The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-04-27


Not the least diverting member of
the multitudinous family of poker pests
is the woman who grabs the blue chips
from the pot and substitutes white
chips from her own stack Usually it
is an S-to-5 shot that she comes from
the section north of One Hundred and
Tenth street.
In the Harlem game. as played by
countless thousands, il may be set
down as broad general observation
that white chips are of theV alue of 10
cents apiece and that five such are
equal to one blue, rated at 80 cents:
that the limit is 10 cents except on
rangdoOdles. when il is doubled, and
that final settlement is on a so per cent
basis. That is to say, each player is
given a stack said TO represent IS,
but in regular money being worth only
S2S0. This arrangement strengthens
each players conviction that she is a
dead game sport-and Ii costs nothing
The further uptown You go the more
pronounced is this spirit of Thought
fully insured) recklessness. Thus
where in select One Hundred and Eigh-
teenth street poker circles you may set
tie for 80 cents on the dollar. In One
Hundred and Thirtieth street the ma
irons and dowagers indulge in the
most sensational of raises. reraises and
rereraises, fortified by the reflection
that. after all. the chips really cost
only % per cent of their face value.
And when you get out i'm the Bronx,
where the underground railway
trains run up in the air at the height
of the third-story windows of the I'M
fortunate natives, the 10 per cent basis
of pay is the accepted standard
All this. however, is parenthetical. the
real consideration of the present be-
ing the woman who drags out a blue
chip from the pot and slips in five
whites, while seven other women scowl
nudge each other under the table or
indulge in semi-audible sarcasms aimed
at the covetOus one. The woman with
the yearn for the blue check may string
along inconspicuously for half an hour
before she attracts unfavorabie atten-
ton, but this will not be her fault
rather her misfortune
In the beginning she has been sup
piled with eight blue chips, TO the to-
tai value of "a. and ten whites. worth
10 cents apiece. figuring up the stack
al So. The eight blues are as dear to
her as RaCheis children. and when they
begin to go she weeps inwardIy and re-
fuses to be cOmforted because they
are not. She takes excellent pains.
however, that the blue chips are the
last to be sacrificed. So if the pot
is raised by the blonde from Manhat-
tan avenue and she (the She who is
the subject of these sorrowing COM
mentaries) has two whitec hips and a
pair of skies she will gladly, almost
eagerly. throw the whites in the not
with scarce a care as TO whether she
pulls in third six or not But il her
poker possessions are reckoned only
in blue checks she will pass the hand
for is she going to break into a pre-
cious blue on a stingy pair of skies.
with the opener having jacks at the
very least and the raiser presumably
two pairs or trips Assuredly she is
not. She has too much savoy There
isn't a flaw in the world to be picked
in her argument.
When all the white chips of some
one player have been exhausted and
it becomes necessary to drop blue in
the pot, the woman who may have
been inconspicuous for many minutes
suddenly wakes into action She swift
ly lifts up five of her white counters
and slips them into the pot, with
drawing therefrom the blue chip for
which she has been planning since the
beginning of the game. She does this
as quietly as may be, for experience
| has taught her that her move will not
| be greeted by a wild burst of applause
| from her fellow players. AS she places
the blue on top of her blue stack she
fastens her eve on the wallpaper and
stares vacantly ahead as if her
| thoughts were miles away and of a
! nigh order at that 1t is probable that