Show I m Poker Player er 1 1 His flis His Lick t k ami arcI Good GoO Nerve I I JI II Routed Old Stagers rs II a ft f the game f fI ITIS I I poker said saw the doctor as Car Carruther 5 ruther ed his lite hI story that whether you can ca play it well or not 1 its ita fascination you In tn a 8 firm grip Sometime I tM tW k that th t It te i the th nan I IWho who plays playa least lea t wen welt who is a most niOst o de deVOted voted to the theme game I 1 knOw Its that way with Tenney He fie is 18 I 1 suppose the best friend I have ve on earth and aad I have h ve been in Ia inmany many maDY a poker same game with him W eth ei Pr r it ft was limit or M i table stakes he be always came caine c me out oat at atthe atthe the paying end when the session se don broke I up but that never in the least checked cheeked his ardor He Hf was wag always ready to te play pIA and aad any sort of same game me suited Mm him rye Ive known him to spend half bait a day getting I up a t game that take an aft hour to break him bim and hed bed be just as an cheer cheerful ful tul and smiling the next day and nd reedy ready t get up another The doctor paused pau ed and Dd gazed gaad thoughtfully into his empty stasa giana A Athe Aa the woman said aId ld to me the tile day clay we got into in to Peking he be went on OB with withof aice of cheerful Inquiry at his Ith friends r what will you yen have haft Shall It be e Scotch or ot rye AroUH e s Curiosity C The rhe boy went to h the glasses rt and the doctor with wit evi eYl evident dent satisfaction hie Jal fresh frh cigar I Iwho who ho did not DOt know him well might have thought thou ht that tt the th subject bJ et was wag we dropped But Carruthers curiosity wee was aroused and arid he did not DOt propose to lose ieee Jo e the story i Ho lie waited until they were all alt set t again and arid then cast Jug his fly Ily Well Doc Doe he said is that aU all there IB Ic i about your friend Tenney I 1 Iguess guess rUESS we all aU have known that sort I knew a missionary m in ia the tae east and the editor of JIs paper here herein in ill iI New Xe York who both had the same sameH failing H Its It curiosity curio all plain cui cU They The cant help seeing s what I e rj r other fellow in the game has haa But there is L more than taR mere curios curl curlit it y in jn what I mean replied the doc doe tr tr r It is a general inability to ii I ize ze and nd understand the th fundamental r principle of the game And that was Queer about Tenney for he was one or the best beat readers of ot human nature that thit I ever eer Knew Played Wisely Just aust Once Never but once did I know klow of or his hili playing plang as if he had been watching w the g gme me and that once 4 the thing t tito i g he saw dS 1 S so o plain that tt every other man In Inthe Inthe inthe the game gume had been banking on it alt all Ii tl tIit tb e evening But Bit t he made it work and 1 guess ue g that was wu the only game of any 11 eix eie in which he ever held a 8 hand that did not cost coot him a lot Jot of money When was wa it Doc Doe asked McDon McDonald ald aid alda It a I t v was as on a transport traD POrt off the north of Mindanao during the Philip Philippine Philippine pine insurrection said d the doctor I 1 believe it is 18 forbidden by b the r I tins t ns for the government of the army army and navy to swear or 01 drink or 0 gamble I know about the swearing They put puta a price of a dollar a cuss eu on it but ut t somehow there never is a court to toas as ali ass s the damages its queer too for theres there no set of ot I know who can swear with liner finer drink with greater ability or play cards more success than the meers ers of the two services The Th bIg Wg g t and steadiest game gain ant of Joker I ever everSUM eversa er SUM SIt sa w ran ra n in Manila ManUa the first summer we v vt ere tre re out there I was wan doing surgical stunts you know with one of at the volunteer r regi leI regiments ments and 1 although I had plenty to tod tod d there was time thud enough enoa h away from J the hospital for tor me inc to get into the gam gaI XH occasionally Some of the of off fl f flors era ol or o the regulars were quartered in one of the big cigar factories and aDd their place was sort ort of headquarters S ft r any fellow who wanted to risk his hlat money Played With Dobe Money Eve i body played with dobe money mon r rout out there They Tiley tried to stick tIck to our k kad ad at first but Mexican was wag the money of f the country and Del we soon fell felt hit Int lute the way of ot using that The he result was to make the game me bier I suppose sup than it would have bave been brei with human money for the M Mx x arwied so cheap that nobody thought ho h was winning or losing anything e even een en if it he be had to get a boy with a cart cat t tt t to rai carry o it around for or him Tenne was out there then doing doingt stunts Sf t 11 I I n fl t S for tor his bis newspaper new paper and md d trying to tn learn something a out poker in that game It h us u use but he kept at it Ithen When hen my regiment came home bome to b bs d mustered m out I stayed out there I 1 liked Uk d it well enough and wanted to see some more of the service so fIO I went Into Ir to the new volunteers vol un It happened that my new flew regiment was sent down to