The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-07-26
SYSTEM DISCOVERED FOR
 BEATING MONTE CARLO
From the Washington Post.

From the Washington Post.
 It amuses the management of Monte
 Carlo to read the stories that get into circulation about the success of certain
 schemers to beat the game. Half the sto- rice involve the supposition that it would be possible for a stranger in the course
 of a stroll through the Casino to pick out weak spots which had escaped the attention of the management for years. A man who has long been associated with the control of the Casino once told
 the writer that he did not believe there
 was a single thing connected with gam bling systems that had not been thor ] cughly discussed by the directors, and if in the slightest degree dangerous, pro- vided against, regardless of trouble and expense. There certainly was no system with which they were not familiar, and of only one system were they at all afraid. Even that danger they had re- duced to a minimum.
 The system player is always welcome
 at the tables He Is there to stay with his limited capital and he is not going to quit until he has lost all he has. Even then he will not be convinced that his system is at fault. He planes it all to
 want of capital. Tn man mostly to be feared at the to- bles is the one that slaps his money down anywhere and everywhere, regard less of the odds against him or the pre- vious results of coups. Every now and then one of these men comes along with lucky streak, and the only thing the management can do is to use his success as an advertisement.
 As a concrete example of the way that apparently insignificant details are at- tended to, the. man already referred 70 told the writer the following story: Many years ago rather attractive looking Englishman was spending few
 weeks at Nice and frequently ran over ! to the Casino at Monte Carlo. At first
 he seemed to have no inclination to play, although he watched the fortunes of the ] others with apparent interest.
 He was we'll set-up fellow, probably over 30, with the typical English blue eyes a blond mustache, and the healthy tan of the skin which betrays life spent chiefly out of doors. He was always i dressed in a blue serge suit, with a sack coat and an Alpine hat, and had the 1 general air of an officer on leave or a i yachtsman ashore.
 1 No one escapes attention at Monte Carlo
 and the Englishman's continued presence 1 at the tables without playing, combined with the fact that he remained some times l in the same spot for hours, led to his being watched.
 After the first weak he seemed to have
 developed some thoery or other which he was apparently testing by making notes. but so far from being as serious about it as most inventors of systems are, 1t seemed rather to amuse him or to strike him as passing coincidence.
 After watching the wheel for an hour or so he would take his notes to some quiet place in the grounds and study them over at his leisure. Any attempt to ap- proach him or to get into conversation with him on the subject led to the notes being hastily thrust into his pockets, as if he were ashamed of them. All attempts to get possession of any of these memo randa failed.
 Apparently satisfied that there was something in his theory, the Englishman eventually began to play but it was ob- served that he did not make bet until he had been at the table making notes for several coups. In two respects his method was peculiar. He always bet on
 single numbers, and always exactly the
 same amount 1000 francs or about s20o. Another peculiarity about his method was that the moment the croupler who ran the wheel was relieved he would stop nlaying. and would not settle down again. until the new man had made several rolls. He would play for about four hours every day. but absolutely without excitement | or exhilaration even.
 | much interest for him as game Of 1 billiards. He was always smiling and
 pleasant; very polite to every one that | spoke to him, but absolutely mum as 1 to his system, and apparently absorbed 1 in the memorandum he was continually
 making in a little pocketbook that he 1 held in his hand.
 l What these little memoranda might
 mean no one was able to guess. By look ino over hia shoulder it could be seen
 that they were not figures, but were | some sort of signs arranged in eight
 vertical columns. Close observation re- yealed the fact that after the ball fell and he made his note he never entered
 the hierogyphic twice in the same col I umn.
 This is all that could be learned of his system. When asked about it he simply l smiled good naturedly and turned tho matter off.
 As to results he seemed to win steadily
 about one bet out of every 26 he put
 down. As there are 36 numbers on the
 wheel including the zero, this gave him
 q very handsome percentage of profit.
 Any player who could win one bet out of
 every B would keep even, but he was a
 long way ahead of that
 After playing for about a week he in-
 creased his stake to the maximum on
 every bet he made. Now the sight of a maximum player on single numbers Is sufficient of itself to attract the atten-