Finishing nine tournaments of the 36-tournament season (2024-2025), the Grass Roots Cribbage Club #43 (GR 43) has completed their first quarter of play. As a part of the American Cribbage Congress (ACC, www.cribbage.org), and chartered by the Grass Roots program, (www.cribbage.org/grassroots) with over 200 clubs in cities across North America, GR 43 promotes cribbage for the purpose of entertainment and education.
The weekly tournaments consist of nine games played in a round-robin style with all players seated randomly. Earning two game points for a win and three game points for a skunk (win greater than 30 pegs), everyone is striving to break the threshold of 12 game points to qualify for Grass Roots Points (GRPs). The GRPs are used to determine the club champion at the end of the season. Cumulative GRPs earned over years played determine Lifetime Achievement Awards. The 2023-2024 Club Champion, Ben Holder, earned his Gold Award (4,000 GRPs) last season.
The top five GR 43 members in GRPs for the first quarter are Loren Lookabill (80 GRPs), Tracy Yott (64 GRPs) and Rich Hammock (45 GRPs), Theo Mattingly (42 GRPs) and Farokh Ziari (42 GRPs). The top five GR 43 members in Win Percentage are Loren Lookabill , Tracy Yott and Rich Hammock, all winning 59.3% of the games they played. Farokh Ziari won 57.1% of his games while Jim Perry won 53.3% of the games he played.
Highlights of the first quarter include 28-point hands by Rich Lewis and Ben Holder, both in tournament #2. Wayne Morris also had a 28-point hand in tournament #8. The second-best hand in cribbage, the 28-point hand consists of any ten-point card with all four 5s in a hand. The odds of getting a 28-point hand are about one in 171,000.
The other highlight of the first quarter is the most recent one. In tournament #9, Rich Hammock won all nine games, known as a Grand Slam. The adage “It’s an easy game to play when you get the cards” sure held true for Rich as he could do no wrong that night.
Grass Roots Cribbage Club #43 always welcomes new players of any level. They play every Wednesday night (except for the night before Thanksgiving and during the Christmas holiday season) at Stanley’s Sports Bar upstairs in Sharks Ice Fremont,. Players should arrive by 5pm to get acquainted and get in a warmup game or two before the tournament starts at 5:45pm.
Visit the club Facebook page at www.facebook.com/groups/ACCGrassRoos43 for more information.
