COGGING, NOW CALLED SECURING,
Is a species of fraud very often had recourse to : it consists in
securing or retaining one of the dice, either with the first and second
finger against the inside of the box—the second finger covering
the top of the dice—or taking hold of one of them on the little
finger, and landing it on the table, as if it had come from the box.
The first named method is not easy to accomplish, and requires long and
continued practice to be an adept at it; still, when well done, it is
extremely difficult of detection; for the dice, being inside the box,
and covered with the finger, cannot be seen ; and if a word of
suspicion be uttered by the players, it is dropped at once into the
box, and then fairly thrown out. A quick ear, however, among the
players, and one accustomed to the "rattling" of dice, will be apt to
discover by the sound the absence of the die from the box. In this case
the throw is barred, after the main is called, which is a hint for the
caster to keep the points of his fingers from off the top of the box,
or to make himself scarce before he is kicked out of the room.
The securer of a die generally calls five for a main, because, if he
have secured a four, there is only the number six on the loose die that
can come up against him; and the odds are only four to three against
him. If the one of the loose die comes up, that is a nick, and he wins it; if the three is thrown, he has seven to five, and that is three to four in his favour; and if five should
come up, it is an even go. But should a large stake be at issue, the
sharper secures a five every time, so that if the main and chance be
six to five, seven to five, eight to five, nine to five, or ten to
five, he makes sure of winning, without a chance of losing, as he
cannot throw out, so long as the five is secured.
In calling nine, also a favourite main of the sharper, four is the
number secured ; so that the main and chance are either five to nine,
six to nine, seven to nine, or eight to nine. It is here obvious, that
by securing the one or the two, it will be impossible to
throw out, and without securing a second time the odds are much in
favour of the caster ; and he sometimes calls seven as
the main, in which case he secures a five, when he has two chances of
nicking it, out of the six chances of the loose die; but if one or three are
thrown, with the five secured, the odds are six to five against him;
and if the four, it is then three to two against him. Should the main
and chance be six to seven, he will take the odds, and by securing
either the one, two, three, four, or five, every time he throws he will
render the chances even, for the loose die is as likely to make the
throw a six as a seven. In calling seven as the main, and securing the five, the odds, instead of being seven to two against the nick, are
reduced to four to three. As may be supposed, it will not do to try
these experiments too often on the same night, as suspicion would be
awakened. Still "securing" dice is reckoned the sheet-anchor of
scoundrels who prey on the gambling public.
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