The game is "Faro."
Here's a bit of background:
"By all accounts, faro was the most popular and celebrated saloon
gambling game in the Old West, from 1825 through 1915. By 1925, it had
all but vanished, in favor of craps and roulette; games that have
enticing pay-outs but actually give a much greater 'edge' to the
house.
Many sources say faro originated in Great Britain in the early 18th
Century (about 1713), as a revised form of the popular pub game,
basset, which had been outlawed in France by King Louis the XIV in
1691. Most sources say the traditional game of faro was first
introduced in the United States by John Law, in Louisiana about 1803
(after the Louisiana Purchase), and was spread on Mississippi
riverboats where it became a favorite among professional gamblers
(called 'sharps').
It is said the name of the game was derived or corrupted from the
Egyptian Pharaoh pictured on what is now the King of Hearts in the
16th and 17th century French card decks which were imported to England
at the time, although I have yet to find any concrete evidence of this
as it seems there are none of these antique 'Pharaoh' face cards in
existence...
Faro was especially popular in U.S. gambling houses in the 19th
Century. Players bet against a banker (dealer), who draws two cards -
one that wins and another that loses - from the deck (or from a
dealing box) to complete a turn. Bets - on which card will win or lose
- are placed on each turn, paying 1:1 odds.
Faro is a 'banking' game where any number of players (which were then
called 'punters') play against the dealer or the house, referred to as
the 'bank'. As such, faro dealers often travelled with their gaming
equipment from town to town, setting up their faro bank and often
risking their personal fortune in a saloon for a fee or running a
'house' bank in exchange for a piece (percentage) of the action. In
the movie 'Tombstone' (1993) you see Wyatt Earp (portrayed by Kurt
Russell) do this very thing, commandeering an existing layout and the
'house' bank in the Orient Saloon. In the movie 'Wyatt Earp' (1994)
you see Wyatt (portrayed by Kevin Costner) and his brothers dealing
faro quite a bit. Faro is also shown in the recent Costner/Duval
movie, 'Open Range' and many other movies attempting to portray the
old west period accurately."
The Game of Faro - History & Rules for the King of Old West Card Games
http://www.bcvc.net/faro/
"Gambling was an entirely different experience in the 1800's. The big
game in America back then was faro. You've never heard of faro?
Everyone played it in the Old West including Doc Holliday and Wyatt
Earp. In fact, those famous shootists weren't just players, they were
dealers, and Earp was a faro-bank owner. The game was a source of
income for him in Tombstone, Arizona. When Ike Clanton and his gang
would come swaggering into the Oriental Saloon, what do you suppose
they would see? Wyatt Earp sitting at his faro table.
The game vaguely resembled modern-day mini-baccarat. The dealer
shuffled a single deck and placed it face up in a special shoe. Then
he would pull cards off the deck in sets of two. The rank of the first
revealed card in the set would be designated as a loser, the next
card's rank would be a winner (example: 9 loses, 5 wins, then 2 loses,
jack wins, etc). Players did not handle the cards. They would simply
bet on card ranks to win or lose; suits were irrelevant. The chosen
rank would eventually appear, and that would decide the contest."
Old West Gambling & Gaming - A History of Saloon Gambling in the Old West
http://www.bcvc.net/faro/gambling.htm
Here you'll find detailed rules for playing faro (near the bottom of the page):
US Playing Card Company: Casino Games
http://www.usplayingcard.com/gamerules/casinogames.html
Google search strategy:
Google Web Search: "faro" + "history OR rules"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=faro+history+OR+rules
Google Web Search: "how to play faro"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22how+to+play+faro
I hope this information is helpful. If anything is unclear or
incomplete, please request clarification; I'll be glad to offer
further assistance before you rate my answer.
Best regards,
pinkfreud |