garrison the towns town on ontie I tie north coast of Mindanao Tenney who 5 ho was still there went along with the expedition He HI was as crazy about tS tb te looked knives tames and fancy shields tt it the Moros Moroa use and that was A t opportunity oPi to get hold of a bunch o 0 then as II well as all to see Bee the country It happened that two to of the officers S ro re ht had been regulars regula re in the game in th til old cigar factory had got COt Mexican e in this re regiment We Wt u bd d to all it 31 ex rank out oat there when a man nun in m the got promotion in the he I volunteers Started a Game on the Transport port of ur r course they started a game Just Justas as os soon as the transport was as away a wa wat f t lIm n Manila Ianna and of course Tenney Tenn y went in ill Ii fl J t was as a steady game all aU day and hi ba half if the night There here was not much muche e f v t to do Our transport was bound f rr r the last of the towns that thai were to occupied and while all the others othera v tre re bu busy y we e had only to wait waft on those tho e little transports that are ud in m the service about the islands no II one lives j etI below MIo We e ate and slept awl and spent pent the time Ume always on deck deckA A soon as the table was wag cleared after atter a 1 ni meal al out would ct me the cards and the ti game would go yn n Tf Yf the wind ble blew a little UttIe too strong for f 1 r the awning was pulled down doun or the weather stripe strung streng along the rail At t night a couple o ot candles in glass Class globes gave cave all the light that they had bad There was w a iran in this game Whom hom I did not DOt lk JIk ika and so BO I kept out of or it but I used u ed to sit around and aDd Watch vatch atch it a good deal There was not DOt much else eI e to do except sleep and you do that all sll the time This fellow was as one of ot the majors He H came from Arkansas and Del he talked an III if I t he were the tile greatest poker player that tha t ever threw a card caro Probably lIly he thought he was but after I had ha watched him for a while hUe I came to the conclusion ion that ke be was w a good man to avoid It his skill so much as asit asit asIt it u was as a readiness that I thought f II a detected to take advantage of any uy lit little littie tie tle opportunity that might come up r Bight Eight Men Tried to 0 Play It was a big game rame anyway and I In never n ver like that Sometimes there thOO were eight men trying to play and aad ad usually seven en That means too much shuffling sh of the discard It is bothersome and lid takes takee too longWell long lona longWell Well one night after they had been playing for seine seme me time after supper I 1 stood behind Tenney Tt watching them They played all 11 Jackpots each man chipping in a dollar to each pot Instead of or putting up the pots each man in ini i turn Tenney had been having his usual hick w k He never will know kno anything about the game if he plays all his life lite j and nd lives to be a million i I 1 got tired of or Poking hooking on and started 7 to go ge Just then some ZOine fellow I opened ope ed a pr pc t for three dollars It was r such a small maJl opening ong as the game iad been Deen running that my curiosity was aroused and I stopped MOPpet to te see it Ut The opener was the second man manfrom manfrom manfrom from Tenney on his right The man next to Tenney promptly shoved in and aDd said Til rU raW rate it Just to make it even betting I 1 looked over his ht shoulder should and Del saw w that he had three jacks j ck Then I looked at t Tensors hand He had a pair of o threes and a pair of fours By fly all the rules of or the game he ought to te have kept out There was just about as much chance for him figuring from rom probe proba probabilities as there was for tor me rae without any hand band But th just the par particular particular time every din clip when Tenney drew cards card He cheerfully shoved showed in his My Arkansas man like it a abit abit bit hit He had been playing in what I Z think is bout about the hardest kind of o luck lucko to o Bobtail Plush and Straight All AJI the evening he bad had been holding bobtail Up and straights and to save ave his ha hi life Ute he nil flU pae pue of ot them He was game though and kept trying But it got so that you you could tell every time that he had one for forbe he be Just as good as said so This was one pf of the times When Tenney came in la the tile major threw in his ht money they never played with chips it was always the cash and acid Well if it youre going in Tenney I will Then he be draw aw one card The min mis minute minute ute he looked J at it he threw it lt down with such a look loo of Mf oi disgust that th t I was sure Bare he be had h d riot not filled But Tenney did That was Just his kind of luck He never got anything that he should have had d it was ws always some out outlandish outlandish landish h thing like that The man roan started off with witha a bet of after the opener had thrown It up and Tenney Te ney raised him Aim The rest of them had learned lea to know that when Tenney raised it was vas time to call or run and that ra raise ie ended the betting But it was a pretty good pot one that would keep Tenney going for some time Well the effect of that raise on the