The Game that Won (and Sometimes Lost) the West
It’s not often I stumble across a topic that indulges both my interest in the Regency era and in the American West.
Today, I’m talking about gambling and the game of faro.
The Gaming Table, by Thomas Rowlandson source: Wikimedia
Last week, my blogaholism brought me an interesting article about gambling in the Georgian era. Readers of Regency era fiction know that gambling is a frequent preoccupation of the characters who inhabit that fictional world. That was true too for the real gentlemen and ladies of the era who visited clubs and gaming hells or set up games in their own drawing rooms. Charles James Fox is said to have lost 200,000 pounds in gambling over the course of his life, and the Duchess of Devonshire an equally exorbitant amount.
One of the most popular games for these aristocrats was faro, a game that, like most wicked things of the period, originated in France. In The Georgian Art of Gambling, author Claire Cock-Starkey says that faro was so popular among women that two titled ladies ran faro banks in their own homes.
The Faro Layout
And the game crossed the Atlantic. Old western movies have characters pulling their pistols over poker, but in reality the most popular game in the American west was faro. In Wyatt Earp, author Casey Tefertiller relates the story of Earp protecting a gambler, Johnny-Behind-the-Deuce, a nickname derived from a favorite faro play. Earp himself ran a faro bank at the saloon he’d invested in, Tombstone’s Oriental.
Wyatt Earp
This was obviously a game for the high,
Faro in 1889 New Jersey Wikimedia
and the low.
Faro in an 1895 Arizona Saloon Wikimedia
If you’re wondering how to play, here’s the game, according to Hoyle. Wikipedia also has a lengthy explanation of not only how to play faro, but also how to cheat at it. It won’t be useful in Vegas, since faro is no longer played there, but if you’re writing Regency or Westerns stories, this is a great resource!
Have you heard of faro before? Did you know it was popular in the West? I love hearing from readers!
I love the way that Lady Archer got away with running a crooked faro bank for many years – players bet on the next card to be turned up, so having a bent deck was a great advantage to the banker! Young men up from the country would be lured in to the gaming tables at 11 at night – and would not emerge until 4 or even 5 in the morning, bleary eyed and broke! There are some fine Gillray cartoons humiliating Lady Archer and her coterie of friends by showing her in the stocks, being pelted with rotten fruit!
Interesting! I had heard of faro but thought it was strictly British. I didn’t realize it’s popularity in the U.S. until I saw decks of old-fashioned faro cards for sale at a gift store in Tombstone, Arizona.
Thank you for stopping by! I so enjoy your Georgian Gentleman blog.