The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-07-12
POKER THEORY WON OUT
Walker Educated His Judgment and Was Hard Man

Speaking Of good poker players" re-
marked Colonel Dabney, settling him
! self into his usual seat on the porch
reminds me of a little controversy ]
I heard between two sports in Memphis
/ the other day as to which kind of poker
player was the hardest to beat
Il guess the one with the best hold
out would carry my money" remarked
the barkeeper.
I calculate they wasn't speaking of
that kind of play, exactly, but was
! thinking more of the square game"
They've got square poker games in
Memphis now. have they?" demanded
the barkeeper. Things is changed
since 1 was down that way, then. Might
1 ask where you found one of them
games2"
4 didn't set into no game myself, +"
replied the colonel; and, of course,
these sports was just discussing things
on general principles, the game being
supposed to be on the level. Some Of
the boys that butted into the talk had
been up against various propositions in
their time and each of 'em had his lit
tie tale Of woe to tell about how he met
his Waterloo.
Jimmy Burke said the hardest man
to beat that he ever come across was
a LCAAOW Ddllltu W dlAtIs llldL tldu GQus
Gated his judgment. How long he had
been educating it Jimmy didn't seem
TO know, but he had it trained down
fine when he met Jimmy. he was a
quiet sort of chap. this Walker. Jimmy
said, and shuffied his chips a lot while
he was studying over situations, never
being in a hurry to make a bet"
Most of them chip shutters has
played faro bank" interrupted the bar
keeper. He must have been a sporting
man. What did he feed his judgment
on?"
According to Jimmy, he had trained
himself till he had nerve enough to lay
down his hand when he didn't think it
was good enough to call on. When he
got that far he went on training until
10 had nerve enough to law down any
thing that he didn't think was good
enough 10 raise on
Al. cO4Ouei rose and walked over to
the porch rail to get rid Of his quid and
incidentally to allow the full force Of
mis- statement to sink into the barkeep-
er's mind.
Il have heard il said" the barkeeper
observed, after a moments hesitation,
that If a hand is good enough to call it
is good enough to raise, but 1 never
tried the scheme I've heard fellows talk
about doing it, but I've never seen it in
real life when the chips on the table
was worth real money. 1t takes more
nerve than I've got in the kick to put
up two and a half when you know it's
only part of seven-tifty or else it's
money thrown away"
Looks that way, but Jimmy said this
fellow Walker was. the hardest man to
beat that he ever stacked up against 1t
appears that his scheme worked better
after the other fellows got on to ii than
at first.
1T didn't seem to have its proper ef-
feet until every man in the game under
stood that he couldn't never see Wal
ker's hand for what he put up to see it.
He would either have to pay double or
not see it at all
Jimmy liked the scheme so we'll that
he told US ne tried it himself the next
time he sat in a friendly game, but
there seemed TO be something the mat
ter with it when Jimmy was working il
and he lost his stake in half no time.
Walker told him his judgment wasn't
trained right yet, but advised him to
keep on and he'd get there some day"
Guess it was nerve he wanted" COM
mented the barkeeper. Didn't have as
much sand in his crop for raising as he
had for calling, calculate
No, Jimmy kind of allowed Il was
lack of judgment. 1 recollect one of the
plays ne told US about which didn't
seem suited TO that style of game, or
else he had never noticed II before. He
said he never seen so many hands which
looked all right to put UP a few chips
on or to call the first raise that didn't
appear TO amount to shucks when it
come to making up your mind to rails
ing anybody and everybody that come
in against you.
This particular play that Jimmy
mentioned. which showed up the I'M
trained condition Of Jimmy's judgment
when applied to the Walker theory Of
playing poker. happened along when
Jimmy held a pair Of aces under the
gun. He came in without raising, Of
course. and was kind Of pleased to see /
the man on his left chip up careless
like. as if his hand was worth the ante
to experiment with. anyway. The third
man also came in. but he boosted It SO, I
and the age Clipped in and looked /
cheerful.
Now. according to Walkers theory /
Of playing poker, Jimmy should have I
either laid down those two aces or I
raised. If they was sood enough to /
stand SO raise on, they was good for 1
S20-according to Walker. Not being as
we'll versed In the fine points Of the |
game as Walker was Jimmy 4
didn't know exactly which to do 50 he |