284 P K P L other players to go out of the game, may be resorted to occasionally with success ; but, as a rule, the player who goes in best will come out best. When about to bluff draw only one card or no cards. 9. A straight or higher hand may be backed freely, but the other players are more likely to go on staking if the raise is by small sums at a time. The only general rule that can be given is to change the raising tactics pretty frequently. Laws of Poker. These vary considerably. The following are based on " the American Hoyle." Determination of Deal. 1. One card is given to each player. Lowest has the deal. Ace is lowest. Ties of lowest card have one card each given again. The deal goes in rotation to the left of the last dealer. Shuffling, Cutting, and Dealing. 2. Any one may shuffle, the dealer last. 3. The player to the dealer s right cuts at least four cards. The dealer reunites the packets. If before the deal a card is exposed, there must be a fresh cut. A blank card is usually placed under the pack to prevent exposure of the bottom card. 4. The dealer must deal from the top of the pack, one card to each player in rotation, beginning to his left. 5. If the dealer deals without having the pack cut, or shuffles after it is cut, or misses a hand, or gives too many or too few cards to any player (but see Law 6), or exposes a card in dealing, he forfeits an ante to the pool and deals again. The forfeit does not raise the other players, and the dealer must still make his first ante good when it conies to his turn, or go out of the game. (Some players merely require a fresh deal without any forfeit, and some require a player to take the card dealt him if only one card is exposed. ) Fill ing the Hands. Q. If a player, after lifting any of his cards, is found to have too many or too few cards, he must go out of the game. (Some players give a hand with only four cards the option of going in.) 7. If, when drawing to fill, the dealer gives a player too many or too few cards, and the player lifts any of them, he must go out of the game. If the error is discovered before lifting, it can be rectified, in the case of too many cards by withdrawing the superfluous ones, in the case of too few cards by filling from the top of the pack. 8. If, when drawing to fill, a card is exposed, it must be placed at the bottom of the pack, and the top card given instead (sometimes the top card after all the other players are served). 9. Cards thrown out must be placed face downwards in the middle of the table before any are draw-n ; otherwise the player is liable to the penalty for holding too many cards (Law 0). 10. Any player before taking up his filled hand may ask how many cards the dealer drew. Chipping. 11. If all the players pass without chipping to fill, the dealer takes back his ante, and the deal passes. If, after filling, no one before the dealer raises, the dealer takes the pool. 12. If a player chips with more or less than five cards (but see note to Law 6), he must go out of the game. But, if all the other players have gone out of the game before the discovery is made, there is no penalty. 13. A player who passes or throws up cannot come in again. 14. Players are bound to put up distinctly the amount they chip, separate from their other chips. Aftcrcomers. 15. The place of an after- comer is determined by dealing a card between every two players. The aftercomer sits where the lowest card was dealt. Incorrect Packs. 16. The deal in which an imperfection of the pack is dis covered is void. All preceding deals stand good. (H. J.) POKROVSKAYA SLOBODA, or POKROVSK, also KASAKSTADT, a village of the district of Novo-uzen, in the government of Samara, Russia, on the left bank of the Volga, almost opposite Saratoff. In the 18th century it was a small cluster of clay huts occupied by a number of runaway serfs who had gathered round the storehouses erected by the crown for salt brought from Lake Elton ; but, a body of free settlers having been enticed to the spot in 1747 by large grants of grazing ground, the village rapidly increased, its inhabitants, who numbered 12,776 in 1859, now exceeding 20,0t)0. They support themselves by cattle breeding and agriculture ; and the Pokrovskaya landing place is ono of the most important on the Volga, the exports, mostly of wheat, reaching 99,850 cwts. in POLA, the principal naval harbour and arsenal of the Austrian-Hungarian monarchy, is picturesquely situated at the south extremity of the peninsula of Istria, 55 miles to the south of Trieste. Its safe and commodious harbour is almost completely landlocked, and there is also a good roadstead between its mouth and the Brionian Islands. The harbour is divided into two basins by a chain of three small islands, and the inner basin is subdivided into the naval and the commercial harbour by the Scoglio Olivi, a larger island connected with the mainland by an aqueduct. The hills enclosing the harbour are defended by forts and batteries. The town proper lies opposite the Scoglio Olivi, round the base of a hill formerly crowned by the Roman capitol and now by a castle of the 17th century. Besides the castle the chief medieval and modern buildings are the cathedral (15th century), the Franciscan convent (13th century), the Government and municipal offices, the huge infantry barracks, and the theatre. To the south west, along the coast, extends the marine arsenal, a vast and well-planned establishment employing about 2000 workmen and possessing all the requisites for the equip ment of a large fleet. It contains an interesting naval museum, and is supplemented by the docks and wharfs of the Scoglio Olivi. The artillery laboratory and the powder magazine are on the north bank of the harbour. Behind the arsenal lies the suburb of San Policarpo, almost exclu sively occupied by the naval population and containing large naval barracks and hospitals. In the middle of it is a pleasant park, with a handsome monument to the emperor Maximilian of Mexico, who had been a rear- admiral in the Austrian navy. To the north, between San Policarpo and the town proper, rises the Monte Zarro, surmounted by an observatory and a statue of Admiral Tegetthoff. Pola has no manufactures outside of its naval stores, but its shipping trade is now considerable, the exports consisting of fish, timber, and quartz sand used in making Venetian glass, and the imports of manufactured and colonial wares. The population has increased from GOO at the close of last century and 5000 in 1857 to 25,175 in 1880, including a garrison of 5000 men. To many people, however, the chief interest of Pola centres in its fine Roman remains. The most extensive of these is the amphitheatre, which is 400 feet long and 320 feet wide, and could accommodate 20,000 spectators. It is remarkable as the only Roman amphitheatre of which the outer walls have been preserved intact ; the inte rior, however, is now completely bare, though the arrangements for the naumachia3, or naval contests, can still be traced. The oldest Roman relic is the fine triumphal arch of the Sergii, erected soon after the battle of Actium ; and of not much later date is the elegant and well-preserved temple of Augustus and Roma. Among the other antiquities are three of the old town-gates and a fragment of a temple of Diana. The foundation of Pola is usually carried back to the mythic period, and ascribed to the Colchian pursuers of Jason and the Argonauts. In all probability it was a Thracian colony, but its verifiable history begins with its capture by the Romans in 178 B.C. It was destroyed by Augustus on account of its espousal of the cause of Pom- pey, but was rebuilt on the intercession of his daughter Julia, and received (according to Pliny) the name of Pietas Julia. It seems to have attained its greatest prosperity about the time of the emperor Septimius Severus (193- 211 A.D.), when it was an important war harbour and con tained 35,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. At a later period Pola became the capital of the margraves of Istria, and was more than once captured and plundered by the Vene tians, who finally made themselves masters of the penin sula. In 1379 the Genoese, after defeating the Venetians in a great naval battle off the coast, took and destroyed Pola, which disappears from history for the next four hundred and fifty years. It remained under A^enetian supremacy down to 1797, and has been permanently united with Austria since 1815. In 1848 a new em began for Pola in its being selected as the principal naval harbour of Austria, and since then its progress has
been constant.