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Windthorst and District Lions Club hosted their 7th annual Texas Hold 'em Poker tournament on Saturday, Mar. 18.
Twenty-three players registered for the tournament held at the Windthorst Community Rec Centre where they entered for $50. Players also had a chance up to a certain point to buy back into the game of which 14 took advantage of this option.
Players came from Kipling, Corning, Windthorst, Montmartre and Moosomin. Following registration play began at 2:00 p.m. and would continue on until 7:00 p.m.
"We've gone back to having the tournament on a Saturday this year," explains Bernard Steele, one of the tournament organizers ìand later in the year this time as well. "In the past we've held the tournament in February and sometimes the weather just doesn't cooperate."
As the tournament progressed and players were knocked out one by one the final table played a little tighter poker as money was paid out to only the top six.
With only four left at the table the chips shuffled around from player to player as each one took their turns taking the chip lead.And then there were three. Garth Kien was knocked out leaving McCarthy and Aikens to battle it out. The final hand came down to Lorna McCarthy going all in with an A-C and 10-S. Doug Aikens called her with a Q-D and 7-H.
On the flop came a 6-J-2 which was no help to either player, then came the turn card a 9 of spades. The river card, a 6 of diamonds, gave McCarthy all the chips with her Ace high.
McCarthy was asked what her strategy was for winning and her response was ìIn the beginning of the tournament when the blinds are low everybody plays a lot of hands trying to build up your stacks so you have chips when the blinds go up. When the blinds go up not as many hands are played.
"I play once a week at Norm's Place," McCarthy says as she explains how a group of them get together once a week and play.
"After about 5 hands in the tournament I took the opportunity of the rebuy," says McCarthy.
"In the final hand I went all in and hoped for the best," says McCarthy and adds, "I played a tighter game today than what I usually play at Norm's Place.
"The top six players winning prize money included: 1st Lorna McCarthy (Corning) $411.00; 2nd Doug Aikens (Windthorst) $244.00; 3rd Garth Kien (Moosomin) $167.00; 4th Ed Mish (Corning) $122.00; 5th Gordon Hassler (Windthorst) $89.00 and 6th Cindy Hoffmann (Windthorst) $78.00.
After all was said and done (following expenses) the Lions raised approximately $500.00 from the day with profits going towards the Canada 150 celebrations.
"We were happy with the tournament," says Steele.
"The Lions thank all of the players for coming out. We hope they enjoyed the day and look forward to our next poker tournament," Steele stated.
