FOOTNOTES
1 Quotation from the late Earl Fitz-Hardinge, a most ardent sportsman.
2 Vide Chapter VI., 'Manipulation.'
3 This expression does not apply, as might be imagined, to the comparative simplicity of the game, but rather to the positive simplicity of the players.
4 Even the modern sharp sometimes uses a method quite as simple. He will put the cards he wishes to hold out under his knee-joint, and when he requires to use them, he will hitch his chair closer to the table, taking the cards into his hand as he does so. This device is called in France the 'coup de cuisse.'
5 See fig. 7.
6 The terms 'good man' and 'cunning cheat' must here be considered as synonymous.
7 The curve of the upper cards, as shown in the figure, is much exaggerated. It is, really, very slight.
8 See Chapter VII.—'Collusion and Conspiracy,' p. 173 et seq.
9 See Chapter IX.—'Prepared Cards.'
10 See reprint of dealer's advertisement, p. 300.
11 This would be far too risky a proceeding for a sharp to indulge in as a rule. He might do so, however, if he got hold of a very great flat.
12 A friend of mine, who has just recently paid a visit to Monte Carlo, describes a method of cheating the bank which came under his notice during his stay in that hallowed spot. He observed, one evening, a man standing by a roulette-table, who persistently put down a five-franc piece upon the winning number, after it had been declared. Of course, the 'croupier' never failed to detect the manœuvre, and removed the stake. The fact which passed unnoticed, however, was that a gold coin, value twenty francs, lay hidden beneath the silver one as it was put down. Being commanded to take up the five-franc piece, the man did so without hesitation; but the gold piece remained on the table among the other stakes. When the winnings were paid by the bank, that particular coin was claimed by a confederate as being his stake, and was paid accordingly. In roulette, the winning number receives 35 times the amount staked; therefore the conspirators netted 700 francs each time they succeeded in this little operation. I should think the bank would not be long in discovering a robbery of this kind, if it were very frequently perpetrated.
Transcriber's Notes
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