‘Cowboy Poker’ Makes a Return to Canadian Rodeo Finals

‘Cowboy Poker’ Makes a Return to Canadian Rodeo Finals

Monday, 12 November 2007

Four poker-playing cowboys decided it would be a good idea recently to play poker in the presence of one angry bull in an event which might not catch on outside of a bullpen.
Last Friday night saw the Canadian Finals Rodeo in Edmonton, and ‘Co

Four poker-playing cowboys decided it would be a good idea recently to play poker in the presence of one angry bull in an event which might not catch on outside of a bullpen.
Last Friday night saw the Canadian Finals Rodeo in Edmonton, and ‘Cowboy Poker’ returned to the half time show for the first time since 1999.
The principle is simple enough. Four cowboys sit around a table as a rather hacked-off bull is let loose. The last one sitting in his chair is the winner. The games tend to be over in under sixty seconds.
'I'm happy I didn't get run over,' said Friday night's winner Travis Lourance, who managed to outlast his adversaries before getting out of the bullring pronto to collect his $500 prize.
The bull got off to a flyer, pausing momentarily before ploughing into the back of Travis Finkbeiner's chair. Heads up was won with a rather sneaky manoeuvre from Lourance, giving his opponent’s chair a gentle nudge. The slight movement was enough to give the bull the go-ahead as it barrelled straight for the mildly concerned cowboy.
Seat selection is of the utmost importance, with Lourance preferring to sit with his back to the chute which releases the bull. His play can be considered ‘do or die’, as he added 'I have never left my seat. You've got an animal in the arena that's going to do what he wants, and there's nothing you can do about it. I just sit tight and hopefully it's not me that gets hit.'



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