Quick history of poker and book video for Gambling with Love by Kaye Spencer #sweetheartsofthewest #westernromance

My western romance Gambling with Love is set in 1883 in Denver, Colorado against the backdrop of a high-stakes poker tournament. The heroine, Lainie Conrad, is a professional poker player seeking revenge against the gambler responsible for her husband's murder. Her plans for revenge are compromised when U.S. Deputy Marshal Nick Foster shows up to arrest and escort her back east to stand trial for suspected murder.

While I grew up in a card-playing family, I've never played much poker, although I'm comfortable with a "friendly" game now and then. So, in order to write the grand tournament poker scene in Gambling with Love with historical accuracy, I needed to refresh my memory with the basic rules and etiquette and also  research the history of cards and poker to put it into historical context. I was not disappointed in the plethora of websites, blogs, and books on both topics.**

Here's where I started:

• Playing cards date historically from as early as 10th century Asia;
• 14th century Europe saw a variety of playing card designs develop;
• By the late 15th century, the 52-card deck was popular as the standard preferred deck even though many card games only called for 20-32 cards, which limited the number of players in a game;
• 15th century England and France saw the evolution of  the four suits of Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs; and
• Court Cards—King, Queen, Jack—were influenced by English and French royalty.
• Another interesting aspect of cards is the Joker, also called the Jack of Trumps, Imperial Trump, and Wild Card. This card may have evolved from an Americanized version of the European card game, Euchre, which required an extra card (called the trump card or Jack of Trumps). Consequently, in keeping with the royal court cards, the Joker came to represent the Court Jester or Fool.

World Web Playing Card Museum, Imperial Bower, marked as public domain, more details on Wikimedia Commons

The Joker has a paradoxical appeal because it carries special properties as the Imperial Trump or Wild Card and, in that role, can resolve problems and win “tricks”. The Joker is as powerful as it is insignificant. It can represent any card and yet it represents nothing without a purposeful designation.

Taking the trivia-history of poker a bit farther...

Poker’s hazy origins are of some debate among those who study this sort of thing. There are arguments supporting its creation in the ancient Orient to the game evolving as a pirate’s pastime. However, there is some agreement that poker’s historical roots reach back to a French card game of vying, bluffing, and betting called “Poque” in which one said Je poque to open the betting.

In America, Poque dates back to the French settlers of early 1800s New Orleans. As the game of poker spread northwards along the Mississippi River, it followed the expansion of the American frontier with the rush to the California gold fields in 1849 and later with the further opening of the west after the Civil War. “Brag”, a three-card British betting card game with a drawing component, influenced the rules of Poque and the “draw” was incorporated into the game. By the mid-1800s, the game was known by its American name, Poker, and was increasingly played with all 52 cards to allow for more players. The term “Draw Poker” was first recorded c. 1850.

Kaye Spencer's well-worn copy of Hoyle's Official Rules of Card Games

According to the Hoyle 1854 edition, these were the accepted hands:

• one pair
• two pairs
• straight sequence or rotation
• triplets
• flush
• full house
• fours

Apparently, Draw and Stud Poker rules appeared for the first time in the card games rule book, The American Hoyle, in the 1875 edition. The 1887 edition noted that four of a kind was the best hand when straights were not played. Interestingly enough, for many years, straights were not generally accepted poker hands.

Hoyle’s rules stated that when a straight and a flush came together, it outranked a full house, but not fours. Until the 1890s, the highest possible hand was four Aces or four Kings with an Ace kicker (a.k.a. wild card, imperial trump or “cuter”). Not only was this hand unbeatable, it could not be tied.

Obviously, the player holding four kings and an ace couldn’t be beaten, however, a ‘cuter’ was a specific type of wild card in that it often bore a dangerously close resemblance to the ace of spades. More than one old west legend sprang up about gamblers losing high stakes pots to this clever imposter when they erroneously thought they held all four aces.

I incorporated a ‘cuter’, aka imperial trump, into the big poker game as a devious little plot twist in Gambling with Love to keep the players on their toes.

**To read more about the history poker in the American Old West, refer to the Time-Life Books series on The Old West, specifically the volume devoted to “The Gamblers” or visit the Internet sources devoted to the game of poker, which are too numerous to list here.

