The 2013 Euchre Showdown review

Well, another year goes down in the books. This year we had 85 players from all over North America. They came near and far. There were those that flew in as well as those that were just a short hop away. Due to the large increase in participants we were able to give out much more in prize money.

This was the second year that we at Ohio Euchre hosted this event. We have already set a date of June 27 + 28, 2014 for next year's event. Speaking of next year, I have some exciting news. We will be offering a side pot option with 100% payout. This will pay 1st and 2nd place for each of the four game sets that we play. What this means is that say, your first four games don't go well. You know this hurts your overall chance of winning the event. However, on the next four you get just amazing cards. Lones are coming out of nowhere. You now have a good chance for the top score in the second set of 4 games, and a cut of the side pot money. This will be for both Friday and Saturday.

Friday things went well. I'd like to thank all that attended this year. A special thanks to Keri and the group that flew in from Arizona. We had an uneven number of players and this year I was prepared for it, (ya, I know, I should have been last year, as well) First place, with a total of 108 points ( a 9 point average per game) was taken by Jean Lambert from Ontario, Canada. For the second year in a row our own Amy Carmean (Columbus Ohio Euchre Group) came in second with a total of 104 points. With 96 points each, third place went to Phil Neal and Joe Bia. In another tie, the most Lones award went to Amy and Phil turning in 6 Lones each. This is also Joe's second year in a row for a tie in the most Lones category.

Amy and Jean are now entered into the Triple Crown competition. Their scores will compete against the top scores from the Flint and the Sarnia events. Good luck to you both…

This year we also offered a fifty dollar bill to the first person that was dealt, and got the play the perfect lone hand consisting of both bars, plus ace, king queen, all in the same suit. As of Friday night that award went unclaimed.

On Saturday we had a player that had not pre registered show up just before starting time. In trying to maintain a policy of not turning any one away, I played as this person's partner. This was a large mistake as now I was then unable to keep up with entering scores into the computer. This, along with the fact that I must not have fully explained the properly way fill in the score sheets, caused a delay in starting the finals.

Next year, we will still allow someone to play without signing up. If you don't have a partner for Saturday, I will do what I can to find one for you. However, I may have to turn you away. My first duty is to the tournament. Running this tournament is an ongoing learning process. Playing in this event is one mistake I will never make again. I am redesigning the score sheets to be easier to understand and will allow for faster data entry. All I can say is I'm trying my hardest to improve every year.

The perfect Lone award was snatched up by Kristin Rhee early on Saturday. We had a player leave prior to the event's completion. This person will not be welcomed back next year. I want to say thanks to the person that came up with a great solution to allow the tournament to continue uninterrupted. I'm sorry that I didn't get his name. The answer was that as we had an uneven number of teams, one person from the team that sat out, would cover the missing player's position.

At the end of the day it was the father/son team of Brian Mcconnell and Jeff Mcconnell that took home the grand prize.

While the finals were being played, Ben ran a mini tournament for those that just cannot get enough euchre. The winners were, in first place, Dean Massie & Renee Bell. Bryan & Aleasha Dematt came in second.