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Faro layouts and authentic  equipment.The original  Parnell Card Company

Gambling has not always been viewed as a social pariah. Historians point to the Mississippi River Boat era of 1830s as the beginning of social disrespect and then outright banning of gambling. The riverboat gamblers were most definitely cheaters extraordinaire, and a violent lot. As the frontier moved west, so did the gamblers. Gambling became associated with wild boisterous towns and was one of the activities scorned by townspeople trying to build "respectable" and therefore permanent towns.

Nevada was the last state in the Union to outlaw gambling (Oct.1, 1910) under threat of losing its statehood. It was legalized again April 1, 1931 and is legal in most Nevada counties and cities today. (Cool trivia- a woman received the first license under the new law for a gambling hall located in Las Vegas!)

Many saloons leased out the operation of their various tables to professional gamblers. The House took a percentage of the take, usually 25 to 30 percent. The pros had to be showmen as well as experienced in their game to make money. They had to balance wins with losses to keep people tossing money on their tables yet win enough to stay afloat. During the 1870s, miners in Virginia City, Nevada made about twenty dollars a week. Cowboys during that time made $120 for a four- month drive.

Wagers at the tables reflected this. Poker usually carried a one to two dollar limit. Faro tables usually limited wagers to 25 cents to a dollar. Roulette would cost you a dime a bet and dice a nickel a throw. Keep in mind the speed with which many of these games were played. It was easy to lose a week's pay in an hour of play. Not much has changed here!

Faro "Bucking the Tiger"

This is compiled  from the 1864 Hoyles Games  and Time Life The Gamblers  1978 (readily available on e-bay.com)

Faro is  a banking game. In an honest Faro game (and they were pretty rare), the player's chances are about  even of winning. Most dealers skewed  the odds of winning  in their favor with some quite remarkable card shuffling and other ingenious ways of cheating. In a nut shell, you bet on winning with a winning card and winning by betting on a losing card. Strange rule number one of the game is the "soda" card. The first card dealt off the top of the deck is thrown away and no one uses it. Go figure.

For a printable or readable set of free rules (no gimmicks, no costs, presented here as a service to a wonderful old game) CLICK HERE (internal link).

BRAG:  The Queen of Gambling Games

Brag (internal link) was THE game after Faro and around long before poker hit the scene. An old English game, Brag was the gambler's gamble and played with thee or five cards. It had some interesting twists, including playing your hand blind.

To continue this article, for rules, and for a free pc version  CLICK HERE (internal link).

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