The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-17
IND OF JIM BLAISDELL'S RIVER TRIP
- Captain the Bayou Passes Up Play

never spoke unceremOniously, but they
| judged from his play that he was Will
l ing TO force the others out, so they
reckOned he had either aces or two
| small pairs.
Mathews. who sat next, was by no
means willing TO give way to such
hand as that. and he put uD his red
chip without raising, so il was inn
possible to judge of what he held.
Miller glanced at his pal before play
| ing. but If there was an interchange OF
signals no one detected il. He trailed,
bringing the play back to the dealer
Signals Were Quietly Made.
That player was usually dashing in
his methods, but this time there was a
noticeable hesitation before he played.
They could not decide whether he was
trying to make certain of having
straight or whether he was considering
the wisdom of q raise. Whichever il
was, he decided to throw in two reds
and did so.
Martin looked we'll satisfied and raised
in his turn, making it four reds alto
| gether.
Then and not till then. did Blaisdell
look at all his cards. Without a change
of expression, he made it two blues, or
$50 in all, to play, whereupon the one
eyed man threw his hand in the discard.
Mathews seemed to be still willing TO let
| the others play his hand, whatever it
was, and he simply made good.
! Miller also trailed; whether because
| of confidence in his own hand or be-
cause he wanted help, it was impossible
to Judge
Again Gilchrist hesitated and thereby
puzzled the other players considerably.
| Finally, however, he threw i'm six blues,
making a raise of 800.
Martin stayed. Blaisdell made it an
other $780, Mathews dropped and the
other three made good.
On the draw Martin stood pat, Blais-
dell stood pat Miller took two cards,
and Gilchrist took one.
! 1t looked to Mr. Pepper, who was
watching the play carefully. as if Mar
/ tin had really pat hand. though prob
ably small one. since he had raised
only once and had trailed thereafter.
BlaisdelPs hand as he had played at
| first on two cards, was probably full,
/ or possibly four of a kind. as he had
played it so vigorously
Miller Had Three of Kind.
NIiller's was evidently three of a kind,
/ but what Gilchrists might be Mr.. Pep
per was unable to decide.
Not a word had been spoken thus far,
| except in calling for the draw. and
Blaisdell was still silent as he pushed
white chip in the pot Miller, however,
called loudly as he bet 5000.
! L reckon I'll take hand in this here
raisin' business now" he said, and there
| seemed to be little doubt that he had
| bettered. If he had not his bluff was
| a good one.
| Gilchrist was equally confident. He
pushed his whole stack forward, max
| ing a bet of some $500 more than Mil
| ler's. 1t was too strong for Martin and
he laid down. though not till after he
had looked at Miller and caught a
glance from him.
| BlaisdelI said nothing. His hand went
in the discard as promptly as if he were
| in the habit of having tours beaten.
! Miller, however, was still full of con-
! fidence
I'm sorry l can't raise you no further
under the rules, pard,'' he said. as he
called with nearly all he had in front
of him, and he showed down four jacks.
| mo good said Gilchrist. Il caught
the nine spot" And he showed a
straight flush in diamonds, nine high
! 1t was then that the ante was raised
! No such party of players as this could
| be expected to play dollar ante after
/ hand like that, and when Blaisdell put
up red chip on Martins deal there was
no comment.
No one came i'm and the jackpot that
was formed contained $50 1t was. of
course, BlaisdelFs deal, and Mr.. Pepper,
with a vivid recollection of what he
had seen more than once before, had
| some expectation of fireworks and torch
lights. with q possibility of bombs and
brass bands when the six hands should
| be lifted.
MIR. 6sisdeII's Artistic Temperament
One thing that seemed to indicate
| Mr.. BlaisdelI's possession of the artis-
/ tic temperament was the fact that al
though startling things sometimes oc-
Cured when he dealt the cards. it could
not be said that they occurred with
suspicious frequency. 1t happened this
time that Mathews took the pot with
out a contest, and tine deal passed out.
The one-eyed man, as was said, had
never been detected in crooked play.
and he was not detected this time.
| Nevertheless, when he made an ace
high flush for himself, drawing one
card against three kings and a small
straight and when he scoOped a fat
pot on the hand. there were those at
the table who wished they had been
able to see the motions of his fingers
| more distinctly.
Mathews was above suspicion, and
| Miller appeared to be too conscious of
the scrutiny that was directed toward
| his work TO be capable of any very
meritoriOus performances. So these
deals passed without special incident,
and il was too much to expect Gil
christ to do any dazzling stunt imme-
| diately succeeding his last.
When Martin dealt next, therefore,
there had been a considerable lull fol-
I lowing the last strenuous contest, and