FARO.

This is one of the oldest banking games, and is supposed to be of Italian origin. It belongs to the same family as Lansquenet, Florentini, and Monte Bank. Under the name of Pharaon, it was in great favour during the reign of Louis XIV., and came to America by way of New Orleans. As originally played, the dealer held the cards in his left hand, and any bets once put down could not again be taken up until they were decided. In addition to splits, the dealer took hockelty.

As now played, Faro requires extensive and costly apparatus, the engraved counters used being often worth more than their playing value.

A full pack of fifty-two cards is shuffled and cut by the dealer, and then placed face upward in a dealing box, the top of which is open. The cards are drawn from this box in couples, by pushing them one at a time through a slit in the side. As the cards are withdrawn in this manner a spring pushes the remainder of the pack upward. The first card in sight at the beginning of each deal is called soda, and the last card left in the box is in hoc.

The first card withdrawn is placed about six inches from the box, and the second is laid close to the box itself.

Every two cards withdrawn in this manner are called a turn, and there are twenty-five turns in each deal, Soda and Hoc being dead cards. In making the first turn, the Soda begins the pile farther from the box, and the next card taken out is called a loser, which is placed close to the box. The card left face upward in the box is the winner for that turn, so that there must be a winner and a loser for every turn; the loser outside the box, and the winner left in it. On the next and all following turns, the winning card on the previous turn will be placed on the same pile as the Soda, so that it shall be possible at any time to decide which cards have won, and which have lost.

The Object of the Game is for the players to guess whether the various cards on which they place their money will win or lose. They are at liberty to select any card they please, from the ace to the King, and to bet any amount within the established limit of the bank.

The Layout. All bets are made with counters of various colors and values, which are sold to the players by the dealer, and may be redeemed at any time. These counters are placed on the layout, which is a complete suit of spades, enamelled on green cloth, sufficient space being left between the cards for the players to place their bets. The ace is on the dealer’s left.

There are a great many ways of placing bets at Faro. For instance: A player may make bets covering twenty-one different combinations of cards, all of which would play the Ten to win, as follows:—

If the first bet is supposed to be flat upon the Ten itself, 2, 3 and 4 would take in the card next the Ten; 5 the cards on each side with the Ten; 6 and 7 the three cards behind which the bets are placed, the Ten being one in each instance; 8 and 9 take in the Ten and the card one remove from it in either direction; 10 and 11 are the same thing, but placed on the other card; 12 to 17 inclusive take in the various triangles of which the bet is the middle card; 18 and 19 take in the four cards surrounding them; 20 and 21 are heeled bets, the bottom counter being flat on the corner of the card, and the remainder being tilted over toward the card diagonally across from the one on which the bet is placed, playing both cards to win. In addition to these twenty-one bets, others might be made by heeling bets that would take certain cards to lose, and the Ten to win. Bets may also be strung behind odd or even cards on the side next the dealer. These show that the player bets the next case card that comes will win if it is an even card, and lose if it is odd; that is, if he places his string behind an even card.

If the player thinks a card will win, he bets it open, that is, with nothing but his counters. If he wants to play a card to lose, he coppers it, by placing a checker or button on his chips. If a player wishes to reach two cards widely separated, such as the deuce and Seven, and has not money enough to bet on both; he can ask the dealer for a marker, which is a flat oblong piece of ivory. This is placed on the card to be played with the same money, and the dealer may either trust his memory for the bet, or place another marker on it.

After the dealer has waved his hand preparatory to pushing the top card from the box, no bet can be made or changed. After the turn is made, the dealer first picks up all the bets he wins, and then pays all he loses, after which he waits for the players to rearrange their bets for the next turn. Between each turn a player may make any change he pleases. A lookout sits on the right of the dealer to see that he pays and takes correctly, and to watch that no bets are changed, or coppers slipped off, during the turn.

Splits. If two cards of the same denomination win and lose on the same turn, it is a split, and the dealer takes half the bets on the split card, no matter whether it is bet to win or lose. Splits should come about three times in two deals if the cards are honestly dealt.

Keeping Cases. As the cards are withdrawn from the box they are marked on a case-keeper, which is a suit of thirteen cards, with four buttons running on a steel rod opposite each of them. As the cards come out, these buttons are pushed along, so that the player may know how many of each card are still to come, and what cards are left in for the last turn. In brace games, when the cards are pulled out two at a time to change the run of them, the case-keeper is always a confederate of the dealer, and is signalled what cards have been pulled out under the cards shown, so that he can secretly mark them up. A bet placed or left upon a card of which none are left in the box is called a sleeper, and is public property; the first man that can get his hands on it keeps it.

