Part 26

In drawing cards, each player in turn who has made good his ante, beginning with the age, must ask the dealer for the number of cards he wants. The demand must be made so that every player can hear, because after the cards have been delivered by the dealer no one has the right to be informed how many cards any player drew. When the dealer comes to his own hand, he must distinctly announce the number of cards he takes. He must also inform any player asking him how many cards he took, provided the question is put before the player asking it has made a bet, and it is put by a player who has made good his ante to draw cards.

In dealing the cards for the draw, the pack is not cut again, the cards being dealt from the top, beginning where the deal before the draw left off. As each player asks for his cards he must discard those he wants replaced, and he must receive the entire number he asks for before the next player is helped. In some places it is the custom for all those who have made good the ante to discard before any cards are given out. This is not good poker, as it prevents the dealer from seeing that the number discarded is equal to the number asked for. Should any card be found faced in the pack, it must be placed on the table among the discards. Should any card be exposed by the dealer in giving out the cards, or be blown over by the wind before the player has touched it, such card must not be taken by the player under any circumstances, but must be placed with the discards on the table. A player whose card is exposed in this manner does not receive a card to take its place until all the other players have been helped. [The object of this rule is to prevent a dealer from altering the run of the cards in the draw.]

Should a player ask for an incorrect number of cards and they be given him, he must take them if the next player has been helped. If too many, he must discard before seeing them. If too few, he must play them. If he has taken them up and has too many, his hand is foul, and shuts him out of that pool. If the dealer gives himself more cards than he needs he is compelled to take them. For instance: He draws three cards to a pair; but on taking up his hand he finds he had triplets, and really wanted only two cards. He cannot change his draw, and must take the three cards he has dealt off. There is a penalty for not following the strict rule of the game, which is for each player, including the dealer, to discard before he draws.

Should the dealer give any player more cards than he asked for, and the player discover the error before taking them up or looking at any of them, the dealer must withdraw the surplus card, and place it on the top of the pack. Should the dealer give a player fewer cards than he asks for, he must supply the deficiency when his attention is called to it, without waiting to supply the other players. If a player has more or less than five cards after the draw, his hand is foul, and he must abandon it, together with all he may have already staked in the pool.

The dealer may be asked how many cards he drew; but he is not allowed to say how many cards he gave to any other player. Each player must watch the draw for himself.

The last card of the pack must not be dealt. When only two cards remain, the discards and abandoned hands must be gathered, shuffled, and presented to the pone to be cut, and the deal then completed.

_=BETTING UP THE HANDS.=_ All those who made good the ante having been supplied with cards, the next player who holds cards on the left of the age must make the first bet. Should the age have declined to make good his ante, or have passed out before the draw, that does not transfer the privilege of having the last say to any other player; because the peculiar privilege of the age,--having the last say,--is given in consideration of the blind, which he is _compelled_ to pay, and no other player can have that privilege, because no other player is obliged to play. Even if a player has straddled the blind, he must still make the first bet after the draw, because he straddled of his own free will, and knew at the time that the only advantage the straddle would give him was the last say as to whether or not he would make good his ante and draw cards.

If the player next to the age has passed out before the draw, the next player to the left who still holds cards must make the first bet. The player whose turn it is to bet must either do so, or throw his hand face downward in front of the player whose turn it will be to deal next. If he bets, he can put up any amount from one white counter to the limit, two blues. It then becomes the turn of the player next on his left who still holds cards to abdicate, better, or call. If he calls, he does so by placing in the pool an amount equal to that staked by the last player, and it then becomes the turn of the next player on the left to say what he will do. But if he goes better, he adds to the amount staked by the player on his right any further sum he sees fit, within the limit of two blues. Each player in turn has the same privilege, the age having the last say.

