Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1906-03-20
TIE CHINESE md FAN TAN
Police Confess Inability to Sup
press the Game
A DEALERS EXPERIENCES

ne ninaman Allows Himself a
Fixed Amount for Gambling-Al-
ways Quits When He Is Winner.
From Chinese viewpoint" saws
! Governor Johnson in the St. Louis
I Republic, "fan-tan isn't such a bad
sort Of a game. II is TO the Chinese
/ what poker Is 10 the Americans. Fan
/ tan, however. is different from poker.
believe there IS such thing as sci
ence IN poker game Fan-tan is a
guess.
The dealer, by the way. is a re-
markable sort OF a fellow. II he could
devote his energies and abilities TO
some legitimate line of business he
might prove : wonder With a deft
/ hand and keen and alert eve, the
dealer in a fan-tan game watches the
play OF thirty, forty or fifty men, and
II is his duty to see that the house
doesn't lose any money that belorss
on the dealers side Of the table.
A long stick with a crook at the
business end of It is the only device
necessary TO the employment Of a
fan-tan dealer. On the table, when
the play begins, there are 800 OF 600
ordinary buttons. such as one sees on
coat or shirt. They have differ
ent sorts of buttons ia China, but
any button will serve the purpose.
The Cinnamon in ST. Louis use. as A
rule, an ordinary pearl button,
which is purchased in the dry goods
houses.
When the game begins the but
tons are placed I'm an immense
stack, and the players gather
around The table. Sometimes there
are so many players that the men
stand around the table three or four
deep
The game begun, the first bets are
laid. The PLAYERS may bet against
the dealer or bet among themselves.
1t makes no difference to the dealer,
as the house, by the rules Of the
game, gets 10 per cent. on all win
ninss mace on the side
As starter the dealer throws the
long hooked stick into the pile OF
buttons, and by his dizziness extracts
four. He is supposed to take away
four buttons each time He must be
def and clever to do this. but there
IN lies the secret OF the fan-tan
dealers trade. If he couldn't draw
four buttons each time he wouldn't
be good dealer. Occasionally he
misses and only draws three. The
men around the table gamble their
money, even, on the dealers chances
of being accurate.
"A dollar that he doesn't draw
four" some Chinaman will shout,
only he shouts IN Chinese. Another
Chinaman viii cover the dollar II
the dealer draws four the Chinaman
who covered the bet wins the mon
ey One can't figure any percentage
for or against the bettor in a wager
of this sort Each man takes
chance.
Then interest in a fan-tan game
lies in the result after the buttons
are drawn. Every important bet is
made on the finish II the player
bets on an even result he wins, pro-
vided that at the finish there are
four or two buttons for the dealer to
draw. II he bets odd he wins in the
event that one or three buttons re-
main. He gets even money for these
bets.
There are other ways OF betting.
For instance, the player can lay his
money on No. /. This means that
he bets that one button Will remain
on the table after the last four are
drawn. In the event that only one
button remains. the men who wag-
cred their money on Nos and
lose their bets
ii the last four buttons drawn by
the dealer clear the board every one
who had his money on the odds
loses.
II the dealer in a fan-tan game
were as slow as the ordinary man
might be the game would lag and be
very uninteresting But the dealer
works with tremendous speed. He
can reduco a pie of 500 or 600 but
tons within the space of five min
utes Drawing down the buttons
foGr 1t a limo, he goes like the
wind, the players the while keeping
up an car-splitting conversation in
Chinese tHat would make the specu-
iators on the stock exchange turn
green with envy.
OGca tho Iile is diminished. the
hattoas are s.luGled and stacked and
ano.acr Glas begins.
The GaG-tau operators frequently
change their base OF operations In
tAis way taes oItwit the police, who
vo3ld never discover them If il. we're
not fof f>W Cinnamon who occa-
sionalR tip tie police as to the loca-
tion OF tlc game
The Chine qen hate ~ tell-tale. es-
peciaily one OF their own race.
Tae China @an. even in playing
American games. IS better gambler
lhan the American The Chinaman,
Ia ,hs FIRST place. has more conf
Ience in lis Judgment and. better
lhaa that, he has segse enough 10
qait ,iea Is winner No Amer;-
cal ever kat en- Gao qG;t
Ri7Ryg