In Faro there is no such advantage, and no honest faro bank can live. It is for that reason that the game is not played at Monte Carlo, in spite of the many thousands of Americans who have begged the management to introduce it. The so-called percentage of “splits” at Faro is a mere sham, and any candid dealer will admit that they do not pay for the gas. Roulette, Rouge et Noir, Keno, and Chuck Luck are all percentage games, although the banker in the latter is seldom satisfied with his legitimate gains. The peculiarity about all percentage banking games is that no system, as a system, will beat them. The mathematical expectation of loss is so nicely adjusted to the probabilities of gain that the player must always get just a little the worst of it if he will only play long enough. Take any system of martingales, and suppose for the sake of illustration that in 1000 coups you will win 180 counters. The mathematical expectation of the game is such that just about once in a thousand coups your martingale will carry you to a point in which you will lose 200 counters, leaving you just 20 behind on every 1000 if you keep on playing. Every system has been carefully investigated, and enormous labour has been expended on the compilation of tables recording for a long series of time every number rolled at Roulette, and every coup raked in at Rouge et Noir, and the result of all systems is found to be the same, the bank succeeds in building up its percentage like a coral island, while the player’s money disappears like water in the sand. VINGT-ET-UN.
Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, and back again. But mind the old witch doesn t catch you. --London (Miss Dendy). IX. How many miles to Barley Bridge? Three score and ten. Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, if your legs be long. A courtesy to you, and a courtesy to you, If you please will you let the king s horses through? Through and through shall they go, For the king s sake; But the one that is the hindmost Will meet with a great mistake. --Halliwell s _Popular Rhymes_, p. 217. X.
[Illustration: O O O O . . O . . . ] The pins are set as shown in the diagram. Three balls (not exceeding 6 inches in size) are bowled in each inning. Should a left-handed bowler be bowling, the second quarter pin can be set up on the left quarter spot. Strikes and spares count five each. No penalties are attached.
| -- | -- | -- | | 22.| -- | -- | -- | | 23.| -- | -- | -- | |[8.]| -- | -- | -- | | 24.|You shall have a nice |You shall have a young|She shall have a nice | | |young man. |man. |young man. | | 25.| -- | -- | -- | | 26.| -- | -- | -- | | 27.
_=CUTTING.=_ The player cutting the highest écarté card deals the first hand, and has the choice of seats and cards. If a person exposes more than one card in cutting, the lowest is taken to be his cut. If he does not cut, or will not show his cut, he loses the first deal. _=STAKES.=_ Écarté is played for so much a game. If the gallery is betting, all money offered must be placed on the table, and if the bets are not taken by the players, they may be covered by the opposing gallery. _=DEALING.=_ It is usual for the dealer to invite his adversary to shuffle the cards, but if two packs are used this is not necessary. The dealer must shuffle the pack and present it to his adversary to be cut.
Chickidy Hand Chickidy hand, Chickidy hand, The Warner, my Cock, Crows at four in the morning. Several boys, placing their clasped fists against a lamp-post, say these lines, after which they run out, hands still clasped. One in the middle tries to catch as many as possible, forming them in a long string, hand in hand, as they are caught. Those still free try to break through the line and rescue the prisoners. If they succeed in parting the line, they may carry one boy pig-a-back to the lamp-post, who becomes safe. The boy caught last but one becomes it in the next game.--Deptford, Kent (Miss Chase). See Hunt the Staigie, Stag Warning, Whiddy. Chinnup A game played with hooked sticks and a ball, also called Shinnup. Same as Hockey.
] _=22.=_ If in playing a pushing stroke the striker pushes more than once it is unfair, and any score he may make does not count. His opponent follows by breaking the balls. _=23.=_ If in the act of drawing back his cue the striker knocks the ball into a pocket, it counts three to the opponent, and is reckoned a stroke. _=24.=_ If a foul stroke be made while giving a miss, the adversary may enforce the penalty or claim the miss, but he cannot do both. _=25.=_ If either player take up a ball, unless by consent, the adversary may have it replaced, or may have the balls broken; but if any other person touches or takes up a ball it must be replaced by the marker as nearly as possible. _=26.
