Doreen Cox has been playing the popular card game cribbage for more than 60 years and had never come close to scoring a perfect hand, but that all changed a few days ago. (Keith Lacey photo)
It took more than 60 years to do it, but Doreen Cox has achieved the dream for every diehard cribbage player.
Cox, 72, first started playing the popular card game when she was a little girl growing up in small-town Manitoba and has been playing on a fairly regular basis ever since.
Just recently, while playing with a group of snowbirds during their regular Tuesday afternoon cribbage tournament at the Walnut Beach Resort, Cox achieved “the perfect hand” and scored a very rare 29.
“I was taught cribbage by my grandmother when I was a little girl of maybe six years of age and we used to play for hours on end every time I visited my grandmother,” said Cox. “I have been a regular cribbage player most of my life and had never really come close to getting a perfect hand, but then it happened and I couldn’t really believe it.”
In order to score a perfect 29, players must be dealt a jack as well as three fives as part of five cards you are dealt from the deck.
You must discard one card “into the missy.”
The only way to score 29 is to draw the fourth five that matches the colour of the jack in your hand, which is exactly what happened for Cox.
“I had the three fives and the jack of hearts in my hand and when the cut card was the second red five, I knew I had the perfect hand,” she said. “When I laid down my hand, I let out a small scream and everyone in the room just stopped dead and started cheering and applauding.
“I had been playing this game for more than 60 years and had never come close to a perfect hand and I know people who have been playing for much longer than I have who have never had a perfect hand.
“It was pretty exciting and I know I won’t forget it.”
Ironically, Cox and her partner Shirley Smith did not win that particular game despite her perfect hand.
“We were way too far behind for my big score to make any difference in that game,” she said smiling. “I finally get the hand all cribbage players can only dream of and we didn’t win the game. That’s how it goes I guess.”
Getting a perfect hand in cribbage is even more rare than scoring a hole-in-one in golf or getting hit by lightning, said Cox.
“The odds against scoring a perfect hand are astronomical … it doesn’t happen very often,” she said. “I’ve been part of games where you score 28 (which involves a hand where you have four fives and the opposite-coloured jack), but the perfect hand is incredibly rare.”
Cox and her husband Clayton have been coming to Osoyoos from Morden, Manitoba to spend the winter months here for the past 17 years.
“Like almost everyone else, we came here to enjoy the warmer weather and we loved the place that first winter and have been coming back ever since,” she said.
There are dozens of other snowbirds who rent rooms at the Walnut Beach Resort over the winter months and Cox has helped organize the regular Tuesday afternoon cribbage tournament for years.
“It’s a fun and very social game and I’ve enjoyed playing it very much all these years,” she said.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
