The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-05-16
LAWS OF POKER
HELPED HIM OUT
Dock WOrmer Was Not a
Great Player
BUTT IN ON THE GAME
How He Succeeded in Beating a Pair
of Sharpers Who Attempted To
Show Him the Scuttle
Chute.
From the Boston Herald.

From the Boston Herald.
1T is certainly astonishing" remarked
Colonel Dabney. settling himself into his
accustomed seat on the porch one sunny
afternoon, 'how much some fellows know
about the rules of a game and yet can't
play a little bit"
What game might you be alludlng to?"
demanded the bartender, setting the
chairs back against the wall.
why draw poker, of course There
amt nothing else in the card line worth
calling a game. The thing that brought
it to my mind was the way that baseball
umpire escaped getting killed last Sat
urday. He didn't accuse no one of unfair
splay. Only just laid down the law and
let it go at that
Sometimes they say his decisions amt
fair and then he gets 1t In the neck" OBJ
served the bartender, throwing one leg
over the porch rail.
That's just what got me to thinking
1t over. Now, in a game, real game.
like poker, when a mans got the law on
his side he don't have to accuse nobody
of cheating. All he's got to do is to lay
down the law and no one amt got any
excuse to lick him."
And if the other fellow don't think
that is the law" remarked the, barkeeper,
there's a chance for fight right there,
amt there?'
Seems not" replied the colonel, dryly.
From what I've seed of the game all
they does is to put up their money and
leave it to the papers and the fellow
that's got the. law straight swipes the
wad. I recollect how young Doc Wormer
busted up a game at Myrtle Springs in
Mississippi bout 10 years ago just that
way, and drove two of the slicl1est poker
sharps in those parts to working for a
living"
Didn't nobody pull gun on him?" de-
manded the barkeeper.
What for? He didn't accuse nobody of
doing nothing. He just set there and
says so and SO is the rule of the game,
and when they wouldn't stand for 1t he
up and says: Leave it to any paper you
like and I'll bet on it. and he got the
wad every time"
He must have been pretty good at the
game hisself," said the barkeeper, with
a smile.
Not a bit of it." snapped the colonel,
shifting his chew. He was just an ordi-
nary everyday chip counter, one of them
fellows that won't draw to a bobtail un-
less there's four times as much in the pot
as what it costs to get cards, and all them
sort ofFscentific frils. He didn't appear
to know nothing about the real science of
the game like Bill Whitney and Joe Har-
ris.
4 suppose they was the sports that he
had to call DOWN.
That's what they were. They had all
the tricks of the trade up their sleeve,
and Bill always said If a sucker wouldn't
stand one thing he would another"
Then how did he break up the gamer"
inquired the parkeeper, curiously
Just by laying down the law and back
ing up his own decisions with the coin.
You see. when the old doctor died, young
Wormer come and took up his practice
and being young and having money he
just naturally drifted into the poker game
behind the barroom in the hotel.
About the second night he played he
raised a kick about passing the age and
said it didn't never pass, cause no one
could have 1t but the man that was COM
PEELED to pay for the privilege. Bill Whit
ney Just bet him $40 on that and left 1t
to the papers, and four of EN- decided
that the doctor got his money all right
THAT was pretty good rake-off for
starter" laughed the barkeeper. Il
wouldn't mind sitting in Csc limit game
myself if 1 could pull off 20 on the, side
now and then"
"Weu, that wasn't all of it," continued
the colonel. About two nights after that
Bill straddled the blind and four men
came in, the Doc being on Bills left. After
the draw Bill told the doctor 1t was up
to him to make the fust bet
Not bit of it, says the doctor The
effect of the straddle dies with the draw
All it does is to raise the antes. You're
the man under the gun and it's your first
bet
"BiI thought he saw his chance to get
even on that proposition, so he just Of
fered to bet $50 that the straddler didn't
have to make the fust bet. That was left
to the papers and the doctor tucked that
$50 away where the $40 had went before
it.
THAT made Bill pretty mad, and I
spectS him and Joe Harris fixed it up to
throw the harpoon into the doctor SO as
to get even, both of them knowing quite
a little about the scientific methods of
making the cards come their way"
Thought they was irst-class players"
interrupted the barkeeper. my expert
ence has always been that the man that
has to cheat to win is no good in a
square game"
I'm kind of inclined to think that
way, too. but Whitney and Harris want
ed quicker action than a square game,
SOS to get back that seventy
1.-THE fust thing they tried was little
top stock, and the doctor, he tumbled to
it right away. He didn't accuse nobody
of doing nothing, only just told Bill that
It was against the rules to deal with one
part of the pack lying on the table
and that he would have to start over.
Suiting the action to the word, Doc threw
up his hand and two Others did the
same thing.
''Of course that didn't suit Bill at all,
cause he had three kings on the top of
the part that was lying on the table,
and 1t was his intention to put that part
back on top of the part he was dealing
from as soon as the fellows got busy
looking at their hands. Them three kings
was for Joe Harris and three tens lower
down was for the Doctor"
"I suppose the doctor got another bet
out of him on that?' said the barkeeper.
mo, Bill would not bet on that some
how and seemed to want to pass it
over
1.-THE next kick the doctor made was
when there was five or six In the game
and he noticed that every time Bill or
Joe dealt the dealer didn't draw no cards
until some one had made a bet. l kind
of think the doctor suspected the dealer