Danger no bluff in cowboy poker

EDMONTON - Four poker-playing cowboys at the Canadian Finals Rodeo went all-in Friday night and kept the crowd in their seats by refusing to leave theirs.

Cowboy poker returned to the CFR as the half-time show for the first time since 1999 -- and it didn't disappoint.

"I'm happy I didn't get run over," said Friday night's winner Travis Lourance, who kept his butt in his seat long enough to walk away with the $500 prize.
PLAYING 'CHICKEN' WITH BULL: Onlookers may wonder if the cowboys are playing with a full deck as they get ready to dodge a charging bull Friday evening.View Larger Image View Larger Image
PLAYING 'CHICKEN' WITH BULL: Onlookers may wonder if the cowboys are playing with a full deck as they get ready to dodge a charging bull Friday evening.
Ed Kaiser, The Journal

Cowboy poker is a game of chicken where four cowboys sit around a table as a one-tonne bull with anger management issues is turned loose.

The last one sitting in his chair wins the prize. It usually doesn't take more than a minute.

On Friday, the bull stormed out of the gate, paused momentarily to view its victims, then stormed into the back of Travis Finkbeiner's chair. It came down to a contest between Lourance and Ponoka native Will Evans, but ended after Lourance gave Evans' chair a little push.

The slight movement of Evans' seat sent the bull barrelling straight towards him. "He pushed me, but I'll get him back tomorrow," Evans said.

The competitors drew from a deck of cards to see who sat where around the table.

Lourance, one of the most successful cowboy poker players in Canada, got a side seat but said he prefers to sit with his back to the chute that releases the bull.

"Ninety per cent of the time the bull comes out, takes a look and comes around to the side," he said.

There's no wonder why Lourance has racked up almost $20,000 in the event over the past seven years. His is literally a do-or-die strategy. "I have never (left my seat)," he said. "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."

For organizer Ace Northcott, finding cowpokes crazy enough to participate is about as hard as getting the right bull. Most bulls won't attack a target that isn't moving.

"Either they naturally want to chase you or they don't," he said. "You just have to find the meanest bulls you can get and hope it works."

Both Lourance and Evans have only basic Alberta health care, but that doesn't stop them from stepping into the ring.

"It's an exciting, adrenaline-filled type of event," Evans said. "The money doesn't matter to me, it's just for the fun of it."

Some cowboys consider the stakes too high to throw their hats in the ring.

Bull rider Chad Besplug said he prefers to be on top of the bull rather than beside it.

"It's dumb," he said. "We're doing a sport. What they're doing is just reckless."

"It seems kind of stupid," Camrose native Brad McCarroll said. "It's dangerous. I'm a team roper, and that's not nearly as dangerous."

Fellow team roper Troy Fisher agrees.

"I'm really not afraid of bulls per se, but I think I have more respect for them," he said.

"They are not to be feared in their own element, but under those circumstances they are out looking for something, so I tend to stay out of their way."

The event continues at today's evening performance.

Source: Canada.com