Arkansas major was the queerest thing I ever eer saw sa in a 3 poker game He set out to raise rale Tenney It was as 5 ff If that were vere the ambition of his bis life He Ire forgot all alt about the rest of the players and got after Tenney alone That is always a dangerous thing to do in poker but with a manlike man manlike like Tenney it is extra hazardous for you never neer can Dank on anything he will do or the sort of 01 luck he h will wUI have kaye Major Struck ia Good Sand Hand The major kept it up U for a 8 long longtime longtime longtime time and finally struck a hand where be he could make the raise safely It was wasa a big three and a d he sun sung out with a yell when it came cause his bs turn Til raise you yu y u It was one or of the most foolish things I 1 ever saw done As it hap happened posed Tenney a thing and he promptly laid laki down his cards face up so that everybody could see the m r had bad not bluffed him out Then he said gaid aid he Ae hoped the major was satisfied and the game went on The majors luck with the bobtails was ws wa still pursuing him bini One of pt his friends s sat behind him ami they tell fell to discussing the hands and making side bets with each other ther as to t whether the major would or would not fill the next time he drew a bobtail There came c me a hand and after a while when the pot was pretty sweet It had gone around three or four times un unopened unopened unopened opened and was broken finally for tor 10 I thought it was cheap for such a fat pot and suspected somebody of mak making makIng ing tag a play Tenney had nothing but a apall pair pall of sixes but you bet he came in inThey inThey inThey They have kept him hint out with an Injunction The next man beyond him raised it another nother ten t n Then came the major I had noticed when he picked up his cards that he be had another bobtail He evidently had come to the conclusion that this was the lime time he be was Wa sure to toI toI I I fill for tor h le e boosted the price again I When it got gc t to the opener he chucked in the twenty that he had been raised and said they might as well play for a good pot once in a while so s he would hike bike it another five just for luck Tenney Te ney Bet His Bin Sizes Six s sHI HI I 1 thought Tenney would get sick or of his measly little sixes by that time but not DOt he be He poked poke out his money and aDd wad wee ready for the next one ODe I The major weakened a little I 1 had hadI thought he would raise again but he I contented himself with Ith seeing the Ute openers and nd let it go at I I that He had been pretty well trimmed already during the evening I I 1 waif wasT r the major during the draw and Del saw W that he was entirely engrossed e in his own hand bed He even know W how many were in the game pille or who they were He picked up th Ute the one Be caM that he took and showed it to the man behind bebi i him and I saw at once on e that he had filled fined at last There he said with an expression I ion sion of the most complete satisfaction s Of Ot course I tell whether it ItI I was wag a straight or 01 a flush ush but it was wasI evidently one of them and whatever I it was the tile major was sure he had the winning hand I Then The r T looked at Tennys lennyS hand and andI saw he be had bad a made one ene ne of or his character characteristic I draws draw He had bad caught c three eights pair of sixes and I fore lore foresaw saw W that there would be more trouble for the major For Tor wee once Tenney played his hand The opener opp started it with It was warn a good pot new now even of dobe dollars and I was hoping hopI g Tenley TeD e would win winT it itHe ItHe I He merely saw Si the openers bet waiting for tor raises behind him He got gotthem gotI gotthem I them fast tast enough The next man hit it up liP another and Dc then It was w the majors turn I bavent been doing much tonight he be said ald but I guess Ill ru just hit bit this Ulis one along a a little Shoved in Fifty More ore With that t at he shoved in fifty lifty more There were three men inca between him and The opener had enough but he Ite saw the The opener had enough but h saw sw the majors fifty tty for he had three big ones and aBd afford to let it go by Then it Jt was Tensors turn He had gone OWl in ln his pocket while the rest pest Je t were betting but they had been too busy to notice him Now he shoved a aletter aletter letter etter of credit out en cn the table and remarked softly I 1 shall shaU have to raise it about five hundred If he had bad fired are a bomb at them he could not have surprised them anymore anymore any anymore more The major mj r nearly collapsed He just sat at and look at Tenney and gasped opening and shutting his mouth like Uke a sick Men keD Finally he exclaimed fIned 1 I know that you were In 4 His Ria moneys hi m said Mid the opener who had been paying that much atten attention attentIon attention tion at least How ow many ninny cards did you draw drawf dr wr Asked the major Three men mea have bet major re replied replied replied plied Tenney Tenny quietly so said the major I h ve veno ao no right to te ask Then he sat still and looked at his hand staring at the cards a sa if It he hail had hada haila ba baa a vague notion he be might make then them grow grov In to value He was completely pus |