F. R. Ritter

An early publication (from the early 19th century) about the odds and strategy of draw poker.

This was the advertisement booklet for Ritter's book Advantage Card Playing and Draw Poker. It describes the motivation of the book and shows some excerpts including four illustrations.

1st edition 1905, 9 pages; digital edition colorized.

The first part and majority of this book deals with marked cards. It shows numerous examples of how and where to mark various back designs popular during the early 20th century in the United States. The second part briefly describes sleight-of-hand for the card cheater such as second dealing, bottom dealing, shuffling, false cuts, and mechanical hold outs. Each technique is illustrated with a photo, which is quite remarkable for a book from that time. The third and final part deals with the mathematical odds of draw poker.

Some people believe that F. R. Ritter might be S. W. Erdnase, the unknown author...