Recapping the Peggers’ last two tournaments
It must have been because of the holiday season that we only had seven players at our cribbage tournament Dec. 28 because on Jan. 4 we had a whopping 15 players.
On the December Saturday, we were fortunate to have one more player than we needed for it to be an ACC sanctioned tournament. The players included one regular visitor from the Reno club, Beverly Castillo.
First place went to Ron Morgan (again!) with a nice 14 game points, six wins posted to his scorecard (two wins were skunks).
It was a photo finish for second with Castillo and Clyde Terry each ending the day with 13/6 cards, but Beverly edged out Clyde for second place with a net difference in her pegging of plus 24 and Clyde had plus 21!
There were only two 24-hands and Jan Cook held the last one and won the 24-Hand Pot. There were no 4-of-a-kind hands so the 4-of-a-Kind Pot rolled over.
It is interesting to note that both 24-hands were against Morgan and he still came in first place. He has placed first in his last five grass roots tournaments, two in Reno and three here with the Peggers.
Another interesting aside about Ron and his wins: A few weeks ago he won a key chain in a Reno tournament that belonged to the late Les Sumner. Les was a mason and the key chain is a small bubble level. Ron traveled with Les for 18 years playing tournaments all over the country. So who needs a rabbit’s foot when you have a lucky level!
January tournament
We had two visitors from the Reno Club, Ray Peterson and Castillo, and two guests (these are not members of a grassroots club, but are still crib players), Don Judson and Ethan Borgmann.
First place went to Susan Terry with an outstanding 19 game points earned with eight wins. Darlene Pekovich came in second with a nice 14/7 score.
Larry Balsley took third with a respectable 13/6 score and Borgmann took fourth. Larry was the players’ “Hero-of-the-Day” by handing Susan her only loss in the last game of the day! As you may recall, anyone who wins all nine games wins the Grand Slam/29-Hand Pot, which typically grows to $80 or more and is won about every eight months, on average.
There were four 24-hands and Balsley held the final one to win the 24-Hand Pot. There were four 4-of-a-kind hands and Brad Archer won the tiebreaking cut of the cards to win the 4-of-a-Kind Pot.
Thanks go to Terry, Castillo and Morgan for running the tournament in my absence and to all of the club members who pitch in every week to help with the table setup, boards, cards, pegs, pens, etc.
The Graeagle Peggers Grassroots Cribbage Club meets at Gumba’s Pizza in Blairsden every Saturday for a nine-game tournament. Check-in is at 10:45 a.m. and play begins at 11 a.m. The American Cribbage Congress sanctions the tournaments that qualify when we field enough contestants each week.
For more information or questions, contact me, Doug Rodrigues, the club’s director at 836-4254. Players of all skill levels are welcome!