Suppose five play, and that A has the age. B has straddled, and all but the dealer have made good the ante and drawn cards. There are sixteen white counters in the pool, B’s straddle having made the ante four instead of two. Suppose B bets a red counter, and C then throws down his hand. D _=sees=_ B, by putting up a red counter; and he then _=raises=_ him, by putting up two blues, increasing his bet as much as the limit will allow him. The age must now abandon his hand or put up one red and two blues to call D, without knowing what B proposes to do. Let us suppose he sees D, and raises another two blues. B must now retire, or put up four blues to call A, without knowing what D will do. He can raise the bet another two blues, or one blue, or a red, or a white even, if he is so minded. If he declines to raise, he cannot prevent D from so doing, because D still has the privilege of replying to A’s raise, and as long as a player has any _=say=_ about anything, whether it is to abdicate, better, or call, he can do any one of the three. It is only when there is no bet made, or when his own bet is either not called or not raised, that a player has nothing to say. Let us suppose B puts up the four blues to call A. It is now D’s turn. If he puts up two blues, each will have an equal amount in the pool, and as no one will have anything more to say, the betting must stop, and the hands must be shown. But if D raises A again, by putting up four blues instead of two, he gives A another say, and perhaps A will raise D in turn. Although B may have had quite enough of this, he must either put up four more blues, the two raised by D and the further raise by A, or he must abandon his hand. If B throws down his cards he loses all claim to what he has already staked in the pool, four blues and a red, besides his straddle and ante. Let us suppose he drops out, and that D just calls A, by putting up two blues only, making the amount he has in the pool exactly equal to A’s, eight blues and a red, besides the antes. This prevents A from going any further, because it is not his turn to say anything. He is not asked to meet any one’s raise, nor to make any bet himself, but simply to show his hand, in order to see whether or not it is better than D’s.

_=SHOWING HANDS.=_ It is the general usage that the hand _=called=_ must be shown first. In this case A’s hand is called, for D was the one who called a halt on A in the betting, and stopped him from going any further. The strict laws of the game require that both hands must be shown, and if there are more than two in the final call, all must be shown to the table. The excuse generally made for not showing the losing hand is that the man with the worse hand paid to see the better hand; but it must not be forgotten that the man with the better hand has paid exactly the same amount, and is equally entitled to see the worse hand. There is an excellent rule in some clubs that a player refusing to show his hand in a call shall refund the amount of the antes to all the other players, or pay all the antes in the next jack pot. The rule of showing both hands is a safeguard against collusion between two players, one of whom might have a fairly good hand, and the other nothing; but by mutually raising each other back and forth they could force any other player out of the pool. The good hand could then be called and shown, the confederate simply saying, “That is good,” and throwing down his hand. Professionals call this system of cheating, “raising out.”

When the hands are called and shown, the best poker hand wins, their rank being determined by the table of values already given. In the example just given suppose that A, on being called by D, had shown three fours, and that D had three deuces. A would take the entire pool, including all the antes, and the four blues and one red staked by B after the draw. It might be that B would now discover that he had _=laid down=_ the best hand, having held three sixes. This discovery would be of no benefit to him, for he abandoned his hand when he declined to meet the raises of A and D.

If the hands are exactly a tie, the pool must be divided among those who are in at the call. For instance: Two players show aces up, and each finds his opponent’s second pair to be eights. The odd card must decide the pool; and if that card is also a tie the pool must be divided.

If no bet is made after the draw, each player in turn throwing down his cards, the antes are won by the last player who holds his hand. This is usually the age, because he has the last say. If the age has not made good his ante, it will be the dealer, and so on to the right. There is no necessity for the fortunate player to show his hand; the mere fact that he is the only one holding any cards is prima facie evidence that his hand is the best. On the same principle, the player who has made a bet or raise which no other player will see, wins the pool without showing his hand, as he must be the only one with cards in his hand; for when a player refuses to see a bet he must abandon his hand, and with it all pretensions to the pool. If he wishes to call, but has not money enough, he must borrow it. He cannot demand a show of hands for what counters he has, except in table stakes.

During the betting, players are at liberty to make any remarks they see fit, and to tell as many cheerful lies about their hands as they please. A player may even miscall his hand when he shows it; the cards speak for themselves, just as the counters do, and what a player says does not affect either in the slightest. If a player says: “I raise you two blues,” the statement amounts to nothing until the blues have been placed in the pool, and the owner’s hand removed from them. There is no penalty if a player, during the betting, tells his adversaries exactly what he holds; nor is he likely to lose anything by it, for no one will believe him.

_=JACK POTS.=_ The addition of jack pots has probably done more to injure Poker than the trump signal has injured Whist. In the early days, when poker parties were small, four players being a common number, it was frequently the case that no one had a pair strong enough to draw to, and such a deal was regarded as simply a waste of time. To remedy this, it was proposed that whenever no player came in, each should be obliged to ante an equal amount for the next deal, and just to demonstrate that there were some good hands left in the pack no one was allowed to draw cards until some one had _=Jacks or better=_ to draw to.

The result of this practice was to make jack pots larger than the other pools, because every one was compelled to ante, and this seems to have prompted those who were always wanting to increase the stakes to devise excuses for increasing the number of jack pots. This has been carried so far that the whole system has become a nuisance, and has destroyed one of the finest points in the game of Poker,--the liberty of personal judgment as to every counter put into the pool, except the blind. The following excuses for making jack pots are now in common use:

_=After a Misdeal=_ some parties make it a jack; but the practice should be condemned, because it puts it in the power of any individual player to make it a jack when he deals.