Gambling with Love
Available at Amazon.com
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Until next time,

Kaye Spencer
Writing through history one romance upon a time
 
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VALENTINE'S DAY IN THE 19TH CENTURY

By Shirleen Davies

Valentine Day was celebrated in the 19^th century with parties, balls, (including bachelor balls), and by sending valentine cards.

Mother of the American Valentine

The tradition of valentine cards in the US began with The Mother of the American Valentine, Esther Howland of Worchester Massachusetts, when she received a valentine from a friend in England in 1849. It was bordered in lace paper and colorful cut flowers were pasted on it. A small pocket of green paper in the middle held a small red-edged note of Valentine Day sentiments. She loved it, but she also thought she could make a better one. Esther created a dozen designs she gave to her brother to use as samples to try to get orders for them on the sales trip he made for their family stationery business. He returned with five thousand dollars’ worth of orders for valentines.

Esther Howland, Mother of Valentine's Day

Esther needed a lot of help to make all those cards, so she called her friends over and they worked like a team. One cut out the pictures her father purchased from the only lithographer in the country, another created the backgrounds for the valentines, one wrote the messages, and so on. Each friend did some sort of work on them until all the orders were completed. The next year the orders for valentines more than doubled. Esther hired lots of women to make the cards and Worcester, Massachusetts became the center of the budding American Valentine Day business.

Nineteenth-century valentine cards were more than sweet words and lovely pictures. People touched, held, and interacted with them due to the elaborate assembly of sumptuous textures and interactive features, such as flaps that lifted revealing hidden romanticisms like "Be Mine". So, the feelings evoked in the recipients from the loving sentiments of the cards were heightened even more from touching and feeling the materials.
An essential trait of valentine cards was that they were made to be significantly handled by the receiver. In the mid-nineteenth century, valentine cards invited multiple interactions from the people they were given to. Some had pull levers or strings that revealed hidden images. Others were much more intricate, like the Beehive valentines that you'd pull out and extend to uncover a romantic image beneath. More complex than simply lifting a flap to reveal a picture, the webbing of the cut paper compelled the receiver to move around to look at the image and peer through the spaces in the paper, similar to the way perforated paper lace partially blocked images on other types of valentines.

Civil War era Valentine.

During the Civil War people weren’t able to exchange cards that much but when it ended in 1865, the popularity of valentine cards surged. That year, New Yorkers mailed over 66,000 valentines and more than 86,000 in 1866. The valentine card tradition had blossomed into a lucrative commercial industry.

Whitney Valentines

In 1881, Esther had to take care of her sick father full time, and to do so she had to sell her business to an associate, Stationer George C. Whitney, also in Worcester, Massachusetts. Whitney designed many of his company's cards based on Esther's model.

19th Century die-cut.

During the 1880s lots of articles were publicized about the Whitney Manufacturing Company’s valentine-making process, including:

·       The use of German scrap and English embossed paper

·       The skills of their young female card makers. 

·       How the valentines were sold and distributed by salesmen going from town to town taking orders from shop owners

·       And about Whitney’s seasonal shops, which allowed customers to buy directly.  

And, here is an expert of a February 1867 New York Times article about how exorbitantly expensive some of the valentine cards were, revealing that the costliest held hidden treasures within.

"Valentines of this class are not simply combinations of paper gorgeously gilded, carefully embossed and elaborately laced. To be sure they show paper lovers seated in paper grottoes, under paper roses, ambushed by paper cupids, and indulging in the luxury of paper kisses; but they also show something more attractive than these paper delights to the overjoyed receiver. Receptacles cunningly prepared may hide watches or other jewelry, and, of course, there is no limit to the lengths to which wealthy and foolish lovers may go."

However, for the Whitney factory workers who assembled the valentines by hand (all of the assemblers were women) it was hard work, and seasonal only. They were paid by the piece and made about $12.00 a week. Here is an excerpt from one of the employees, Marion Owens—Valentine Maker, in her own words. She worked on the 4th floor of the George C. Whitney building in 1895.  

1890 Valentine

“When I was hired, they only trained me for half an hour. A woman showed me what to do--how to cut out tags which were all different sizes, how to put the cards in the envelope so that the face of the card showed through the little cellophane window--and then I just had to work my fingers until they got used to it.”

Other Popular Valentine Cards

Kate Greenaway the legendary British illustrator of children’s books designed valentines in the late 1800s which were enormously popular. Some of Greenaway’s illustrations for valentine cards were collected in a book published in 1876, "Quiver of Love: A Collection of Valentines."

