_DESCRIPTION_.
The game of Poker is played with an ordinary pack of fifty-two cards.
The number of players is limited only by the number of cards,
but in practice it is found better to limit each table to five,
or at most six, players.
The cards have the same values as at Whist, _i.e._ ace is the highest
in each suit; then follow king, queen, knave, ten, etc., down to two.
In "sequences," however, the ace is the lowest card, and the king the
highest.
The suit of hearts, _ceteris paribus_, takes precedence of other suits.
Before beginning play, it is customary and advisable to agree upon a
sum (technically called the "limit" or "rise") which shall be the maximum
stake permitted to be made by a player at one time; or, in other words,
which shall be the greatest sum by which he may increase the stake at
any one time.
The "limit," of course, does not refer to the total amount of a player's
stakes, and it is understood that a player may stake _less_ than the limit
at any time, but not _more_.
After being seated, the players cut for the deal, and the player who
cuts the lowest card deals first. If two or more players cut equal
lowest cards, these players must cut again for the deal.
[32]
The duty of dealing in each game after the first, devolves upon the
player to the left of the previous dealer.
Before beginning play, every player has a right to shuffle the pack;
the dealer has a right to the last shuffle. After being shuffled,
the pack must be cut by the player to the right of the dealer.
The player to the left of the dealer then stakes a certain fixed sum
(generally small in comparison with the limit) which is called the "ante."
This initial stake must in every game be laid by the player to the left
of the dealer, before the cards are dealt. He is, in fact, identified
with this initial stake, and is known as "ante" throughout the game.
After "ante" has staked, the player to his left, who is called No. 1,
has the option of "straddling," _i.e._ of staking a sum double that of
the ante. If No. 1 does not straddle the ante, no other player may do so,
and the dealer proceeds to deal the cards.
If No. 1 straddle the ante, the player to his left has the same option, and
may increase the straddle by the amount of the ante. This may go on round
the table, each player in turn having the right to increase the straddle
before the deal; but the ante may not be increased by any straddle,
or by successive straddles, to an amount exceeding one-half of the limit.
To illustrate this, let us suppose the limit be two shillings and the
ante be one penny. This latter sum is staked (_i.e._ placed in the
middle of the table before him) by the player on the left of the dealer.
No. 1 then has the right to straddle the ante, and he may stake two pence.
No. 2 then has the same option, and may, if he wish, increase the straddle
by one penny. When the sum staked in this way by successive players
reaches one shilling (half the limit), the straddling must cease,
and the cards must be dealt. [33] It should be fully understood that if
No. 1 does not exercise his right to straddle, no other player may do so.
The dealer, beginning with the player at his left hand, then deals one
card, face downwards, to each player (himself included) in succession,
until every player has received five cards.¹ He then places the remainder
of the pack before him on the table, face downwards. After the cards
have been dealt the betting before the draw begins.
¹ These five cards constitute the "hand," and in no case may
a player have a greater or less number of cards than five.
_If the ante has not been straddled_, the player to the left of ante
has the "say," and may begin the betting before the draw.