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Sunday, December 21, 2008

Beating the odds in La Grande... 29 hand!!!


From The Observer:

By Dick Mason

The instant loss of color in Dustin Fitzgerald’s face said volumes.
The shouts that followed said even more.

Fate had smiled on Fitzgerald. Now he was smiling, and the 16 other cribbage players with him were jubilantly smiling back.

Fitzgerald had just found himself in possession of a coveted 29 hand Sunday afternoon at the Grass Roots Regional Cribbage Tournament in La Grande. The elusive hand is the crown jewel of cribbage, the highest a player can get in the card game. A 29 hand is comprised of three fives, a jack and a five as the cut card. The five cut card must be the same suit as the jack.
The odds against getting a 29 hand are 216,508 to 1, according to the American Cribbage Congress. For added perspective, an amateur golfer’s chances of getting a hole in one are 12,800 to 1, according to Golf Digest.

“I’ve known people who are senior citizens who have played all their lives and never gotten a 29 hand,’’ said John Fitzgerald, Dustin’s father and the director of the Blue Mountain Peggers, La Grande’s new cribbage club, which put on Sunday’s tournament.



Full article here.


Nice job Dustin!
JK

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