When the true rank of these eccentric hands is not allowed, local custom must decide what they will beat.
JOKER POKER, or MISTIGRIS. It is not uncommon to leave the joker, or blank card, in the pack. The player to whom this card is dealt may call it anything he pleases. If he has a pair of aces, and the joker, he may call them three aces. If he has four clubs, and the joker, he may call it a flush; or he may make the joker fill out a straight. If he has four of a kind, and the joker, he can beat a royal flush by calling his hand five of a kind. In case of ties, the hand with the mistigris wins; that is to say, an ace and the joker will beat two aces.
A player holding the joker may even call it a duplicate of a card already in his hand. For instance; he might hold the A J 8 5 of hearts and the joker against the A K Q 7 3 of clubs. If he calls the joker the king of hearts, the club flush still beats him as it is queen next. He must call it the ace, which makes his flush ace-ace high.
PROBABILITIES. In estimating the value of his hand as compared to that of any other player, before the draw, the theory of probabilities is of little or no use, and the calculations will vary with the number of players engaged. For instance: If five are playing, some one should have two pairs every fourth deal, because in four deals twenty hands will be given out. If seven are playing, it is probable that five of them will hold a pair of some kind before the draw. Unfortunately, these calculations are not of the slightest practical use to a poker player, because although three of a kind may not be dealt to a player more than once in forty-five times on the average, it is quite a common occurrence for two players to have threes dealt to each of them at the same time. The considerations which must guide the player in judging the comparative value of his hand, both before and after the draw, must be left until we come to the suggestions for good play.
THE ANTE. The player to the left of the age is the one who must make the first announcement of his opinion of his hand, unless he has straddled, in which case the player on the left of the last straddler has the first “say.” If he considers his hand good enough to draw to, let us say a pair of Kings, he must place in the pool, or toward the centre of the table, double the amount of the blind, or of the last straddle, if any. This is called the ante, because it is made before playing the hand, whereas the blind is made before seeing it. The player is not restricted to double the amount of the blind or straddle; he may bet as much more as he pleases within the limit fixed at the beginning of the game. For instance: If there has been only one straddle he must put up four white counters or pass out of the game for that deal. But if he puts up the four, he may put up as many more as he pleases within the limit, which is two blues, or fifty whites. This is called raising the ante. If he does not care to pay twice the amount of the blind or straddle for the privilege of drawing cards to improve his hand, he must throw his cards face downward on the table in front of the player whose turn it will be to deal next. Reasonable time must be allowed for a player to make his decision; but having made it, he must abide by it; a hand once thrown down cannot be taken up again, and counters once placed in the pool, and the hand removed from them, cannot be taken out again, even though placed in the pool by mistake.
The player who has the first say having made his decision, the player next him on the left must then decide. He must put into the pool an amount equal to that deposited by the first player, or abandon his hand. Suppose there has been no straddle, and that all conclude to stay, as it is called. They each in turn put up two white counters until it comes to the age. The one white counter he has already put up as a blind belongs to the pool, but by adding one to it he can make his ante good, and draw cards, always provided no player has raised the ante. If any player has put more counters into the pool than the amount of the ante, all the other players must put up a like amount, or throw down their hands. Suppose five play, and A has the age. B antes two counters, and C puts up seven, the ante and a raise of five. If D and E come in, they must put up seven counters also; and the age, A, must put up six to make his ante good. It now comes to B, who must either lose the two he has already put up, or add five more to them. Let us suppose that D puts up the seven, and that E, the dealer, puts up twelve. This will force the age to put up eleven; B to put up ten; and C to put up five more. This will make each player’s ante an equal amount, twelve counters, and they will then be ready to draw cards. No one can now raise the ante any further, because it is no one’s turn to “say.”
It will thus be seen that every player in his turn can do one of three things, which are sometimes called the a b c of Poker: He can Abdicate; by throwing down his hand, and abandoning whatever money he has already placed in the pool. He can Better; by putting up more money than any player before him, which is sometimes called “going better.” Or, he can Call, by making his amount in the pool equal to the highest bet already made.
Should any player increase the ante to such an extent that none of the others care to call him, they must of course throw down their hands, and as there is no one to play against him, the one who made the last increase in the ante takes down all the counters in the pool. This is called taking the pot, and the cards are gathered, shuffled, and dealt again, the deal passing to the player who was the age.
DRAWING CARDS. All those who have made the ante good have the privilege of discarding, face downward, as many cards as they please, in the place of which they may draw others. The age has the first draw, and can take any number of cards from one to five, or he may stand pat, refusing to draw any. A player cannot receive from the dealer more or less cards than he discards; so that if a person is allowed to play with a short hand, of four cards only, he will still have only four cards after the draw. If his hand was foul, it will remain so after the draw. In drawing, a player may keep or discard what cards he pleases. There is no rule to prevent his throwing away a pair of aces and keeping three clubs if he is so inclined; but the general practice is for the player to retain whatever pairs or triplets he may have, and to draw to them. Four cards of a straight or a flush may be drawn to in the same way, and some make a practice of drawing to one or two high cards, such as an ace and a king, when they have no other chance. Some hands offer opportunities to vary the draw. For instance: A player has dealt to him a small pair; but finds he has also four cards of a straight. He can discard three cards and draw to the pair; or one card, and draw to the straight; or two cards, keeping his ace in the hope of making two good pairs, aces up. The details of the best methods of drawing to various combinations will be discussed when we come to suggestions for good play.