Most Valentines were reasonably priced and created for a large, broad audience. In fact, for several years in the late 1800's humorous valentines, intended as jokes, were popular. Among these satirical valentines, vinegar valentines were a favorite—offering a socially acceptable way to criticize, insult, and reject certain types of people. 

Valentine Candy

Richard Cadbury invented the first Valentine's Day candy box in 1861 in England. In America, in 1907, Milton Hershey launched tear-dropped shaped “kisses,” so-called because of the smooching noise the chocolate made.  In 1866, Daniel Chase the brother of Oliver Chase, the creator of NECCO wafers figured out how to print words on candy.  People loved his conversation candies with witty romantic messages, but they weren’t available in heart shapes until 1902.

Please take a moment to check out my new release, Bay’s Desire, book 9 in the MacLarens of Boundary Mountain Historical Western Romance series. Available now!

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The RV Life in the West

by Rain Trueax

All of my books are set in the American West. It's where I live and love and where I know. They have varied from historic to contemporary along with some paranormals (which are hard to put in a box as they are kind of contemporaries with some fantasy). One of the contemporaries is about the RV lifestyle.

Vaseline

I was writing a story that takes place in 1886-87 time frame and the hero gets burned.

What would be used? I had to go searching. Surprise! Vaseline. Today we have much better treatments for burns. But wait - does this simple gooey stuff still has a place in our medicine chest? Well according to the manufacturer, it most certainly does!

(It's also good for battery terminals on a car and to prevent rust. My hubby loved it for all sorts stuff and kept a jar handy in his workshop.)

Robert Cheesebrough, an Englishman and a chemist, came to a small oil town in Pennsylvania in 1859 looking for another way to make lamp oil. He was curious about this petroleum and what sorts of things could be derived from it. One of the first things he noticed was that men who were drilling kept smearing their hands with a gooey oil byproduct. It helped hands heal quickly, softened them, and took care of any chapping or burns. The men swore by it. Robert decided that was worth a closer look. So he began to experiment.

It took him a total of five years to perfect his product. He distilled it and filtered it three
times until he had created the purest product. He proclaimed it a "Wonder Jelly", but decided that for marketing purposes Vaseline was a better name. It was a combination of German and  Greek for water and oil, and figured that sounded more important to the medical community than Wonder Jelly. In 1870, he opened a manufacturing plant in Brooklyn, New York. Then he took to the streets and towns of New York hawking his product throughout the state. At  times, he would put a match to own his skin to show how Vaseline would heal the burn. Vaseline caught on and it still survives today.

Queen Victoria  was such a fan of Vaseline for her dry skin, she knighted  Robert Cheesebrough. With the style of the gowns in those days, no one especially a queen would want rough elbows or scaly skin.

Today it's best known for its skin softening properties and keeping skin healthy. It's no longer used for burns as we've developed better products. But in the late 1800's it was thing to use for medicinal purposes as well as keeping skin soft, smooth and soothed. When you pull out that tube of Vaseline for your chapped lips or you put some on your skin after a shower, remember that there are more 150 years of research behind the simple byproduct of the oil industry. And during those years, Vaseline has remained the same pure product.

Writing Space...Ideal vs. Reality

Hello everyone! I'm Christi Corbett, one of the contributing authors to this blog. Because I'm still new to this site and figuring out all the buttons to push I'm going to share an oldie but a goodie...a blog post I wrote when my twins were four-years-old. (They're now thirteen and have new ways to distract me, but that's another post entirely)

************************

When I was young, I pictured the location where authors/writers did their work. It was always some variation of the following:

The recently showered and fully dressed author/writer pads down a long hallway and opens a door to their own private writing space. Clutching a mug of tea/coffee, the writer sits down at a comfortable chair located behind a highly polished, very organized mahogany desk. There is a wall of books on one wall and a window with a completely astounding view of a lake, a mountain, or a field of wildflowers.

Selecting a full pen from a drawer, the author/writer thinks for a long moment and at the precise moment inspiration hits, leans over a clean piece of paper and the words begin to flow.

Then I became a writer. Here is the reality.

On a typical day, when I’ve begged and pleaded for time to write, I can count on a minimum of five interruptions per hour. Last time I reserved a block of time to write I kept track of said interruptions for my own amusement.

