The Player Without an Ally

IT IS the general belief that it takes two to obtain any advantage in a card game with knowing players–the dealer and the man who cuts. That this is generally true cannot be denied, but it is by no means always so. There are many ways of beating the game alone, and though the percentage in favor of the single player may be less in any given instance, it is pretty constant and quite sufficient to insure a very comfortable living to many clever people, though the card table is their sole source of revenue.

The greatest obstacle in the path of the lone player is the cut. It is the beté noir of his existence. Were it not for this formality his deal would mean the money. Though he may run up a hand however cleverly, the cut sends him to sea again. "Put your faith in Providence, but always cut the cards," is a wise injunction. Sometimes the cut is not made, and the adept dearly loves to sit on the left of a player who is careless enough to occasionally say, "Run them"–i.e., he waives the cut. Professional players always calculate on such a possibility, and will continue to stock on every deal to some extent with that chance in view.

Dealing Without the Cut

WHEN the dealer has desired cards on the bottom and the cut is made without replacing the two packets, he will pick up the packet that was under and immediately proceed to deal from that alone. In this way he can get the under cards by bottom dealing. The cut is usually made in this way, and the dealer aids the play by being ready to seize the under packet as the top is lifted off. However, if the company will not stand for this, and some one says, "Carry the cut," he will, of course, do so in future and turn his attention to other manoeuvres.

Replacing the Cut as Before

A DARING and yet oftentimes successful ruse of overcoming the cut difficulty is to pick up the under packet with the right hand, and instead of placing it on the other packet it is slid across the table into the left hand, and then the second packet placed on top in the same way. The packets may be picked up by the right hand instead of sliding them. The move is made quite openly, carelessly and without haste and is surprisingly regular in appearance. It will not pass in fast company, but the beauty of it is that if noticed it can be attributed to thoughtlessness.

Holding Out for the Cut

TO HOLD out in a card game is the riskiest and most dangerous form of taking advantage that a player may attempt, but it can be, and is, successfully practiced when cleverly performed and the player is not suspected. But the only hold out that we consider really safe is made by the dealer, and but for the moment of cutting. After a blind shuffle, with the desired cards on the bottom, the dealer palms in the left and passes the deck with the right to be cut. After the Cut he picks up the deck with the right hand and replaces the palmed cards when squaring up for the deal. Of course, this necessitates a perfect knowledge of palming and replacing, but both actions shell become possible in any kind of company, if the player is not suspected. Holding out for the cut is incomparably less risky than holding out on another’s deal; as the deck is never subject to being handled or counted, and the palmed cards remain in the dealer’s possession but for the moment.

When there are but two or three players in a game where the cards are dealt one at a time, a top stock of four or six cards may be run up and palmed in the right hand as the deck is passed for the cut. The top palm is replaced when picking up the deck, and usually by a sliding motion. This palming and replacing of the top stock is easier and perhaps less noticeable, and does not require the bottom work in the deal; but when there are five or six players, or when the cards are dealt two or more at a time, the quantity to be palmed would be too bulky.

Shifting the Cut

THERE is a current supposition that the expert player employs what is commonly known as the two-handed shift to reverse the action of the cut, but there has never been a shift invented that can be executed during a card game by movements that appear quite regular. If the professional player could always sit in with neophytes, who would stand for actions that are foreign to the usual procedure, he would have little need of special ability to get the money. In the average game where the players keep their hands, and arms also, on the table there is little opportunity to shift the cut. Still there is an opportune moment in some games when the shift may be made with probabilities of being unnoticed. It is immediately after the first deal. The dealer holds the location of the cut until the hands are dealt, and makes the shift as he lays down the deck. Then the desired cards can be dealt from the bottom during the next deal. This moment, after the first deal, is the most favorable, as the players are occupied with their hands, the cut has been made quite regularly, the deal finished and consequently there is less cause for close scrutiny. But principally because the shift can be made with a much more natural action when about to lay down the deck than when picking it up, and also because the deck is much smaller after the deal and therefore so much easier to shift. In any game where cards are dealt the second time the play holds good. But, in any event, shifting is much more noticeable than palming for the cut.

Dealing Too Many

A FAVORABLE and perhaps the most generally used advantage is in the dealer giving himself one or two extra cards on the last round. The quantity is not noticeable when lying on the table, and as the extra cards are taken on the last round there is little time for inspection. The dealer immediately picks them up with the left hand as the deck is deposited on the table by the right. The selection is made and the discard palmed and gotten rid of as described under headline, "Skinning the Hand." When holding too many in Poker, it is preferable to palm and replace the extra cards on the deck; when picking it up to deal the draw than to make the discard and throw the extra cards with it on the discard heap. The dealer palms the extra cards, lays his full hand on the table, replaces the palmed cards, deals the draw and his own draw, then makes his discard and picks up his draw.

A second method of taking too many is by palming the desired number after the deal. The left hand makes the palm as the right is about to lay down the deck. A still safer plan is to make the palm immediately after the cut when squaring up, and maintaining the palm while dealing. This can be alone perfectly and avoids the slightest hesitation or movement after the deal is finished.

