THE TRICK OP THIRTY-ONE.
A trick often introduced by "sporting men," for the purpose of
deceiving and making money by it. It is called "thirty-one." I caution
you all not to play or bet with a man who introduces it; for, most
probably, if he does not propose betting on it at first, he will after
he gets you interested, and pretend to teach you all the secrets of it,
so that you can play it with him; and perhaps he will let you beat him
if you should play in fun ; but if you bet, he will surely beat you. It
is played with the first six of each suit—the aces in one row, the deuces in another, the threes in another; then the fours, fives, and sixes—all
laid in rows. The object now will be to turn down cards alternately,
and endeavour to make thirty-one by so turning, or as near it as
possible without overrunning it. The man who turns down a card, the
pips of which make him thirty-one, or so near it that the other cannot
turn down one without overrunning it, wins.
Never play at this game, even though you flatter yourself you fully
understand it. Gamblers never calculate on being beaten at their own
game, or, if so, only by another and more clever expert. A novice has,
in plain words, no chance.
But if you cannot refrain from playing, do so at stakes too
ridiculously small to tempt artistes in trickery to put forth their
secret powers. You will not then share the surprise of that Oxford
gentleman who was wont to wonder that he always won at chess when he
played his tutor for a crown a side, but as invariably lost when the
stakes were five pounds.
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