LOOK-OUT. The look-out is the man who is supposed to keep every thing straight, and see that no mistake is made, and that the dealer does not neglect to lift any money that he has won.
M
MARKER. Marking is frequently done in playing the game of faro. It is something put down on the card, a pencil, a knife, or any thing, to represent any amount of money the player pleases. He says: I bet $5, $10, $50, or $100, as it suits him and his finances. This saves him from delaying the game by going through his pockets for the exact money he wants. When the deal is out, he settles.
N
NUDGE. This is not often practised at the game of faro; it is applicable, as its name implies, to cribbage and similar games. The office of a nudger is to touch an associate with his feet. These touchings are signs, which are denominated nudging.
P
PALMING. Concealing cards in the palm of the hands.
PARLIEU. Is to allow one's money to lie on the table and double. For instance, the player puts $5 on the table, and it wins; instead of lifting it, he lets the original sum lie—that is called a parlieu.
PICKER-UP. We frequently read of country-men being "roped" into gambling-houses, but this occurs from the ignorance of the reporters, who know nothing of the language used by gamblers and sportsmen. Gamblers of the higher grade in New-York, never use the word "roper-in." It is usually confidence-men, ball-players, pocket book droppers, and others attached to that fraternity. The roper-in takes a man over to Brooklyn or New-Jersey, and is an actor in the swindle; the picker-up takes his man to a gambling-saloon, and there leaves him to be enchanted, enchained, and allured by what he sees. Sometimes he only gives the man he has picked up his card, which will admit him to a gaming-house, where he can play a card of another description. The roper-in and the picker-up therefore should not be confounded.
The picker-up is always a gentleman, in manners, taste, dress, and appearance, and sometimes has the superficial knowledge of a scholar. He is thoroughly informed on all the topics of the day. He has seen New-Orleans, knows all about it, and can talk of the gallant defense made there from behind the cotton-bales. He knows all about the evil results arising out of the agitation of the slavery question. He loves Boston and New-England, for it was there he was born and spent his earliest and his happiest days; it was the cradle and the birth-place of liberty, and the world looked with unreserved delight upon the efforts which the men of the East put forth in the cause of freedom; he has spent many happy years in the far West, its vast prairies, its wide-spread, majestic forests, and mighty rivers, and he can not help warming up when he reverts to these themes, which moved the hearts of philosophers, poets, and statesmen.