_=The Buck=_ is some article, such as a penknife, which is placed in the pool at the beginning of the game, and is taken down with the rest of the pool by whichever player wins it. When it comes to his deal, it is a jack pot, and the buck is placed in the pool with the dealer’s ante, to be won, taken down, and make another jack in the same way.

The usual custom is to fix the amount of the ante in jack pots, a red, or five whites, being the common stake. In some places it is at the option of the holder of the buck to make the ante any amount he pleases within the betting limit. Whichever system is adopted, every player at the table must deposit a like amount in the pool. Players are sometimes permitted to _=pass a jack=_; that is, not to ante nor to take any part in the game until the jack is decided. If this is to be allowed, it should be so understood at the beginning of the game.

_=The High Hand=_ jack pot is played whenever a hand of an agreed value, such as a flush or a full, is shown to the board; that is, called. In some places four of a kind calls for _=a round of jacks=_, every player in turn making it a jack on his deal.

_=Only Two In.=_ It is a common custom in large parties, say six or seven players, to make it a jack when no one but the dealer will ante. Instead of allowing the blind to make his ante good, and draw cards against the dealer, each player contributes two white counters, the age adding one to his blind, and the cards are redealt for a jack pot. Another variety of this custom is when the blind is opposed by only one ante, to allow the age to make this player take down his two counters, and to pay two counters for him, to make it a jack. For instance: Five play, and A has the age. B and C pass, and D antes two counters. The dealer, E, says: “I pass for a jack.” A then puts up three counters, one of which is added to his blind, the other two paying D’s ante in the ensuing jack. D takes down his two counters, and the cards are redealt. This cannot be done if more than one player has anted, nor if the ante has been raised or the blind straddled. In the example just given, had D raised the ante to five counters and E passed, the age would have had to put up four more white counters and draw cards, or allow D to win his blind.

_=Progressive Jacks.=_ In some localities it is the custom to make the pair necessary to open a jack pot progress in value; Jacks or better to open the first round; Queens the next; then Kings; then Aces; and then back to Kings, Queens, and Jacks again. This is very confusing, and is not popular.

_=Fattening Jacks.=_ When the original ante is two counters only, and no one holds Jacks or better on the first deal, each player must contribute another white counter to “fatten,” and the cards are dealt again. This continues until the pot is opened; that is, until some player holds a hand as good or better than a pair of Jacks. The fattening process is followed when the dealer can make the original ante what he pleases; but if the ante for jacks is a fixed sum, such as a red counter, it is not usual to fatten the pot at all. This saves all disputes as to _=who is shy=_, one of the greatest nuisances in Poker.

_=Opening Jacks.=_ As there is no age or straddle in any form of jack pot, the player to the left of the dealer has the first say, and must examine his hand to see if he has Jacks or better; that is to say, either an actual pair of Jacks, or some hand that would beat a pair of Jacks if called upon to do so, such as two pairs, a straight, or triplets. In some localities it is allowed to open jacks with a _=bobtail=_; that is, four cards of a flush or straight. If the player on the dealer’s left has not openers, or does not care to open the pot if he has, he says: “I pass;” but he does not abandon his hand. The next player on his left must then declare. In some places players are allowed to throw down their cards when they pass; but in first-class games a penalty of five white counters must be paid into the pool by any player abandoning his hand before the second round of declarations, as it gives an undue advantage to players with medium hands to know that they have only a limited number of possible opponents. For instance: If six play, and the first three not only pass, but throw down and abandon their cards, a player with a pair of Jacks will know that he has only two possible adversaries to draw against him, which will so increase his chances that it may materially alter his betting.

If no one acknowledges to holding Jacks or better, the pot is fattened, and the cards are reshuffled and dealt. The best practice is for the same dealer to deal again until some one gets Jacks or better. This is called _=dealing off the jack=_. If any player has forfeited his right in one deal, such as by having a foul hand, that does not prevent him coming into the pot again on the next deal with rights equal to the other players.

