Games were conducted honestly, and men trusted one another.
A man's word was as good as his gold in the blower.

A marker was a flat, oblong composition chip worth, perhaps, a cent.

But when a man betted a marker in a game and said it was worth five hundred dollars, it was accepted as worth five hundred dollars.

Whoever won it knew that the man who issued it would redeem it with five hundred dollars' worth of dust weighed out on the scales.

The markers being of different colors, there was no difficulty in identifying the owners.
Also, in that early Yukon day, no one dreamed of playing table-stakes.
A man was good in a game for all that he possessed, no matter where his possessions were or what was their nature.
Harnish cut and got the deal.