PLUCKING THE SUCKERS.
There are so many different devices resorted to by the professional
gambler in order to secure the money of his victim without showing that
he has been cheating, that it is almost an impossibility to recall
them all from memory, but a few may be noted. The game of faro was so
thoroughly described in the recent Mathieson-Kleiser Police court case
that it is only necessary to show by a single illustration how the
uninitiated can be cheated under his very nose without the slightest
danger of the dealer being detected. In playing a brace game the dealer
procures a deck known as “strippers,” which are made out of thin and
elastic cards. The deck is first cut perfectly square, and then trimmed
in such a manner as to resemble a wedge, being a trifle wider at one
end than at the other, so trifling that no one out of the secret could
notice it. It is then decided if the deck is to be arranged so as to play
one end against the other; that is the ace, deuce, tray, king, queen,
and jack against the four, five, six, ten, nine, eight. The first-named
cards, with two of the sevens, are placed together, making one half of
the deck; then the latter-named cards, with the other two sevens, which
constitute the other half of the deck, are placed together, being still
smooth and even on the edges. They are then divided equally, after which
one half is turned round, and you have a deck of “strippers,” which
the dealer can manipulate so successfully that it is impossible for a
better to win. The “capper,” who plays in with the dealer, the screw box,
sanding the cards, playing with fifty-three instead of fifty-two cards,
and preparing the cards so that two can be drawn from the box at once,
and still adhere to each other, at the will of the dealer, are a few of
the difficulties a better has to overcome before he can win any money at
faro.
The most popular game played in the city, however, is draw poker, and
this game is not confined to the gambler’s den or the club room.
IN A FRAUDULENT GAME
there are generally two or more confederates playing in with each other
as the opportunity occurs so as to rob the strangers at the table. If
the victim be very fresh the gambler simply “stacks” the cards, which is
readily accomplished by placing them in a desired position while putting
the hands that have been played in the pack. They also pass cards from
one to the other to strengthen each other’s hands, deal from the bottom
where they have cards prepared, ring in cold decks—that is, a pack of
cards all arranged to suit the gambler, and exactly similar in appearance
to the ones in use—utilize the false cut, and make “strippers” out of,
say, four aces and four tens, so that the gambler is always sure of a
“full” hand or four of a kind; but the most ingenious method of fleecing
a young player is by using “marked” cards. To all appearances the backs
of these cards are covered simply by a fancy pattern, but the gambler
can read them off as he deals as readily as if he were looking at their
faces, so that he knows the other players’ hands before the player
himself can read them off. It requires but seventeen different marks to
a pack, four marks to designate the suits, and thirteen to designate the
cards in each suit. The mark will generally be found in the shape of a
heart, diamond, spade, or club worked ingeniously into the scroll work,
but some times an old hand at cheating will buy a pack with marks that
require a “key” before they can be deciphered.