6:30 AM Hubby wants to know where the flea powder is—dog is scratching

6:41 AM Hubby comes in room for some clothes 7:01 AM Hubby brings me breakfast (OK—this one is great! Love him!) 7:09 AM Powdered, yet still scratching, dog is let into the room 7:25 AM Kids come in to see if I have any bacon left and can they have it 7:36 AM Boy twin comes in for a hug 7:42 AM Hubby needs toilet paper, where are extra rolls kept? 8:08 AM Girl twin needs me to fix her hair 8:25 AM Knock at window reveals family showing ripened tomatoes 8:26 AM Boy twin can’t find toy army men… do I know where they are? 8:50 AM Girl twin wants to weigh herself 9:01 AM Hubby needs jersey to watch upcoming football game 9:17 AM Hubby wants to know if he can pull bread from freezer

And so on.

So, that is a typical block of “writing time” for me. Now, let’s move on to the instruments for said writing.

My computer is ten years old, shuts off at will (usually when I haven’t saved in a while or I’m in the middle of a fantastic run of words), and is located in a peeling wood veneer cabinet that is shoved in the corner of my bedroom. My kids find everything in the cabinet fascinating and things disappear at will. (4-year-old twins find calculators, screen cleaners, coasters, my drafts, and note cards to be much fun to play with).

Sometimes I don’t use the computer. When inspiration strikes I use anything that is at hand. Some examples:

• Sticky notes (they paste so nicely to the computer monitor, don’t they?) • Backs of envelopes • Any kind of paper with a blank space on it anywhere • You get the drift

As for writing utensils… our pens never have ink in them (my fault since I leave them clicked open all the time), so I’ve had to improvise at times:

• Crayons
• Lipstick
• Dry erase markers
• And my personal favorite—using the tip of an empty pen to gouge the words into the paper. Trust me, if you’ve got a great flow of words coming to you this will work!

It is during these times that I try to remember it all comes down to this: How you write doesn’t matter, as long as you’re writing!

What about you? What is something that turned out to be different in reality?

THE BEAUTIFUL PINTO By Cheri Kay Clifton

Last month's blog, I wrote about the Morgan horse, the breed my heroine, Laura rode in Trail To Destiny.  This month I'm writing about my favorite horse, the Pinto which Grey Wolf rode in the book. 

In my books, I consider the hero or heroine's horse as much a secondary character as the people!  Look back on lots of TV and movie westerns and you'll remember the names of so many horses the main characters rode.  One of the first Pintos in movie westerns dates back to the early 1920's with a horse named Fritz owned by William Hart.  He performed with Hart in multiple movies and remained a beloved companion into the actor's retirement.

Another famous Pinto was Tonto's horse, Scout.  And can't forget to mention Bonanza and Little Joe's Pinto, Cochise.

Though commonly associated with the Native American for its legendary magical qualities in battle, the Pinto horse was actually introduced to North America by European explorers, chiefly those from Spain, bringing their Barb stock that had been crossed with native European stock years before. It is believed that the Pinto patterns may have arrived in Europe via the Arabian strains, as Pinto markings appear in ancient art throughout the Middle East. However, evidence of the more dominant Tobiano pattern among the wild horses of the Russian Steppes suggests the introduction of Pinto coloring to Europe possibly as early as during the Roman Empire.

After the arrival of these European horses, great wild herds infused with the flashy color patterns we know today began to develop across America, eventually to be domesticated by the Native American. The white man continued to import many of the well-established and stylish European breeds as his foundation stock. Over time, however, with the civilization of the Native American and the white man's migration to the frontier, it often became necessary to cross these fancy, but less suitable breeds of the Eastern seaboard with the wild mustang stock to increase size and attractiveness as well as availability of a horse better suited to the strenuous working conditions of the day. This Western-bred horse became a fixture of America, especially the uniquely marked Pinto whose colorful presence in parades and films always added a little extra glamour.

 What are the Pinto patterns and how do they differ? There are two recognized Pinto color patterns:

1) TOBIANO (Toe-bee-ah'-no) appears to be white with large spots of color, often overlapping on animals with a greater percentage of color than white. Spots of color typically originate from the head, chest, flank, and buttock, often including the tail. Legs are generally white, giving the appearance of a white horse with large or flowing spots of color. Generally, the white crosses the center of the back or topline of the horse. It is considered necessary to have a Tobiano parent to achieve a Tobiano foal.

