Heather Chrupalo was dogsitting for a friend in Whiskey Creek.
She is from Flin Flon, Man., and being far away from home, it’s always good to make some friends. And she did. She met the neighbour Willo Jacobs and forged a good friendship.
Chrupalo said Jacobs is an avid cribbage player so one night they decided to play a game while having a nice relaxing glass of wine.
Chrupalo said she was dealing the cards. After handing them out, she noticed Jacobs’s shocked look with the hand that she got.
“I knew it right away, I dealt her a 29 hand,” said Chrupalo. “She flipped over three fives and so I said ‘you have a jack in your hand that matches those fives. And she smiled. I knew I dealt her a 29 hand.”
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Chrupalo said a 29 hand is extremely rare. The odds of getting a perfect 29 hand in a two-player game are 1 in 216,580 and in a three- or four-player game, it’s 1 in 649,740.
“It doesn’t happen that often and I played a lot,” said Chrupalo, 57. “I experienced it once when I was 15 playing against one of my dad’s friends. I have not had one since then.”
Chrupalo said she lost the game, but it was close.
“It happened early in the game so there was an opportunity to catch up,” said Chrupalo. “She ended up winning the game but it was not by a lot.”
Chrupalo is now back in Manitoba, dealing a different kind of hand. Lots of snow, said Chrupalo who wished she could have stayed in B.C. longer.
“The COVID-19 pandemic forced me to go back home,” said Chrupalo. “But I had great time there.”