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BRAG. |
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three cards at once to every player turning up, all round, the last card belonging to each player; and the best card, reckoning from ace downwards, amongst those so turned up, wins the first stake ; if two or more superior cards of a sort be turned up, the eldest hand always, of course, has the preference, except in case of the ace of diamonds, which at this part of the game takes place of every other.
The second stake is won by the person possessing the best brag-hand, or often rather by the boldest bragger, wrho sometimes only pretends to hold good cards, such as pairs, flushes, sequences of flushes, and so on, similar to cribbage, excepting fifteens. In this state of the game there are usually two favourite cards ; viz. the knave of clubs and the nine of diamonds, wrhich are reckoned with any others to form pairs-royal or pairs ; that is, the two favourites combined together with one, or either of them with twro aces, kings, &c, are styled a pair-royal of such cards, or singly, either of the favourites with another card ranks as a pair : only natural pairs-royal are to precede artificial ones—as three aces, kings, &c, take place before a pair-royal, formed by assistance of the two favourites, though a natural pair does not supersede an artificial one made by help of a favourite, into which situation only the knave of clubs is admitted by some companies. The principal sport of the game is occasioned by any player bragging that he holds a better hand than the rest of the party, which is declared by saying, J brag, and staking a sum of money; if no one answer by a similar or larger deposit, then the bragger w*ins the second stake ; but should any one reply, either by putting down the same, or a greater sum, and the first bragger decline the contest, the
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