“Just naturally his theory of the game interfered with his general success. Mostly it does interfere, I’ve noticed, when a man gets theories in his head an’ plays the game different f’m the ordinary run o’ people. These here sharps that figgers out some particular thing in the game as bein’ a dead certainty, always loses money on it, for you can say what you like about the great American game, but it certainly does beat anything else for the preponderance of uncertainty that has to be calculated on, whenever you have a dead sure thing in your mind--all excepting a royal flush, as Pete used to say with ondeniable wisdom. “Pete’s mind bein’ fixed, so to speak, on that royal flush, you can see for yourself that it warped his judgment on the question o’ drawin’ cards. Many a time I’ve seen him split a pair of aces, an’ draw three cards to a ace an’ queen, or ace an’ ten o’ the same suit. Once I even seen him split two pairs, aces an’ queens, an’ draw two cards to the ace, queen an’ jack o’ diamonds, an’ Joe Hooker says he seen the blamed ijjit split three kings to draw to three hearts just because they was court cards o’ the same suit. An’ the first card he picked up in the draw was the fourth king. Shows how a man’ll overlook the blessin’s o’ Providence right in his fist, reachin’ out after things he hain’t no reason to hope for in the natural course of events. Stands to reason a man’ll lose money defyin’ fate with such monkey-shines as them. “‘Twasn’t no use to argue with Pete, though. He were as obstinate as a mule an’ stuck to his notion o’ gettin’ a royal flush like a sick nigger sticks to the Methodist Church. You couldn’t persuade him. One day I says to him, ‘Look a’ here, Pete, a royal flush is most onquestionably a good piece o’ property, but what show hev you got o’ gettin’ one. You put me out o’ patience. Look at the pots you might ’a’ scooped with two pairs an’ three of a kind if you’d only drawed like a Christian,’ says I, ‘instead o’ puttin’ your trust in strange gods, an’ sacrificin’ your good chips an’ the principles o’ the game in a strange an’ foolish endeavour. It’s flyin’ in the face o’ Providence,’ I says to him, ‘an’ you’ll go down to your grave unhonoured, unwept, an’ unhung if you persist in it. More’n that,’ I says, ‘you’ll be dead broke all the days o’ your life.’ “But you couldn’t convince him. ‘There’s four royal flushes in the deck, ain’t there?’ says he, ‘an’ them five cards is just as likely to come as any other five, ain’t they? An’ if there’s anything certain in this here world o’ trouble an’ oncertainty, ’tis that a man’ll get ’em sometime, if he keeps on tryin’. An’ say! When I do get ’em if the Lord spares me till that happy day, I won’t do anything but swat the gang.’ “‘The Lord can spare you easy enough,’ says I, disgusted, ‘an’ so can the community if you go on tryin’ to break up our national institutions by propagatin’ sich revolutionary idees. It’s worse’n anarchy,’ I says. ‘It’s ridiculous.’