The sun., 1910-02-06
.IAJoN ONCE ON, A
Wv 1000 TO 4 SHOT
Fortune Teller Was Right, Bot
the Player Didn't Know
just When.

I've been thinking" remarked Col.
Dabney as he tilted his chair back against
a post ON the porch outside the barrOom
door, that it's what a mans thinking
about as beats him playing poker as often
as anything else" II. ,.
Thinking the other fellows got better
hand when he amt. you msanp" demanded
the barkeeper.
Thinking about all kinds OF things. /
remember fellow called himself Maddox
sat in a poker game in Memphis once that
had the worst fit Of thinking ever heard
tell OF. and IL cost him no end of money
before no got quite through with n. al
though he won out with it at the start.
kind Of recollect he'd been 10 q fortune
teller day or two before and had his
palm read orhis bumps felt or something.
and after ths usual story about having q
dark friend and a light enemy and there
being letter to the house and all that
the fortune teller told him he was shortly
gong TO take chance. p big chance, and
when Maddox pressed him for details. as
the papers say, the fortune teller fellow
said 1t was 1000 to I shot and that he
would pull IL on. but just what the game
was he didn't know, but II looked 60 him
as IL IL was some kind of draw game
Draw poker. Of course volunteered
She barkeeper. I've heard OF fortune
tellers saying you'd win money. but that's
the fust ever heard OF one OF 'em giving
you the odds on the horse you was going
to bet on. How near did he come to itf'
We're coming TO all that II you'll Just
wait a Bit admonishsd the Colonel.
As said. It was about 1000 to 1 chance
that Maddox was going 20 draw something.
the fortune teller said. and an he'd paid %
to be told this hers fortune and that WINS
the only part Of It that had any sense TO It
he didn't forget il. In fact he couldn't
think OF anything else.
Sitting in this poker game about two
nights afterward he got to thinking about
the odds on drawing things, and he came
TO the conclusion that it ooulcn' Z possibly
be poker that the fellow meant. az he
didn't know OF no odds in that game big
enough TO reach. The most he ever heard
Of was q to i against filling a monkey
fiush.'
That's where he was dead wrong
interrupted the barkeeper. IT know
better n that. Why, it's 90 to 1 aRainst
making q full hand drawing to a pair and
it's just oe4 to against getting the other
pair and making fours.s
Indeed" drawlcd the Colonel. sYou
seem to remember them big figures pretty
accurate
That's easy" retorted the barkeeper.
Il always remember the biggest odds in
the game 10 the same as the numbsr or
days In tho year. Sos. and you've got
only one chance in the bunch. leaving ss4
against you.'~. ...
-well.' sneered the. Colonel. -that,s
where you're wrong about the bigRest
odds In the game. cause. there's a 2,lel
TO chance. which we're coming to
presently. So.
This chap Maddox he set in the game,
playing along for an hour or 90 In pretty
even luck but missing several chances
on account Of his mind not 'being strict
on his business.
There were four fellows in the game
and the only advantage Maddox had
was that his face didn't show nothing
of what he held cause he wasn't thinking
about that particular. his mind being so
much ON that big chance e,---
"A man with a face that don't tell
nothing remarked the barkeeper, @can
win good. money in O poker game II his
hands is steady when he puts up his chips
and his small threes stand up
Maddox knowed all the percentages
went on. -and he took quite few shots
on the on chance that the fortune telIer's
figures on those odds aboutthe draw might
have been q little exaggerated. What he
was looking FOR AZ the evening wore on
n,,,, ,..a,,Id pS i.srss, s'sS Ous sxanse
would win out just the same.
so when there come along pot where
one man raised the ante SO and che next
man made it ten harder Maddox skinned
over his cards and found he didn't have
anything but kiiter. but be put up his
s25 Just the same and the are made good,
putting up the rest OF his eS ante, and the
two raises making just hundred in the
two OF the three men in stood Dat
concluded one OF 'em must be genuine
and it wouldn't be no use betting on a
kilter. The only big chance against him
he could think OF was TO draw 70 the worst
card In his hand. which was the deuce OF
spades. He figured that II he could beat
a two card draw and two pat hands by
pulling four papers to the deuce OF spades
it would he pretty near 1000 to shot
"As 1t happened the first man 10 bid
Clipped and the second man Clipped
ana DeIOro ma0UO1 C0ul0 say anything
the age threw up his cards. Maddox
skinned over his draw and found he had
caught another deuce. but that was all,
so he quit, seeing that evidently wa'n't
the hand the fortune teller had In mind.
The two fellows that had Clipped both
began 70 swear fearful cause they hadn't
bet more or raised or something and
made something worth while out OF their
hands. but neither OF 'em showing up.'
They couldn't both win. protested
the 'barkeeper. -One Of 'em ought to
been glad.
Both win!s exclaimed Col: Dabney.
: Why, bless you. they know thati One OF
'em had q ktlter and was talking loud TO
scare the other fellow before proposing
10 divide the pot with him. The second
man had nothing and was shouting on
general principles. intending to propose
that division himself In q minute When
they agreed TO divide and showed up,
they both had kilters. 30 that II Maddox
bad bet go he could have had the pot on
his pair OF deuces."
-Then he didn't win out on his ?, 900 to I
shot after alp" suggested the barkeeper
m
mot that time he didn't agreed the
Colonel. smiling. He tried one or two
more shots on the same order and played