Crimping for the Cut

THE probability of the unsuspecting player cutting into a crimp is always kept in view. The process of crimping is fully explained under caption "Indicating Location for the Cut." When crimping for the chance of the cut being made at that point, the bend is put in more forcibly, and sometimes if the company is not too fast, the two packets may be crimped in opposite directions, creating quite a space and thereby increasing the probabilities of the player unconsciously cutting into it. The packets may be crimped concave, or convex, as thought best for the player’s mode of cutting, but the deck should be squared up perfectly and laid down accordingly. It is the rule for players to cut in about the same manner each time. That is, he cuts high, low or near the middle, and seizes the cards by the sides or ends. The mode of cutting oftentimes becomes a habit that is unconsciously followed. The observant dealer is thus enabled to put in his crimp high or low, in about the location most favorable, and concave if the player cuts by the ends, and convex if at the sides. The deck must be laid down so that the hand which the player habitually uses will come naturally into the most favorable position to oblige the dealer. Even if the crimp is missed it still locates the stock, and the dealer has other opportunities of profiting thereby. Of course crimped cards are never dealt. The crimp is effectually taken out by bending in the opposite direction.

Replacing Palm When Cutting

AS A general rule the card expert will not hold out except on his own deal for the cut; however, we shall describe an exception that is at times worked successfully. The player on the dealer’s right may hold out a palm in either hand, and replace it when given the deck to cut. In games wherein the whole deck is dealt, the hold out is usually palmed in the right hand back to palm. When the deck is received he makes a running cut, seizing the deck by the ends in both hands. The first pass to take of the first small packet, is a blind, and the palmed cards are dropped on the table. Precisely the same movement is made as in taking off a small packet by the ends. Then the running cut is continued, leaving the palmed cards on the bottom.

Another method is to palm in the left hand face to palm. The cut is made with the right hand and then the deck placed in the left on the palmed cards, the replacing appearing as a square up. But this plan is risky, as there is little excuse for squaring upon another’s deal. If a one handed fancy cut is made with the right hand, and the cards left somewhat scattered, they may be with more propriety, taken up into both hands and squared.

A third way, and the most generally employed, is for the right hand holding the palmed cards back to palm to make a cut by the ends, and then deposit the palmed cards on the packet that was under, when picking it up to put in place. This is good in any game as the palmed cards are dealt first.

Cleverly executed, a hold-out can be replaced in cutting without attracting the least notice, but it requires as much practice and study as any other artifice. As the player who cuts was the last dealer, it usually gives him a good opportunity to hold out and arrange desired cards; and as such an advantage is on another’s deal, it greatly increases the percentages of the expert. The methods described can be successfully worked with as many as eight or ten cards, though of course the greater the number, the more probability of the dealer noticing the diminished condition of the deck;; but it requires a good judge to detect the absence of half a dozen or so. Of course cards so held out to replace when cutting are arranged so that the desirable cards will fall to the operator.

The cautious and prudent expert makes it a rule to never "hold out," or palm extra cards, or clear himself too many, or obtain more than his share through any artifice, unless the regular procedure of the game will bring the deck into his possession, so that he can get rid of the extra quantity, naturally and easily, by replacing them on the top or bottom of the pack. To Ago south" with extra cards, i. e., to drop them in the lap, or conceal them any place about the person, or hold them palmed during the play, or even to throw them on the discard heap when making his own discard, is inartistic, and risky, and unworthy of any but a neophyte or a bungler, Possibly the most closely watched procedure, and the easiest to observe in a poker game, is the number of cards that are discarded; and where there is the least suspicion, discarding too many in the ordinary way is surely detected. When playing, poker the expert will hold too many only on his own deal, and then only before the draw. He can palm and replace the extra card or cards when about to deal the draw.

In Cribbage the non-dealer may hold out one or two cards, and after the crib is laid out, replace the extra card when cutting for the turn-up. But in whatsoever game, where cards are held out at all, the rule holds good that they must be restored, and at a moment when the regular procedure of the game necessitates the handling of the deck.

Cassino gives the dealer many opportunities of holding too many, as the deck is continuously handled during the game.

The Short Deck

A SIMPLE method of obtaining an advantage in many games is that of playing with a "short" deck. Several cards are removed entirely from the pack but retained in the memory, and the game is played without them. The knowledge that these particular cards are withheld enables the strategist to make his calculations and play his own cards with a great deal more certainty. Cards held out entirely are usually destroyed, or otherwise effectually disposed of, so as to preclude the possibility of the schemer being discovered >>with the goods on him." A very bold expedient at Two Handed Cassino is to dispose of eight cards. This runs the deck to five deals instead of six. The lower cards are usually selected, and of different denominations, say the four and six of spades, and the deuce, tray, four, five, seven and eight of other suits. With this arrangement, or depletion, an adversary enjoying ordinary luck, will find in summing up his points that he does not make "cards" or "spades"in a very long time indeed, and of course he credits his opponent with three points. The idea of so many cards being withheld from the deck without being noticed will doubtless cause certain Cassino players to smile. We don’t think many shrewd players could be so imposed upon, but we regret the truth of the confession that once upon a time we were, and we marveled greatly and also sorrowed, over a continuous and very protracted run of "hard luck."