The sun., 1908-12-13
BAT 'BM UP JAEB'S SECRET
A POKER EXPERT WHO NEVER
GAVE HIS RACKET AWAY.

HIs Dlscoyerer Found Him wasting HI
Talents on . -Four Dollar Game an,
Enabled Him to Win . MiiiiOn--E n,
Always Wen. but Nobody Knew Hew
sits q curious thing remarked Col
Dabney as he took his accustomed plac,
! on the porch and tilted his chair baol
against the post. "but Of all the srort'
that Lean remember In the old days thert
was only two or three that never gave
their racket away
Same as any other business, remarked
the barkeeper. "As soon as any one doei
anything smart they have to 60 and blow
about II to some one. Ifany one eets the
best OF a deal in this here town the first
thing he does is to come 10 here and buy
q drink 30 he can tell me about IT.
when you think. continued the Colo
mel, @of all the books that's been written
exposing gambling It's q wonder that
there's any suckers left Isupr ose people
don't read 'em. bnt the printer folks seem
to sell EN- right along"
sIt's my opinion people what reads them
kind OF books get notion they would
like to do little advantage playing Of
their own now they know there is such
things going on
$50 you think these exposures of gam
bling is sort Of primers for the pro-
motion OF cheating. ehi'
'It reads easy In the book remarked
the barkeeper. because the book don't
mention that II takes about three years
to learn to deal seconds, and 1t don't tell
q man that he can learn electrical engi-
neering In half the time that 1t takes to
run up hand and shift the out when there
Is four or five watching you
so it's your opinion that when man
sees something that looks like winner
In the way Of cheating at cards he d sooner
take a piece Of it himself than warn
others against ita'
Sure"
well, maybe you're right. / re-
member q case of that kind. though it's
more than forty years ago now. It
started in a little piking poker game in
Council Bluffs, but before 1t got through
it went all over the world.
THAT was pretty small town in those
days, as towns 60 now. and the poker
game was q small affair too but there was
man In it that was callei Jake Whiting,
who was not small by no means. He had
excepting niggers, but he was very slick
with his fingers.
Take It by and large, Ireokon there was
some twenty men set in that game one
time or another. and every one Of them
got TO watching Jake cause he was always
winner. no matter who playei or what
cards they held, Nothing wouldn't
change his luck
They knoved he had some kind of
racket, eh?'
well, don't need to tell man OF the
world like you that there amt no man
wins at poker nor In any other card game
all the time unless he's got some racket
or other. don't care II he's above sus-
picion In everything else, and what's
moro
II have heard" interrupted the bar
keeper. "a fellow they called a philosopher
say that men cheated at cards cause they
needed the money; but women did it
because they hatei to see any other woman
get ahead Of en-"
+ Jake needed the money all right and he
used to get Il pretty regular. I've heard
toll that he pulled out as high as three or
four dollars at a sitting
"He must have been green at the game.
There amt no real sport that had racket
worth anything would put his game on
tho table for that money
you got IL just right He was green.
In fact it was the first poker game he'd
ever set In, and he'd watched that for
six months before he played.
1T 90 happened there was a man took
a hand in the game occasionally that kept
a big clothing store in Omaha. He used
to 60 East 10 buy goods. He knew Jake
must have some racket or other. but he
couldn't catch on to it no ways.
1One day he took Jake over to his store
and had heart to heart talk with him
about that poker game. but Jake swore
he didn't do nothing, only play his hands |
for all they was worth. The way he |
talked the clothing man began to think
Jake was something Of a mind reader
and could tell what the other fellows
had in their hands,
Something Of a liar. more likely
remarked the barkeeper with a shrug.
Finally the clothing man let out what
was in his mind. OF course Jake thought
he was wanting his money back; but
that wasn't it exactly. 1t was more like
your idea of the attractive influence OF
successful cheating upon the imagination
OF the man that can't do it yet.
THE clothing man explained to Jake
that IL he really did have something good
he was wasting valuable time in that little
two cent game in Council Bluffs and that
the place for him to exercise his talents
was in the big games down East
1T takes money TO play in, them.' OBJ
served the barkeeper, shaking his head,
and you've got to be pretty good
spender before you get asked to take a
hand
That was the part OF 1t that the clothing
man proposed TO handle for his share OF
the profits. He would put up the money
and the good clothes il Jake had the sure
hing on the play
1T took Jake more than a week to make
ID his mind that the clothing man meant
business, but he finally owned up that he
thought he could beat any game of poker
,ver played il the one he had seen was a
air sample. This brought the clothing
nan down to business at once and he told
axe that II he would show him the racket
md it seemed good TO him he would take