Show SOME POKER YARNS By David A. A Curtis Author of The Science of Draw Poker Queer Luck Luck and the Old i I Man Greenhut Stories Etc It may not be generally remembered but It is a fact as recorded in court proceedings in the city of New York that the late Stephen B B. B French Police Police Po Po- Po- Po lice Commissioner of New York was one of the best short card players that Harry Hill Hlll ever eYe knew Harry Barry swore to It himself at a a. time when he couldn't be expected to say anything very pleasant about anybody connected connect connect- ed with the Police department and the admission came from him rather grudgingly so 0 there is little reason to doubt that It Jt t was true even if it the memory of some of the games that French sat in was not still alive The memorable occasion on which the veteran sport testified in reluctant praise of the Commissioner was the thereal thereal thereal real breaking up of the old Tenderloin of the city that became festive during the Civil war when there were pretty waiter-girl waiter saloons on both sides of Broadway from Canal to Bleecker street and houses gambling from Spring to Eighth The saloons were advertised in the leading newspapers I more liberally than the theaters as the files flies of the Herald will show and the houses gambling and others- others were as well known as them Mercer and Green str streets ets were as essentially neighborhoods of midnight revels as Thirty first street became later and of all the thoroughgoing sporting re resorts resorts resorts re- re sorts Han Harry Hills Hill's had become the best known Hill Became Tired Rumor said that Hill either tired of giving up too ibo liberally or he actually actually actually ac ac- became unable to satisfy the many calls that were made on him and the word was finally given glyen from the Mulberry street headquarters that his theatre must be closed So closed It was despite the old mans man's struggles These landed him in court for there were suits and counter suits that made him a poor man finally and it was in one of these suits that he testified to Steve Frenchs French's skill It was perhaps the only time that the exceptional ability of a high police official in that peculiar line ever became became became be be- came subject matter for a court record but the rollers high-rollers of thirty years ears ago and even less needed no testimony testimony testimony mony of the kind They knew kneY what the festive French could do wi with h a pair of deuces or four queens as well as Hill did and the high rollers of that day were some of them famous men One of them them and and one of Frenchs French's cronies at that that became became President of the United States not long afterward Games Easily Won The wayfaring man though a stranger to New York did not have to look far for a little game In these days nor was there any great danger of Interruption interruption interruption In in- from the police if the game chanced to be one that French was playing In A certain private room In a hotel on the south side of Union square was well known to many of the rollers high-rollers of the time as the scene of many memorable memorable memorable mem mem- struggles In the game of draw and while many of the most notable encounters were talked about quietly there were others that were known only to a few One of these latter was a game that began on Saturday afternoon and lasted lasted lasted last last- ed until toward evening on Monday The pla players ers were French Shed Shook the collector of the port who afterward went up higher Harry Montague Montague Mon Ion tague the matinee idol of the day at theatre who did not sit in till midnight and two or three others whose names I never learned The story was told to me by Senator Mike Norton of the Norton and Murray combination famous enough in those days but almost forgotten now Norton claimed to have been present a part of the time though he he- was not playing but I have my doubts as to his being an actual eye witness though possibly he may have been Table Stakes All Jacks The play was not specially high at first considering who the players were being a 5 limit but it was fluctuating enough to get all hands more or less excited and Shook who was the heaviest heaviest heaviest iest loser on Monday morning proposed proposed proposed pro pro- posed a game of table stakes all Jacks The others agreed and Shook produced French had more than that in chips and nd u the collector and the others bought enough to bring them up lip to an equality and the game went wenton on a a fresh pack being called for as a matter atter of course though though- the floor was Uttered littered littered already already and the cards in use had not been shuffled a dozen times Curiously enough the game which had beer been unusually unusually brisk up to that hat time became suddenly slow and almost uninteresting sU lg Pot after pot went to the opener without even the formality of a draw and In at least a dozen In Instances instances In- In stances where some some other player would come In a single bet after atter the draw would settle the matter there being not even a call much less a con con- test Whether it was that the new possibilities of table stakes had made them all conservative or whether they all recognized that the cards had taken one of the queer freaks cards will take Is not certain but no one seemed to have confidence in his hand or any de desire desire desire de- de sire to bluff Montague Stands Pat 1 Such play was not not likely likely to last long however among such players and Montague was the first to tire of it A pot that had been sweetened until it contained over oyer 50 was opened by the collector for fifty and Montague sitting sitting sitting sit sit- ting next raised it a alike like amount The Theother Theother Theother other players found nothing and threw down and the collector having opened on two small pairs simply made good In the draw however he caught a seven seven seven sev sev- en spot which gave him a full house and Montague stood pat The collector threw w In a white chip waiting for the raise which came as a matter of course and seeing hundred he bet a hundred more The Engish actor knew of course that he was up against It and either had to lay down or bluff again He was a reckless reckless reck reck- less player at best and he decided on the latter alternative pushing his entire entire entire en en- tire pile into the pot It was about so that it cost the collector to call As he had only in front of him he called for a showdown and Montague l sheepishly displayed a queen hl high h with no pair The laugh was on him of ot course and he ordered a magnum as he declared more in the game but the second stake followed the first one fast and he drew out loser before midnight The others played on with varying luck and early on Monday something happened happened happened hap hap- Which Norton declared he had never seen or heard of before So So much of his story at least Is easy to believe for it is unlikely that such a aking athing athing thing king ever happened before or ever will again n There was a Jack pot opened by Shook who stood pat when it came cameto cameto cameto to the draw French and the collector each took one card both having come In Shook having to bet first put in ina ina ina a white chip French raised it fifty and the collector raised him fifty tIfty Shook studied a while with the evident Intention of raising again but the collector collector collector col col- col- col lector and Shook both called and each of the three showed down a king high flush all of course being of different suits What made it more remarkable was that French and the collector each declared that he had drawn a king Who Vho was the winner In the game I asked Norton Oh French was he said He was usually the winner when he played but but- nobody lost more than twelve or fifteen hundred It wasn't a particularly particularly particularly big game for that crowd N. 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