One Nation, Under God
One Nation, Under God
The four teams who finished in the money at the 2016 Phillips County Whist League: Back row, l to r: Drew Brewer, Dan Brewer, Byron Ereaux, Nellie Ereaux and Leonard Leader. Front row: Malcolm Clouse, Margo Rush and Jeanette Heinle.
eams from the 2016 PC Whist League compete on the final day of play Sunday at Westside Cafe in Malta.
The Hi-Line Whist Tournament – which started in January – came to its conclusion Sunday night at Westside Café in Malta with a come from behind win by the father-daughter team of Byron and Nellie Ereaux.
“It was all me,” Nellie joked after finding out the duo had been crowned champs.
She said Byron taught her how to play the game three years ago at a family reunion and also admitted that she didn’t care if she wins or loses, but added her dad is of a different mind.
“He wants to win,” she said.
“”Hey, if you are going to play the game, play to win,” said Byron.
Byron said that a lot of being good at whist comes down to being lucky on the draw – though he said Nellie is a good bridge player and that helps as well.
“Paying attention helps to,” he said. “She pays attention most of the time. You play the cards you get and sometimes you don’t get the cards.”
As far as the luck goes, it ran out for the duo of Leonard Leader and Jeanette Heinle. Their team came into Sunday’s action with almost a 20 point lead, but it just wasn’t in the cards for the pair.
“We just got bad cards,” said Heinle. “The cards just didn’t come today. It’s sad, but it’s just part of the game.”
“And, I think, there were better players on the opposition,” Leader said.
Prior to the final hand and the final tallying of scores, Claris Darrah – tasked with keeping the leaderboard as current as possible – wasn’t sure who was going to come out on top during the last hands of the tournament.
“I just write the numbers, but I don’t know who will win,” she said. “It’s a good bunch of people. Lots of laughs and no fights.”
Aside from Team Ereaux, who took first place, and Leader and Heinle, who took second, the third place finisher of the 2016 Hi-Line Whist Tournament ended up being Don and Drew Brewer and in fourth place was Malcolm Clouse and Margo Rush.
Nellie said that she was sure her father and herself would play again in next year’s Hi-Line Whist Tournament – the duo’s names are often featured in the Phillips County News’ “Card News” each week for their feats – but unlike Joe Namath’s 1969 Super Bowl prediction prior to the win against the Colts, Nellie refused to make such a bold assumption.
“No,” she said. “You can’t get too confident.”
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