Christchurch Casino Shootout Finals Night.......

From our guest reporter Charles "I'll have a little flutter - not" Whitwham.

On the evening of 26th November the team of Andrew Hopkins, David Morrison, David Robinson and Charles Whitwham attended the Casino to take part in the Christchurch Casino Shootout Finals night, having won the honour to represent Christchurch Golf Club by being the highest team stableford score during the playing of the Arthur Donnelly Salver. Other clubs that were present included Akaroa, Templeton, Weedons, Russley, Greendale, Everglades, Rangiora, Waimari Beach and Waimakariri Gorge.

The format for the evening had the teams of four split into pairs and going to separate tables to play Texas Hold'em poker (made popular by Casino Royale/James Bond film), with each half of the pair taking it in turn to sit at the table and play. After being given a brief rundown of the rules and the terminology used, such as big blind, little blind, check, fold, raise, call and all-in we got underway. The team that had the most points at the end of the night would be declared the winner and points were awarded for the value of the chips you had left. Once your chips had gone you were out of the game.

The first team to be eliminated was the all-female team from Everglades. High roller Hopkins noted that they had no idea how to play the game! Over on my table Dave Robinson and myself were not doing too badly until I lost when holding a pair of aces, beaten by 3 measly fours!! Soon we had too few chips left and were all-in, along with 3 other teams on our table. The poor dealer had his work cut out, having to form 5 separate pots for this round. I managed to win on the dealers turn of the last card by having a straight. The next round the player from Templeton was all-in and also got a straight on the last turn of the card to win another lifeline for his team. He then proceeded to do the same thing again in the next game to win the biggest pot on our table, at which point Dave and I were history. Over on the other table Andrew and Dave Morrison were also being eliminated.

The eventual winners were the team from Rangiora, with Greendale second and Russley third. A putting competition was also held and Dave Robinson made it all the way to the final where he lost in a sudden death putt-off against Jack Clark from Akaroa. It was nail-biting stuff!!!

Finger food and drinks were provided and at the end of the evening Grant Lewis, GM of Canterbury Golf presented a cheque for over $6,200 to Noel Chambers of the Golf Development Trust. We all enjoyed ourselves and vowed to form up next year to try and win through to this event again.