E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Rope.
You carry a rope in your pocket (French). Said of a person very lucky at cards, from the superstition that a bit of rope with which a man has been hanged, carried in the pocket, secures luck at cards.
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“‘You have no occupation?’ said the Bench, inquiringly, to a vagabond at the bar. ‘Beg your worship’s pardon,’ was the rejoinder: ‘I deal in bits of halter for the use of gentlemen as plays.’”—The Times (French correspondent).
