Turning Tricks

The CMU Program Board hosted a euchre tournament Monday, October 12^th, in the Rotunda.

Russell Pfafflin, the Daytime and Special Events chair organized the tournament because of euchre’s growing popularity and fast pace.

“People can come play for an hour and go back to studying or whatever,” Pfafflin said.

The game of euchre is a nice change from the usual poker.

Some have been playing together for a while, like partners Jordan Peerbolte and Devon Peterson, who made it to the third round and lost in the last hand.

“They were really good,” says Peterson of her competitors, who wants to come back if another tournament is offered.

The games stayed close for the most part, many coming down to the last hand.  Richard King and Ryan Roberts, who both grew up playing euchre, kept their games close, winning or losing on the last point of the game.

Roberts says he learned during indoor recess while King was taught by his father and grandparents years ago.

“Cards is a big thing in our family,” says King, spades being the family favorite.

Disappointed by the loss, King and Roberts also hope for another tournament. Pfafflin stated the Program Board is making plans to have monthly euchre tournaments next semester.

Returning players will include Jacob Eastman and Eric Schwartz, who won the final game 10-9.  The two men had been paired up to play the tournament, never having played together before.

The game went from slow and uneventful to quite the match-up in the last few tricks.  It came down to the final point and the last card of the game, Eastman and Schwartz coming out victorious.

Tournament winners had the choice of $25 iTunes gift cards or Steve Lynch tickets, Eastman and Schwartz picking the iTunes cards.

Runners-up Adam Park and Steven Ball received the Steve Lynch tickets for Friday, October 16 at 8 pm.

Euchre Rules

The game of Euchre is pretty widespread in Michigan and the surrounding states, with some variations on specific rules or terminology.  The game itself is very similar to spades, different in that only cards nine and higher are used and trump is called each time a new hand is dealt, as opposed to always being spades.  The specific rules can be found online on the wikiHow website, or http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Euchre.  The game is simply and fun, attracting players of all ages.  Learn how to play and you may be the next Euchre Tournament winner here at CMU!

GCM photos by Rebecca Payne