“I’ve noticed,” answered Chester, “that a fellow generally loses as much with a five-cent ante and a quarter limit as he does with the same ante and a dollar limit—that is, if he knows how to play poker. The dollar limit really makes it a good game.”
“Whew!” whistled Harmford; “that’s pretty near the roof for me. Let me see, I don’t believe I’ve got more than twenty-five or thirty dollars in my clothes.”
“That’s good while it lasts,” grinned Hanks.
“Then it’s settled as a dollar limit, is it?” said Chet. “We’ll call the blue chips a dollar, the reds a quarter, and the whites a nickel. I’ll be the banker. We’ll take ten dollars’ worth of chips, each of us, to begin with.”
“Better take enough,” suggested Hanks. “Ten dollars’ worth wouldn’t last a fellow long if he happened to get a good hand and found himself bucking against some one else. Why don’t we take twenty-five dollars’ worth to start with?”
“As much as you choose,” said Chester, “only it’s understood that the chips are paid for when I hand them out. There’ll be no credit business done by the banker this evening.”
“And if the banker loses I suppose we’re to have some assurance that he also will make good,” said Hanks.
“I’ll do precisely as you do,” assured Chester. “I’ll pay for my chips and put the money in the card box when I take them.”
“Well, that’s all right,” said Hanks, producing his roll. “Here’s a yellow-backed twenty and a fiver.”
“Gee whiz!” grunted Harmford, as he reluctantly counted out twenty-five dollars. “This is plunging for a little game to pass away the time. I’m liable to get skinned to the bone.”
“If you get broke,” said Chester, “I’ll loan you money.”
“That is, if you don’t get busted, too,” grinned Hanks. “Of course, that’s not likely to happen, but still, in a three-handed game I’ve noticed that, as a rule, one man is the winner and the other two are the losers. I hope it’s my evening to win.”
He was skillfully rippling the cards as he spoke. Having done this, he placed them on the table for the cut.
“Lowest deals,” he said, “and ace is low.”
“Then I think I’ll deal,” laughed Harmford, turning up an ace.
He was right, and the game began, Arlington putting up the first ante.
“Now let them dance their heads off,” said Chester. “I’m better satisfied right here.”