Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0023870, Wed, 3 Apr 2013 14:36:13 -0700

Subject
Re: how to play Pharoh?
Date
Body
I mis-spelled Pharoah - as is my wont. Many thanks to all who responded to my
query. Now if I can just find a few brave souls willing to gamble ... there's at
least one precocious child of my acquaintance (but his parents are already
concerned that I'm corrupting him).

Carolyn



________________________________
From: Jerry Friedman <jerryfriedman1@GMAIL.COM>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Wed, April 3, 2013 10:59:40 AM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] how to play Pharoh?


I should correct this. I forgot that if the two cards dealt have the same rank,
the bank takes half of the money that the punters bet on that rank. This is a
more important house advantage than the odds on "calling the turn" of the last
three cards.

A Nabokov connection is that faro is related to lansquenet, which is mentioned
in Pale Fire.

Jerry Friedman


On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 9:18 AM, Jerry Friedman <jerryfriedman1@gmail.com> wrote:

This book discusses the game of faro in The Queen of Spades, including the
reference to mirandole:

>
>
>http://books.google.com/books?id=9dD4E1Yv8dsC&pg=PA170
>
>
>The game seems to be the same as that described in the "Hoyle" I have: a punter
>bets on a rank, and then the cards are dealt alternately into "win" and "lose"
>piles. If the first card of that rank falls on the "win" pile, the punter wins;
>if not, he loses.
>
>
>The calculation of the house advantage is very simple (there isn't one except
>for the last three cards), and a precocious child might be interested in it.
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