If any player holds Jacks or better, he can open the pot, or “the jack,” for any amount he pleases within the betting limit. The expression “open” is used because after one player has declared that he holds Jacks or better, all restrictions are removed, and the pool is then open to any player to come in and play for it, regardless of what he may hold. Each player in turn, beginning on the left of the opener, must declare whether or not he will _=stay=_. If he stays, he must put up an amount equal to that bet by the opener, and has the privilege of raising him if he sees fit. If he passes, he throws his cards face downward on the table in front of the player whose turn it will be to deal next. Should the opener be raised, and not care to see that raise, he must show his hand to the table before abandoning it, in order to demonstrate that he had openers. Some players show only the cards necessary to open, but the strict rules require the whole hand to be shown before the draw. When once the jack is opened, the betting before the draw proceeds exactly as in the ordinary pool. Any player on the right of the opener, who passed on the first round, may come in after the pot is opened. For instance: E deals. A and B pass, but hold their hands. C opens, and D throws down his hand. E sees the opener’s bet, and it then becomes the turn of A and B, who have passed once, to say whether or not they will play, now that the pot is opened.

When all those who have declared to stay have deposited an equal amount in the pool, they draw cards to improve their hands, just as in the ordinary pool, the player on the dealer’s left being helped first. All those who draw cards, except the opener, throw their discards into the centre of the table as usual; but the opener is obliged always to place his discard under the chips in the pool. This is in order that he may be able to show what he held originally, in case he should conclude to _=split his openers=_ in order to try for a better hand. For instance: He has opened with a pair of Jacks, but has four of one suit in his hand. Four other players have stayed, perhaps the bet has been raised, and he knows that his Jacks will probably be worthless, even if he gets a third. So he breaks the pair, and draws for a flush. As the opener always places his discard under the chips in the pool, it is not necessary for him to betray his game by telling the whole table that he is drawing to a bobtail.

_=False Openers.=_ Should a player open a jack without the hand to justify it, and discover his error before he draws, the best usage demands that his hand is foul, and that he forfeits to the pool whatever amount he may have opened for, and any raises that he may have stood. There are then three ways to play: _=First.=_ Those who have come in under the impression that the pot had been legitimately opened but who have not openers themselves, can withdraw their money, and allow any one to open it who has openers. This is very unfair to those on the left of the false opener who have abandoned their hands. _=Second.=_ Those who have come into the pot after the false opening are allowed to stay in, and play for it, no matter what their hands are. _=Third.=_ On discovery of the false opening, each player is allowed to take down whatever amount he may have paid into the pool, including his original ante and all fatteners, and the false opener must then make the entire amount good. The cards are then dealt afresh. This is a very harsh punishment for a very trifling and common error.

The second method is the most popular, and probably the fairest, and is now the universal rule.

If the false opener does not discover his mistake until he has drawn cards, his action is at least suspicious, and he should be compelled to put up the total amount in the pool, as in case three. In some localities such a player is barred from playing the next two jacks, but compelled to ante his share in each.

_=Betting Jacks.=_ When a jack pot has been properly opened, and all have declared whether or not they will stay, and have drawn cards, the players proceed to bet on their hands. As there is no age in jack pots, the rule is for the opener to make the first bet; or, if he has been raised out before the draw, the player next on his left who still holds cards. The opener may decline to bet if he pleases; but if he does so, he must show his openers, and then abandon his hand. If no bet is made, the last player holding cards takes the pool without showing his hand. If a bet is made, each player in turn on the left must abdicate, better, or call, just as in the ordinary pool. At the conclusion of the betting, if there is a call, the best poker hand wins, of course. If there is no call, the player making the last bet or raise takes the pool without showing his hand, unless he is the opener, when the whole hand need not be shown, as it is no one’s business what the opener got in the draw, no one having paid to see it. All he need show is openers. But should the opener be one of those in the final call, he must show his whole hand. Should it then be discovered that he has not openers, the false opener is compelled to ante for all the players at the table for another Jack. This is usually called giving them a “free ride.”

_=The Kitty=_ is now an almost universal adjunct to the pool. In clubs, it pays for the cards, and for an occasional round of refreshments; in small poker parties it defrays the expense of the weekly supper. When the amount is excessive, or accumulates too rapidly, it is often used to give the players a “free ride” by paying all their antes in a “kitty jack pot.”

The kitty is usually kept by the banker, who takes a white counter out of every pool in which triplets or better are shown to the board, and a red counter out of every jack pot. These counters must be kept apart from the other chips, and must be accounted for at the end of the game by paying the kitty so much in cash, just as if it was one of the players.

Gambling houses and poker rooms are supposed to derive their entire revenue from this source, and those of the lowest class invent endless excuses for taking out for the kitty. In many houses there is a sliding scale for various hands; one counter being taken for two pairs; two counters for triplets; three for straights or flushes; and a red for fours, jack pots, and misdeals. It is not uncommon for the proprietors of such games to find thirty or forty dollars in the kitty after a night’s play with five-cent chips.