At 09:07 AM 1/26/01 -0800, you wrote:
>does anyone know how the game "monte" was played, as is referenced in
>numerous California Gold Rush-era accounts?  i've been able to find that it
>was a card game played with a 40-card deck and it was a favorite gambling
>game among Mexicans, with Mexican women often being keepers of the bank.

I found the following description of monte, sometimes called monte bank, on the internet.  This is not to be confused with three-card monte, a scam game.

Monte, one of the most popular card games, came out of the Mexican American War.  It is a very
easy, fast game.  The two-card version, called Mexican Monte and the four-card called Spanish
Monte are played similarly.

The dealer uses a deck of 40 cards (leaving out the 10’s, 9’s  and 8’s).  Any number of people
can play against the dealer, known as the bank.

To play two-card monte, the bank draws one card from the bottom and places it face up on the
table.  This is known as the bottom layout.  One card is drawn from the top of the pack and
placed face up on the table for the top layout.

The punters, (players) bet on either layout.  The pack is then turned face up and the card showing
on the bottom is know as the gate.  If the suit of this card (heart, spade, etc.) matches one of the
layouts, the banker pays the bet.  The banker wins the bets if the gate is not the same suit as the
layout.

To play four-card monte, the bank draws two cards each for the top and bottom layouts.  This
makes it easier for the punters to win.  If either card of the layout they bet on matches the gate
card, they win their bet.