Show Some Exceptions in Poker llit i I One of ho things that make me tired said the grayhaired young looking man in the club smpklngroom is to hear any man undertake to lay down a liardandfast rule by which a poker player should be guided in his play I Is easy enough to formulate a rule that will sound wel and will perhaps work well enough In foul cases out or five but the player who will allow al-low his judgment of any particular situation in the game to be dominated by 1 a rule of play and will follow that rule when ho strongly suspects that the situation Is an exceptional one has yet a great deal to learn about playing poke Some or the sayings though that pass current among players sound well enough to lead the average man Into thinking that a rule may be founded on them One of the most specious of these is that t n hand that Is good enough to call on is good enough to raise on Of course the saying Is founded on a fact and is elementary truth If your hand is not the I best Ic I Is not good enough to cal on I r it is the best oC course it justifies a raise But the difficulty diffi-culty la that a man never actually knows until the showdo n whether his hand is the best unless he happenu to hold a royal I Hush and a literal application appli-cation of a rule founded on this saying would therefore reduce a player to the single alternative of laying down his hand if he didnt feel 1 strong enough to raise And that would take a good deal of gInger out of the game JTt isnt often that four kings are beaten by four aces outside of the games you read about but seldom see in which Home professional gambler deals the cards and give each player Just what cards he has made up his mind to give them beforehand Im not saying that professional gamblers some of them cant do that very thing in fact Ive seen it done but what I do say is that It Is i not done frequently The gambler who does it lays himself open to the t strongest kind of imsplclon and he Isnt likely to select such exceptional excep-tional hands as four kings and four aces for a trial of his skill unless the circumstances and the play arc both very much out of the ordinary run He Is much more likely to give his antago nist i moderately strong hand such asa I j as-a flush and deal himself a full or u I higher flush r But I have seen four kings beaten I by four aces in a game that was above suspicion in fact I saw it only a few nights ago In a friendly game in one I of the best known clubs in New York where no professional player could by any possibility gain admittance and I where no Irlclcstcr professional or not could long escape detection The game wai not a very large one I M for there was not more than lfi on tImetable tIme-table and there five in were fve players 11 1 I the game but It was for table Flakes so that the play was as keen and hard I and cautious as if it had been for niurm money The players were not rich men and the stakes were big enough to mean I important money to them I There was n Jackpot of 250 on the I I table when one mnn they called Gene opened It for the size of It right under r the gun The next man dropped out and the next whom they called Harry I I made it 5 5 to draw cards He hal as I it appeared aces and lives and his I raise was good poker according to my I understanding of the game though It looked like almost anything else In thc light of subsequent events I Time raise was enough at all events ito i-to drive the next man nail the dealer out leaving the struggle between Geno I and Harry with the odds presumably j in Harrys favor at least ho had shown s strength while Gene had only declared f that he had openers which might or I might not be good enough to Justify I him in standing I he raise Youll have to come again Harry if you want to play against this hand I he aid as he saw the raise and threw five blue chips more Into the pot Blue t 1 chips wore a dollar t uI1 a good deal like taking candy I from the baby murmured Harry under his breath but taking good care that I Gene should hear him But ho con I I to t tinned M I cant see your 55 I only havo JSaO In the game And he pushed that forward Avith an air of great cheerfulness I cheerful-ness though hiM confidence in aces up i was by no means as strong as it had j been I 4 beenAn An n matter of course that reduced J the play on that pot to a showdown I J Hml did away with all possibility oC bluffing so Gene said rather gleefully I as he pulled back his SlfO rakeoff Youll have to I beat three kings Harry f I II Give me two cards I lie did not show his three kings mica the two he had drawn when he spoke r F and Harry looked at his aces up with Uf considerable more doubt than he hud I had before Of course there was a possibility pos-sibility that Gene was holding up a card to a pair in which case his own hand would be strong even without the draw but It did mot seem probable Gene wns not likely 1 Io say such a thing about three kings unless he really f had them and he would be exceedingly likely to draw to the strength of hyi 1 i hand on a showdown Mornover his I raise back after being raised was an indication that he had at least threes of some sort In which case aces xip would be worthless Anyhow Harry decided and I think any poker player would say i was wise to throw away his i pair of fives and draAV three cards to his 1 aces and he did so Then Gene turned over his cards cares and exclaimed with some natural exultation ex-ultation Now oul have to beat four kings lie had caught the fourth one sure enough in the draw Well said Harry with a drawl I maybe I can beat four kings Lets see And he exposed his pair of aces Sand S-and then turncd over one at a time limo three cards he had drawn which he had not looked at himself The first was a sevenspot and the four kings l looked even bigger than they hal but the next was an ace Any propositions 7 lie asked jokingly Jok-ingly No said Gene also joklncrly 1 dont think T have an thing to offer I I reckon the kings are good c awhile I didnt know but youd like to split the pot said Harry but I Jf J yon dont want to Ill havts to take It myself I guess And he tUned over the other ace T told you he said after he had i caught his breath again that it was like taking candy from the baby i It was one of the extraordinary 1 things that happen sometimes and Gene as any superstitious player would expect went broke soon after 1 l he had been as superstitious as Cam i C-am he would have cashed in immediately immedi-ately after such a hand There was another play in the same game not half an hour later between two others whom they called the Baron and the Colonel though neither title was genuine which was almost as remarkable I re-markable and Involved a much gren te I winning to the t Baron than Harry had made on his aces The Colonel had had a ivmarkablo run of luck for live or six rounds and had driven two or three players to tho honerart while his own chips accumulated I accumu-lated till he had some SoO on the table i He is n man who believes in backing s his luck when it comes and finding a i TourHush in his hand when the Baron opened a Jackpot he came In Th others were afraid of his luck 7iioro than they were or the BaronH openers and they all stayed out There was no raising before tho draw and the Baron tool two cards1 holding up an ace to a pair of queens The Colonel took one cardand caught II diamond filling his flush so when the Baron beta while chip he promptly ralscd i four dollars The Baron looked at his cards and then with a great flourish slammed a tall pile of blues on the table 4L raiso you he exclaimed with such bravado I = that it was hard to tell whether he was binding or not 4 How much is there I asked the Colonel cautiously I and counting the J chips found ho had been raised Them he 1lldlcll I I Now there was a case to test that j rule The Colonels hand was certainly good enough to call on for he had n v flush against a twocard draw which ho might naturally assume to Indicate r three of a kind Of course If three were bettered his flush was worth less I but it looked too much like a bluff to make it wise to lay down So ho called and it sooms to me It was good poker 1 Ito I 1 to call though he lost for the Baron had caught a third queen and a second t ace Of course o man who believed In tho rule would say that this play proved tho soundness of it for the Colonels hand 1 AVJIS not good enough to raise on But ft I wouldnt have called him a good play or if J he hadnt called New York Sun |