LAC LA BCHE - "Go"…"fifteen-two, fifteen-four - and nothing more" ..."nibs"... "skunked you" — just a few of the phrases that could be heard among the players who had gathered at the Lac La Biche Heritage Centre on Oct. 14 for the first crib tournament to be hosted by the Heritage Society since 2019.
The action got underway in the morning with the first of 12 games played throughout the day, with six games being played before and after lunch. The friendly, all-day sociable competition pitted local players against those who were visiting from across the Lakeland region and beyond. The players were grouped into more than 30 teams, all trying to peg their way to victory. Each player paid $25 to enter the tournament, which also included breakfast and lunch.
The tournament was not a round robin, so not all of the players faced off against each other during the event. There were opportunities for all players to peg some cash prizes, though — which were based on a percentage of all monies taken at the door. Cash prizes were given out to the top three players.
The tournament is also a fundraiser for the Lac La Biche Heritage Society, with some of the money made going into the community organization’s coffers. In addition to the main prizes, there were also two 50/50 draws whereby 50 per cent of money raised stayed in-house and the other half going to the winner.
Top peggers were the team of Val Pawlik and Marlene Langford. Out of 12 games played, they scored 121 points in 11 of them and 118 in game 10. The perfect score would have been 1,452 points — and they scored 1,449. The second place team was Raymonde Lett and Melvin Lett with 1,412 points.
Third place went to Shirley and Marie Warawa. All the winning teams were from the Lac La Biche area.