=_ The pone then plays a 5, which, added to the 10 just announced by the dealer, makes 15, with a run of five cards; seven holes to peg altogether. (This is quite independent of the sequence previously scored, just as the double pair royal was of the previous single pair.) The dealer now plays a deuce, and announces seventeen. This card does not form any sequence with those that have gone immediately before it, because if the order of play is retraced it will be found that another deuce is encountered before we reach the Four. This illustrates the rule already given, that sequences formed in play must always be single, and cannot be reckoned with substitute cards, like pairs royal. If they could, the last player in this case might claim a double run of five and a pair. The pone now plays another 4, which forms the sequence afresh if we go back to the third card played. He announces: “Twenty-one, with a run of five,” and pegs five holes more. The dealer plays a 3, also claiming a run of five, which he pegs, and as that is the last card to be played in that hand he also pegs one hole for _=last card=_. The total score of the dealer is now 10 points, and that of the pone is 15.
Both are played with a full pack of fifty-two cards; the positions of the players, arrangements for counters, decision of the betting limit, etc., being the same as in Draw Poker. Three to twelve players may form a table. There is a special value attached to three cards which are known as _=braggers=_. These again have a rank of their own; the best being the _=ace of diamonds=_; then the _=Jack of clubs=_, and then the _=nine of diamonds=_. All other cards rank as in Poker. A player to whom any one of these braggers is dealt may call it anything he pleases. If he has a pair of nines and a bragger, or a nine and two braggers, he may call them three nines, and bet on them as such. In this respect braggers resemble mistigris, already described in connection with Draw Poker; but in Brag a natural pair or triplet outranks one made with the aid of a bragger. Three eights will beat an eight and two braggers.
II. Here stands a young lady [lass] who wants a sweetheart, Wants a sweetheart, wants a sweetheart, And don t know where to find one, find one, find one. Choose the prettiest that you loves best. Now you re married I wish you joy, First a girl and then a boy, Seven years after son and daughter, Pray you come to kiss together. --Longcot, Berkshire (Miss I. Barclay). (_b_) A ring is formed by the players joining hands, one child standing in the centre. The ring dance round singing the first four lines. At the fourth line the child in the centre chooses one from the ring, who goes into the centre with her. The marriage formula or chorus is then sung, the two kiss, and the one who was first in the centre joins the ring, the second one choosing another in her turn.
_=The Pone=_, who is the partner of the eldest hand, orders up at the bridge on exactly opposite principles. The fact that the eldest hand did not order up shows that the dealer cannot make a lone hand. This should indicate to the pone that his partner has a certain trick in trumps, and if the pone holds any good trumps himself, he can often guess what his partner’s trumps are. For instance: The ace is turned, and the pone holds the left bower guarded. The eldest hand must have the right bower, or four trumps to the King. If the eldest hand has passed at the bridge, and the pone has strong trumps himself, especially the ace or left bower and two small trumps, he should order up the trump; not to save the game, but to be sure of winning it by preventing the dealer from turning it down. If the pone does not order up at the bridge, the eldest hand may infer that he is weak in trumps. When it is not a bridge, the pone should be guided by the same principles as those given for the eldest hand, because he may be sure that his partner will make it next if it is turned down, unless he has a certainty of three tricks by crossing. If a player calls his partner’s attention to the fact that they are at the bridge, both lose their right to order up. _=ASSISTING.
Bets on the numbers from 18 to 3 are upon the total count of the pips on the upper faces of the three dice. The small figures under these numbers show the odds paid; 14, for instance, pays twelve for one. All raffles pay 180 for one; the same as 18 or 3. Bets on High and Low, Odd or Even, pay even money. High throws are all above 10, and low throws are all below 11. This would be perfectly even betting if the house did not take raffles. Some houses allow a player to bet on raffles generally; that is, to bet that a raffle of some kind will come. Such bets are paid 30 for 1. The percentage of the house, even in a square game, may be seen from the following table, which gives the odds against the event, and the odds which the house pays:-- The odds against 3 or 18 are 215 to 1; the house pays 180 ” 4 ” 17 ” 71 ” 1 ” 60 ” 5 ” 16 ” 35 ” 1 ” 29 ” 6 ” 15 ” 20½ ” 1 ” 18 ” 7 ” 14 ” 13¼ ” 1 ” 12 ” 8 ” 13 ” 9¼ ” 1 ” 8 ” 9 ” 12 ” 7¼ ” 1 ” 6 ” 10 ” 11 ” 7 ” 1 ” 6 _=Cheating.=_ There are endless ways of swindling at Chuck-luck, the most modern being to turn the dice over after they have reached the table through the funnel.