Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-03-23

English custom house to allow fifty-three
cards to pass as a pack.
This ffty-third card was so frequently
shuffied up with the rest and dealt that
1t seems to have suggested giving 1t a
value, and nothing was more natural than
going back to the old game of brag and
making a bragger of the Joker. AS there
was only one bragger in the pack, how
ever, 1t took the name of the intermediate
card of the three, the jack of clubs which
in French is called "mistigris.' Thus we
find a blank card. without a name Of its
own, taking the name of a specially privi-
legged card in another game.
This bragger, the Joker OF the American
pack, may be called anything the holder
OF 1t wishes If he has a pair with the
Joker, he may call it three of kind. If he
has four clubs and the Joker, he has a
flush.
II he has four aces and the Joker. he
calls them FIVE aces. which will beat a
straight flush king high. II he has an in
side straight to draw TO, and gets the
joker, the straight is filed
1t makes no difference II some other
player at the table has the actual card
which the Joker is called upon to represent.
II one man has four kings and another
has the A. Q. ]. 10 OF hearts with the
Joker and chooses to call his Joker the
king OF hearts so as to have a royal hush,
the flush goes. even II the king OF hearts
is held against It.
There are one or two points in mistigris
which there should be an understanding
about before the play begins, because play
eTs may otherwise be misled as TO the
value Of the hand on which they bet
While in the original game Of brag a
natural pair was better than a pair made
with a bragger, that is not the case in
mistigrs. With eight braggers in the pack,
which was the American game, It was
quite right that pairs made with braggers
should not be as good as natural pairs, be-
cause It could be easily demonstrated that
the mathematical probability OF getting
pairs made with braggers was very much
greater than that of getting natural pairs.
what the Joker Does.
But with only one hragger in the pack
| any combination which is made with this
| specially privileged card must be held SUI
perior TO a natural combination, so that in
case OF ties the player with the Joker wins
/ When It 10 simply a question OF ties be-
tween pairs, this is comparatively easy
because two kings against king and Joker
| is a straight proposition. But when Il
]
sometimes not quite so easy 70 understand
why one hand should be better than an
| other and how the rule applies.
Suppose one player holds the A, X, Q
4. OF hearts, while another holds X, Q
| 4. 2 Of clubs and the joker. In this cas-
| the joker is supposed 70 be the ace o.
clubs. Simply as hushes, the hands are
tie. but the joker ace being better than tn,
natural ace, the joker flush wins.
Suppose one player holds the ., J, 10, 9,
OF hearts and another holds the Q, ], s.
or clubs with the joker. The Joker in thi
case Is useless as the king OF clubs be
cause il would not then be a straigh
flush In clubs.
The Joker must be called the ten o
clubs, and as such the straight flush witt
the joker in il beats the straight flush Il
which all the cards are natural, eve
though the Joker Is not the top card o
tho hand The hands are a ne until tn