"On this occasion," said he, depositing his half-sovereign, "I will
simply gaze; what have you got?"
"Well, I have got a full hand," Lionel answered, putting down his hand
on the table.
"That is good enough," the other said, stolidly. "Take away the money."
After this dire combat, the game fell flat a little; but interest was
soon revived by a round of Jack-pots; and here again Lionel was in good
luck. Indeed, when the players rose from the table about three o'clock,
he might have come away a winner of close on L40 had not some reckless
person called out something about whiskey poker. Now whiskey poker is
the very stupidest form of gambling that the mind of man has ever
conceived, though at the end of the evening some folk hunger after it as
a kind of final fillip. Each person puts down a certain sum--it may be a
sovereign, it may be five sovereigns; poker hands are dealt out, the
cards being displayed face upwards on the table; there is no drawing;
whoever has the best hand simply annexes the pool. It looks like a game,
but it is not a game; it is merely cutting the cards; but, as the stakes
can be doubled or trebled each round, the jaded appetite for gambling
finds here a potent and fiery stimulant just as the party breaks up.
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