aradoxical," he con-
tirued as the smoke oozled reiectively out
through his mustache. Il sat in a game
once that Just filed that condition-and
that. too, after every one OF us was a big
loser.
~ was in the days when the rude and
rodigpsted mass hat resulted from the
f-.t fcverish rush to Leadville had organized
t-alf into a town with a government and
court and city marshal, h generally
resigned ~ the end Of the week, a nervous,
If bv good luck he wasn't also a physical
wreck.
Raw human nature was mighty close to
the surface in those days and a crowd OF us
young fellows in who's hearts the parting
words If mother still fingered, n who
summed the haunts Of the gambler and
ri thor sinful persons which abounded around
about. got together for mutual. protection
against these -eductions IN played poker
every night. Many a present prosperous
and law abiding citizen Of Denver would
have been killed in harroom brawls or hlled
as much Of a ~drunkard's grave as his dimen-
,lop- "a led for had it not been for hat quiet
ltile poker game.
Also il conn elled economy in the I'M
.klml. During the first three months l
was in with this sObersided set OF young
roker players ! had to give up smoking and
s,lmp along on two short meals a day.
Then ! learned some things about cards
I'd never dreamed of, and when we inn
,ored some fresh blood into the game /
went 10 boarding at the Grand Hotel and
smoking weeds out Of a box with brown
stamps omit.
-One Of this crowd Of high minded youths
had a room on the top floor Of a business
block. right above the rear entrance to the
piry Devil saloon. and here, near this base
Of supplies, the gang was wont to fore
gather.
.une Saturday night we had started in
carly and with a full table. We a ways
ran Saturdays game until bedtime Sun
dav night which was somewhere Monday
morning.
This particular night every fellow felt
lucky. The h%umpback OF the camp had
caught on to what was doing up those stairs,
and had taken his stand at the corner hard
bv. where he made a couple Of dollars allow
ing the boys to touch his hump on the sly.
That. Of course you know, is luckier than .
gross of rabbits feet.
~ when it was suggested that we take
the bride of our little dollar limit and play
table stakes there wasn't a kick visible.
"No sensation is more exhilarating than
that which with your first game of
table stakes Toker. You feel like a pup
that's gnawed his. rope and gone out to see
the world.
at every hand you may double. or MORE,
the pile in front Of o and it makes you
dizzy with the possibilities. OF course,
there's the equal chance that you may drop
every chip you've got; but you never think
n that. Later you FIND out the other fell
low did!
Every mar of us was happy, excited
and confident with the stimulus Of the new
ramc end the secret aid of the h~umpback;
from thc first jack pot the hands ran heavy.
The hovs held bacS some for a while, betting
tho OH dollar game from habit, but when
Gregg sci in S. and, on the call, showed
town a king full against Hogan's ace high
flush. and when, on the next hand, Hogan
in turn made Bob Shipley with his three
queens pay SO to look at his little straight,
W. all NOleu ltDlt HldhNe a UNIV ~ bSb
rick quick game except Bob!
After A few of these KNOCKS had loosened
M the game the chips skipped back and
forth like live things. But in table stakes
ore cannot play so recklessly as in a limit
game. It's a fine school wherein TO learn
10 curb curiosity and to shun judgment
calls and percentage plays and the other
myriad pitfalls of the game; they become
fatal diseases when the limits OF.
But most Of the boys didn't get on to
the difference at once and they played with
their old time a~bandon-that IL, except
Gregg and Hogan. to whom wisdom had
come early In wonder and darkness we
IaNNfAFSA ESh4e. sen. chips seeIReastO-Ffse IN
fockS. like crows in a oornfeld, and wing
their way over to the piles OF these two wise
Old serpents.
Openly we cussed our luck, while secretly
each man cussed the humpback. Kelly OF
Del Norte sw ore there was an owl in the
room the most baleful influence known
10 chance.
Along about / o'clock in the morning we
lo-crS began to have RlimmerinGs Of the
cause If orr troubles. faint at first but with
q luminosity rapidly increasing. Gregg
and Hogan soon detected symptoms Of our
waxing ~wiseness. and when Kelly. after
laying back for three rounds. fell afoul Of
them and wrenched a stack Of blues apiece
from them. they knew their harvest time
was over.
They'd pretty well skinned us down
N mere chicken feed-a few white chips and
a couple of blues were our average assets
and the temptation to quit big winners was
too great for them. Their feet began to
freeze, and they had early engagements,
and they had to write home, and what not.
Saying which. they pOcketed their evil gains
and left Ms, the sorest crowd ! ever made a
part OF.
Damned funny exclaimed Kelly. And
I'd teched err h~umpback, too
"Whereupon we all confessed to having
taken tho same p~recautiOn to insure good
luck, except il appeared that Gregg and
Hogan had missed a chance 10 tech the
luck laden human camel-and then skinned
Us alivel
Well. after seeking in ain TO explain
a phenomenon 40 utterly at variance with
the laws Of nature and experience, We
Got hack TO the game, the sourest bunch
outside those condemned 10 permanent
residence in Pueblo. There's nothing in
nature 80 lonely and arid as a lot Of loseEs,
sitting iaded and grouchy after the winners
nave packed OF the money, trying to pick
zach Others lean bones. The Utah deserts
hlrd thronged garden compared 20 It..
IT they'd tried that on job that tale