When only one card of any denomination is in the box, it is obvious that such a card cannot be split, and that the bank has no advantage of the player. Such cards are called cases, and the betting limit on cases is only half the amount allowed on other cards. It is not considered comme il faut for a player to wait for cases, and those who play regularly usually make a number of small bets during the early part of the deal, and then bet high on the cases as they come along. A player who goes upon the principle that the dealer can cheat those who bet high, and who follows and goes against the big bets with small ones, or who plays one-chip bets all over the board, hoping to strike a good spot to fish on, is called a piker; and when a game runs small this way, the dealers call it a piking game.

Keeping Tab. In addition to the case-keeper, score sheets are provided on which the players may keep a record of what cards win and lose on each turn. These tabs are printed in vertical columns, about five deals to a sheet. A dot indicates the soda card; a dash, hoc. All winners are marked with a down stroke, and all losers with a cypher. The diagram in the margin will give a very good idea of a faro tab for a complete deal. The Queen was soda, the Five split out, and the Eight was in hoc.

A0010
20111
30011
41000
500X
61111
70110
8110-
90101
100000
J1110
Q.010
K1011

Systems. On the manner in which the cards will go, a great many systems of play are based. There are sixteen different ways for a card to “play,” which are simply the permutations of the stroke and the cypher arranged in rows of four at a time. If a player is betting three on a side, he will take each card as it becomes a case, and bet that it either wins three times and loses once, or loses once and wins three times. In the foregoing deal he would have bet on the A 3 4 6 9 J to lose on the fourth card out of the box, and would have bet on the case cards of the 2 7 8 10 Q K to win. The Soda, it must be remembered, is really a winning card. Of these bets he would have won 5 out of twelve, taking back his money on the 8, as that card was left in hoc. Playing break even, these bets would have been exactly reversed, as all the cards would have played either to win and lose an equal number of times, or to win or lose out; that is, to do the same thing all four times.

Another favourite system is colours. The player takes some definite card, such as the soda, or the first winner or loser, as his starter, and whatever the colour of the third card of each denomination, that is, the card that makes it a case, he plays it to win or lose, according to the system of colours he is playing. Many players reverse on the last turn.

When a player bets one card to lose and another to win, and loses both bets on the same turn, he is whipsawed.

The Last Turn. If three different cards are left in for the last turn, the players can call the turn, naming the order in which they think the cards will be found. Suppose the three cards left in the box are the 9 8 2, these may come in six different ways:—

9 8 29 2 88 9 28 2 92 9 82 8 9

The odds against any one of these ways are 5 to 1; but the dealer pays 4 for 1 only. In calling the turn, the bet is strung from the selected loser to the selected winner. If the third card intervenes, the bet is strung away from it, to show that it goes round the layout to the other card.

If there are two cards of the same denomination in the last turn, it is called a cat-hop; and as it can come only three ways, the dealer pays 2 for 1. Suppose the cards are 8 8 5, they can come:—

8 8 58 5 85 8 8

If three cards of the same denomination are left, the call is by the colour, and is paid 2 for 1. Suppose two black and one red card are left. These may come:—

B B RB R BR B B

The bets are placed on the dealer’s right for red first; on his left for black and red, and in front of him for two blacks.

CHEATING. If Faro were honestly played, it would be one of the prettiest banking games in the world; but unfortunately the money to be made at this game is so great that the richest prizes in the gambling world are offered to the men who can so handle the cards as to “protect the money of the house.” All systems are not only worthless, but dangerous to use, when opposed to the skill of the modern faro dealer. A first-class “mechanic” can get from one to two hundred dollars a week, and a percentage of the profits; but it is hardly necessary to say that he is not paid that amount simply for pulling cards out of a box. Before venturing to “buck the tiger” get some one to show you how fifty-three cards are shuffled up, so as to make the last turn come the way that there is most money in it for the house. Watch the movements carefully, so that you will know them the next time you see them in a fashionable house, which you imagine to be “dead square.” If you see a dealer with a shuffling board as thick as his dealing box, don’t play against that game. If you see a dealer take up the cards already taken from the box, slipping them one under the other, as if to straighten them up, the sooner you cash your chips the better, for you are up against a brace game, no matter where it is dealt.

The proprietors of some fashionable “clubs,” especially at watering places, pretend to be above all such things as cheating at faro, and get indignant at the suggestion of the possibility of there being anything crooked in their establishments. The author has but one reply to all such. If it is true that there is nothing unfair in your game, let me put a type-writer girl in the dealer’s place to shuffle and pull out the cards, and let your men just see to paying and taking bets.

The boast of all these fashionable gambling houses is that they never won a man’s money except in a square game. Strange to say, this is generally true, and the explanation is very simple. If you are losing there is no necessity to cheat you, so you lose your money in a square game. If you are winning, it is the bank’s money, and not yours, that they would win if they started to cheat you; and as the dealer is paid to “protect the money of the house,” as they call it, he is perfectly justified in throwing the harpoon into you for a few deals, just to get his own money back; but he is very careful not to cheat you out of any of your own money. You may lose if you like, but you cannot win; faro banks are not run that way.