The Springfield herald., 1912-12-20

you to come In now, on payment Of
the entrance fee. You must be duly
proposed and seconded"
| ! then entered the baccarat room.
where. around long table. covered
with green baize. a dozen persons were
seated. l looked about me. 1t was
still early, and the business OF the
evening had not begun. The players
were OF the ordinary type. The ma
jority of them were pigeons ready to
be plucked. the rest bore the undeni-
able stamp of the professional gam
bier. My attention. however. was CEN
tered on the croupier.
| Few people-even those in the habit
of risking their money in fashionable
clubs or in casinos Of well-known wa
tering- places-have remote idea Of
the important post this official holds.
With long. fiat. wooden scoop
something like a crisket-bat-he rakes
In the counters from the losers. and
pays the winning side.
In great clubs. these men are careful
ly watched to avoid any trickery; but
In the small gambling-dens their role
Is altogether different one. When
some one opens one of these dens.
which. being clubs. can be raided only
with difficulty. the croupier becomes
his partner.
II the proprietor-always profess
sional sharper-takes the benk. he
will cheat the players by series OF
tricks. too numerous to be explained
here. When, however, guileless
stranger acts as banker. the croupier's
role comes in; for, while he rakes In
the money for the banker. portion of
1t disappears into his pockets in a
manner which only the most expert
eye can detect.
will explain the principles of the
game:
The players sit on the right and left
of the banker. who has several COM
plete packs of cards in front Of him.
When the players hav, staked their
money, the banker deals one card to
the right. one card to the left. and one
to himself. He repeats this operation.
One OF the players on either side OF
the banker takes up the cards and
plays them against the banker for his
side of the table.
The object OF the game is to score
nine-not more-or as near that num-
Der as possible-with the two cards:
third card can be had II desired.
Court-hards and tens are valueless. II
the total Of the spots comes to more
than ten, ten must be deducted.
II the bankers score is below that
Of the players he loses; II above. he
wins.
Slowly the room began to fill, and
toward half-past eleven tall. thin
man with a grayish beard and small
piercing eyes came in; from the de-
scription given me l recognized the
Vicomte de St. He smoked Gig
arctic. paying little attention to what
went on at the table, where banker.
with only three hundred francs in the
bank, was dealing his cards in a desul-
tory fashion.
All at once the vicomte's face bright
ened, and he went up with extended
hands to some fashionably dressed
men who had just entered. I guessed
they were what in gambling-hourse
parlance is called big Came"
then gave up my seat at the table,
where l was too much In view, and
stood behind the players. where
could watch everything.
A bright-looking youth took the
bank for five thousand francs, and
play began in real earnest. Somebody
called "Banco" tstaking all there is
in the bank), and the excitement rose
to high pitch.
Thus far the vicomte had not Joined
in the game: at last. to my delight I
saw him take a bank. also for five
thousand francs. He called for fresh
4 cards.
This call for fresh cards at such a
time demands an explanation. In the
gambling world 1t Is well known that
after the cards have been shuffled
cut and placed in front of the banker
it is easy for the latter, by sleight of
hand. to put few prepared cards on
the top that will give him two or
three winning deals. II, therefore, the
banker asks for fresh cards. the unin-
itiated-and, unfortunately. they form
the majority-suppose that no trick.
cry is possible. l am sorry to have to
disabuse them.
The worst swindles are practiced
with so.called new packs. | say so
called" because In the directorial
sanctum they have undergone curl
Gus process. The pack is held over q
steaming kettle, the wrapper skilfully
removed, the cards taken out, arrang-
ed to give the dealer the advantage.
and again carefully replaced in the
original wrapper
The study ! had in former years
been compelled to make of these prac-
tees, now proved useful, and moved
behind the vicomte's chair SO as not
to lose. one of his movements.
Five new packs were brought in.
and the croupier undid the four, leav-
Ing one on the mantlepiece. He shuffled
the four packs with great deal of
zest, yet SO dexterously that their or
der was not changed. The man was
a great expert in the shuffling'
trick
| OF all the people in the room |.
certainly, was the most interested in
the game, for l was playing for higher
stakes than any of them-for man S
honor. Surprising these cards.
brought on tray, should not have
been tempered with: supposing the