2) OVERO(O-vair'-o) appears to be a colored horse with jagged white markings usually originating on the animal's side or belly, spreading toward the neck, tail, legs, and back. The color appears to frame the white spots. Thus, an Overo often has a dark tail, mane, legs, and backline. Bald or white faces often accompany the Overo pattern. Some Overos show white legs along with splashy white markings, seemingly comprised of round, lacy white spots. White almost never crosses the back or topline. A horse of Pinto coloration descendant from two solid colored parents of another typically solid colored pure breed is called a "crop-out" and is of the Overo pattern.

The Pinto Horse Association of America was formed in 1956 although the bloodlines of many Pintos trace three or four generations before that date. Choice, versatility and achievement for the breed that offers something for everyone is what the Pinto Horse Association has to offer.

The Pinto horse is a color breed in contrast to most other breeds which are defined by their genetic ancestry. In America, the Pinto is regarded as a proper breed. The Pinto coloration may occur in any breed or specific conformation. However, the Pinto Horse Association of America does not accept horses with Appaloosa, Draft, or mule breeding or characteristics. In the American west, the Pinto has traditionally been regarded as a horse the American Indian favored as a war horse since its coloring provided a natural camouflage.

This photograph shows the difference between a Pinto

horse (left) and a leopard-spotted Appaloosa (right).

The Pinto does not have consistent conformation since it is bred for color. When the darker color is black, the horse is often described as Piebald. When the darker color is anything but black, the horse is described as Skewbald. Pintos may be from a variety of breeds, ranging from Thoroughbred to Miniatures.

What is the difference between Pintos and Paints? Of the questions posed to the PtHA, this is invariably the most frequently asked.  The short answer is the Paint Horse (registered by the APHA) is limited to horses of documented and registered Paint, Quarter Horse or Thoroughbred breeding.

I could go into more depth about the various Pinto colors, markings and categories, but anyone interested can learn more about these beautiful horses through the Pinto Horse Association of America (PtHA).

I learned a lot about Pintos as well as all types of horses for that matter, when my husband and I visited the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY.  We rode up there on our "steel horse," a Harley-Davidson Screamin' Eagle motorcycle.  They call that area the "Horse Capitol of the World," although believe it or not, Ocala, Florida staunchly contends it is.  But I tell you this, we rode over the most beautiful country roads, passing by unbelievably picturesque horse farms with their herds of horses grazing on that Kentucky Blue Grass!  I highly recommend visiting the state and in particular, taking a tour of the Horse Park and surrounding areas including Churchill Downs, the Keeneland Race Track and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.  Yep, wouldn't have been complete if we didn't visit a couple of those Bourbon distilleries including a few tastings!

Happy trails and hope you'll visit my website at www.cherikayclifton.com

John M. Larn -- Western Lawman and Outlaw

By Paisley Kirkpatrick

John M. Larn (March 1, 1849 – June 23, 1878) was a western American lawman, and later an outlaw.

Born in Mobile, Alabama, Larn traveled to Colorado as a teenager where he found work as a ranch hand until murdering his employer during an argument over a horse. Fleeing to New Mexico, Larn killed a local sheriff he thought was tracking him.

Larn settled in Fort Griffin. He eventually married the daughter of John Alexander Matthews and within several years had become a well-known citizen of Shackelford County. After years of service with the local vigilante committees, Larn was elected county sheriff in April 1876. Shortly after becoming elected, Larn agreed to a contract with the local territorial garrison to deliver three steers of cattle per day. Larn however, began planning with longtime friend and recently deputized John Selman to rustle cattle from neighboring ranchers in place of his own. Suspicions were soon raised as ranchers noticed while their herds were slowly shrinking, Larn's place remained the only ranch unaffected and, after discovering the scheme, Larn was eventually forced to resign on March 7, 1877.

No charges were brought against him. Larn continued to live in Shackelford County until June 1878 when he wounded a local rancher by the name of Treadwell (who had reportedly uncovered the cattle rustling). Finally, a warrant was issued for Larn's arrest in June, 1878, and William Cruger was tasked with arresting his former boss. Larn was soon arrested by Sheriff William Cruger on June 22, 1878 and taken to Albany where Cruger ordered the local blacksmith to shackle Larn to the floor of the jail house as to prevent a breakout by Larn's supporters. However, when vigilantes from Fort Griffin arrived the following night, finding they could not lynch Larn they instead shot him as he was still shackled in his cell.