Deceptions used in Various Games. - All Fours.

four, five, or six-handed game. By signs they tell one another what they have in their hands, when to beg, and when to stand, and what to play; all this can be done, and they will defy an old gamester to detect them, as their signs have no appearance of being designed as such; so that the nicest observer would always fail to get any ocular evidence that they were playing by signs.

Big hands. This is a hand that is stocked, and is put up very often in playing for fun, in order to get bets on it, as it is much more easy to stock in playing for fun than otherwise, as there seems to be no occasion for watching, and the dealer will so stock them as to give his opponent a hand that he would be easily enticed to bet on; for, to all appearance, it would be as easy for him to make four as two, and he very readily bets on it. Now, we will suppose him to be three. He gets, at the next deal, an ace, king, queen, jack, ten, and deuce of diamonds, and clubs are turned up trumps. He gives himself six low cards without any game. You then beg; he runs them, and gives you the remaining three kings, and himself the remaining three aces. Now, if you are silent, he will be apt to say, "My hand is poor, and I will give you all you can make," and, you having a very superior hand, viz., ace, king, queen, jack, ten, and deuce of trumps, with the kings of spades, clubs, and hearts, will claim four times, and so would any player, from the poorest to the best; your hand bids more than fair to make it. But he will readily offer to bet you cannot; the greater the amount, the better for him, as he is sure of winning. He takes your bet, and plays; and after you have played out your trumps, his three aces catch your three kings, which altogether count him twenty-one,

while your ace, king, queen, jack, and ten of trumps, count you but twenty, and he wins the game. This hand is very deceptive, and unusually enticing; it will deceive the very best players, and I have seen men bet on it the second and third time, thinking they had surely made a misplay; but it is impossible for them to win unless the dealer chooses to let them, in order to entice them still further on, or to get a larger bet on the same game again; for which purpose they sometimes choose to play in a manner that is called throwing the game away, in order to make you think that when you lost, you might have won if you had played rightly. I have seen bets run as high as five to one in favor of this hand; so certain was the holder of winning, that he readily risked this odds; but he invariably lost.

There is another hand, called a big hand, that is sometimes played in this game. It is a trick, and is done as follows: You may be playing for amusement only; the dealer will lay out two hands, with their faces upwards; one will be a very good hand, and the other a very poor one. He will then tell you that you can make any suit trumps which you please, and take choice of hands. Of course you will make the trump to suit the best hand. He will then offer to bet you a sum that you cannot take the good hand and make four, or the poor hand, and make one. The good hand promises so fairly to make four, that you would be very likely to bet and take the good hand. But you would lose; for you could only make high, low, jack, and ten for game, while he would make eleven, and beat you. This is a very enticing trick, and I would advise all persons not to bet on it, if it should ever be proposed to them. The player says, you may have choice; but he, by all means, prefers that you

Deceptions used in Various Games. — - All Fours.

would take the large hand, and try to make four; for the little hand can always make one if played right; but very few men who play cards will make one from it. None but veterans, or such as have, through particular favor, been initiated into the secret by them, will do it; for there are so many ways to play it wrong, that it is seldom played right. There are, also, other games, where the cards are turned up similarly to the one just described; but never suffer yourself to be enticed into betting on any of them; for the man that will propose them will always beat you.

Three up. The points in the game of all fours are frequently reduced to three; for what purpose I know not, unless to enable the gambler to strip his victim much sooner than he might otherwise be able to do; it being a well-known fact, that the habitual gamester generally prefers short games. When this game is so rendered, it is called "three up;" at which, each player receives but three cards, and a trump is turned. It is

seven up.

just like five up in every other respect; and the person who makes three points first, is out, and wins the game. There is great room in this game for the gambler to exercise his tricks. Every cheat that is practised in seven up, can be practised in this game. The following are but variations of some of the principal cheats in A and B may be playing; A steals out seven cards, as follows: he takes the ace, king, queen, jack, five, and six, (as we will suppose,) of hearts, and a five of spades. He then puts down the six of hearts, back up; this is meant for the trump. On this he places next the five of hearts, then the ace, then the five of spades, then the queen, then king, then jack. A has these cards stocked in this manner; and when it is B's deal, A will

Deceptions used in Various Games.. -All Fours.

take the pack to cut, and has a right to shuffle them; in doing which, he palms those seven cards on the top; then cuts and slips the cut on top again, and hands the cards to B to deal. A gets the king and two fives, while B gets the ace, jack, and queen. A will then beg, and at the same time say to B, "If you will give me one, I will make three;" B thinks this almost impossible, as he supposes that his ace, queen, and jack are good for high, jack, and game. He will be apt to bet that he will make it. And if he should bet, as he would be likely to do, A will play his five of spades, B will play his jack, and leads his ace. A plays his five of hearts; B leads his queen, and A takes it with his king, and makes low, gift, and game. B having given him one, and his five being low, he has king and queen, which make him five for game. B has ace and jack, which make him five also; but as he dealt, (the dealer losing all tie games,) A makes three times, and wins.

Another cheat is practised in three up, as follows: A and B are at play; A is one, and B is two points. A deals, and gives B three aces; that is, the aces of spades, hearts, and diamonds, and clubs will be trumps. B begs, well knowing that some one of the suits of which he has the ace will be the next trump. He will then feel sure of winning, as his ace will be high. He will be very apt to say, "It matters not what is trumps; I shall go out." A will say, "If you will bet me three to one, I you do not go out." And as B considers that A is ignorant of what he holds, he will feel safe in betting him; which if he does, A will run them, and turn up for trump the jack of clubs, which makes him, also, two. Now, as clubs was first trumps, he must still run further, and A turns another jack, which wins him the game, as

will bet

high is of no avail when the dealer has but one to make, and turns jack. This trick is done by stocking and palming, and is well understood by all the gamblers.

I have not attempted here to give a full and complete knowledge of all the cheats that are practised in these games. If the expositions here given shall deter persons from betting and gambling, my purpose will be accomplished, as gaming can never result in good, and is sure to result in evil. If one, by losing, should receive a profitable lesson, and reform, the other, by winning, receives new encouragement to continue in his evil course, daily spreading ruin and misery where, before, all had been peace and contentment.

WHIST.

This is probably one of the most scientific of all the games that are played with cards, requiring deeper study and longer practice than any other, to be thoroughly understood and successfully played. The strict silence which is required to be observed during the progress of it, gave rise to the name by which it is called. Mr. Hoyle, in his Treatise on Gaming, has given a very particular account of this one; and when it is played as he directs, it is a comparatively fair game. But this is no sufficient reason for perpetuating a recreation, which, at every step, exercises the most dangerous influence over the minds and actions of those who practise it. This game, however, in common with all others, as played by the habitual votaries of gaming, is a continual