The Complete Poker Player.
Danbury, Conn: Behrens Publishing Company, 1880.
Price: $900.00
About the item
Second edition, wrappered issue with Behrens imprint. x, [11]-174, [2, ads] pp. 8vo. Publisher's illustrated light blue wrappers printed in red and black. Light wear and small stains to covers. Jessel 122; Horr 167.
Item #315096
The first Behrens edition of this foundational work on poker, essentially a wrappered issue of the second Dick & Fitzgerald edition of 1880. The rare first edition of 1875 — with only one copy located on OCLC — is, along with Winterblossom's The Game of Draw Poker, the earliest published work dedicated solely to poker. Blackbridge attempts to legitimize poker, and gambling and gaming in general, harmonizing it with Christian values and drawing comparisons to generally respected professions that trade in risk, such as that of banker and insurance provider. Beyond the moralizing tone, Blackbridge's work provides a technical and probabilistic discussion of the game, and includes a section on "Probabilities at Draw-Poker" by Dr. Pole. The rules printed in Chapter XIX are adapted from The American Hoyle. Pp. 143-174 reprint Prof. A.R. Proctor's "Poker Principles and Chance Laws." A third edition was published by Dick & Fitzgerald in 1884.
