Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 June 1884 — How Poker was Saved in the West. [ARTICLE]

How Poker was Saved in the West.

Poker was the glory of California, and of San Francisco in particular. To endeavor to regulate this great game so that it should have rules that could be pointed to as official interpretations of the mysteries surrounding it, official action became necessary, because the untrained minds of amateurs were beginning to get very much muddled over the values of different hands, and there was danger that the confusion would increase, and a hopeless corruption of the great game result, if prompt action were not taken. In 1874, however, San Francisco arose to the occasion, and, through the board of supervisors, passed a law which forever put a stop to strife, and which saved the great game of poker from utter ruin. This law, which stands now on our statute book under the head of section 36, reads as follows:

“Every person who, at the game of ‘poker,’ or who, on betting on a hand of cards as a ‘poker hand,’ shall, by claim, pretense, or representation that three or four cards-of the same suit beat three aces, or three of any kind, obtain or take any money, personal property, or valuable thing, with intent to cheat and defraud, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished accordingly. Since that day, when our board of supervisors laid down the law which should stand until time is no more, poker has been a scientific game, to which are brought great talents, great experience, great patience, and great skill. The board of supervisors saved poker from ruin.— San Francisco Bulletin. . Men say of women what pleases them; women do with men what pleases them. —De Segur.