MARKED CARDS, “BUGS,” AND OTHER DEVICES FOR THE UNWARY
“But whiles he thought to steal the single ten,
The king was slily finger’d from the deck!”
Henry VI., Part III. Act V., Scene 1st.
As it is just as well to be on one’s guard against the devices of swindlers
and the mechanical contrivances of fraudulent poker players, I will give the
reader an idea of the “bug,” marked cards, and other traps for the
unwary. Of the devices regularly manufactured and sold for the aid and comfort
of professional poker players, a conspicuous one is the “hold-out,”
which enables the gambler to hold out from three to fiftytwo cards, so that
he may supply his hand from this extra source without danger of detection. There
are vest “hold-outs,” coat “hold-outs,” the “bug”
or table “hold-out,” and the ring “hold-out.”
The “bug,” an illustration of which is printed herewith, is about
as simple a contrivance as can well be imagined. It is made in various styles,
but consists usually of a small wooden nob about the size of a chestnut. Into
this is inserted a piece of watch-spring four or five inches long, with a decided
upward tendency. When the head of a small steel nail with a very sharp point
has also been inserted in the nob, the “bug” is ready for business.
In the illustration a man’s hand is just about placing it
underneath the table. The sharp point is stuck into the table a few inches from
the edge, and when firmly fixed the watch-spring with the upward tendency makes
connection with the flat under surface, and a convenient place for placing extra
cards is thus secured. In a game of poker a few extra kings, queens, and aces
are, of course, always desirable. There are also various kinds of reflectors
or mirrors to be used so that the dealer may learn what cards he is dealing
to an opponent. “A table reflector to fit any table, very fine, cannot
be detected, a valuable article for a dealer at stud poker,” is highly
prized. So is a reflector in a pipe, all complete, with pipe ready for use.
There is also a reflector to fasten on a pile of greenbacks, and “a reflector
to set in five faro or poker chips, set in chips ready for use.”
Nearly everybody has heard of playing cards with marked backs, but comparatively
few have heard of quite as common a device among gamblers known as stripping.
Cards that are stripped are simply cut a very little narrower and shorter than
the other cards in the pack, and in consequence, the cards which are not stripped
are very easily detected by the delicate hand of the experienced gambler, and
are put readily in desired positions.
MARKED CARDS
“Master Sure- Card, as I think.”
Henry IV. Part II. Act III., Scene 2d.
The accompanying pictures of sections of cards with marked backs show clearly one of the many ingenious devices. There are two flowers on the lower left-hand corner, which are varied to designate the suit and the size of the card. The lower flower has three leaves. When the upper leaf is the largest of the three, the card is a club; when the center leaf is the largest, it is
a diamond; when the lower leaf is the largest, it is a heart; and when all the
leaves are of the same size, the card is a spade.
The size of the cards is determined by the upper flower, first by its design
and secondly by the direction in which it points. If it is of a smooth clover
design, it designates one of five cards, beginning with the ace and ending with
the ten-spot, accordingly as it points upward, at an acute angle, at right angles,
at an acute angle downward, or straight down.
If it is rather quaint and angular in design, it, designates one of five cards,
beginning with the nine and ending with the five. These two flowers are illustrated
in the accompanying cuts, showing the ace and king, the nine-spot and eight.
The four-spot, the tray, and the deuce are designated by a, two-leafed flower
shown in three different directions. The flowers which are emphasized in the
cuts and marked in black are, of course, on the back of the card itself lost
in the general design, and can only be distinguished by a practiced eye.
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