Coll'Euchre

What's up, readers.

The dudes eating some Mexican before the tourney started. 

We're in the slums of winter still, and it's been relatively dead around these parts for weeks, but tonight we had ourselves a slight break in the monotony: the Colliers' annual Euchre Tournament.

This one has never been one of my favorite parties our tribe throws; as much as I enjoy a good hand of Euchre, playing eleven rounds of it (or four hours of it, whatever comes first) is a bit excessive. I'd be cool with, like, half that amount of playing cards - after a few games I'm over it and ready to call it a night - but Collier loves hosting this so we all buck up in order to help the guy out.

Mitch the Pro and Mr. Collier partaking in some jello shots.

After all, Kris and I make all of these assholes dress up in themed Halloween costumes every year, it's the least we can do.

Kris, of course, never plays at these tournaments. Sometimes she makes up an excuse, other times she's just like, "Nope, I'm not playing," but this year she had a legitimate reason for bowing out of the tournament at least. Abby and Ella each got a few tickets to the Saginaw Spirit (the 'minor league' hockey team in our area) for Christmas, considering they're both huge hockey fans, and neither us or the Johnsons were cool with Ella driving them both into downtown Saginaw after dark. She volunteered to drive the girls down to the Dow Event Center for a game tonight, and then pick them up about three hours or so later so the Johnsons and I could participate in the tourney.

Out of the twenty or so players who pay the $10 buy-in for the winning pot, I usually place somewhere in the 8th - 12th place, comfortably in the middle of the pack. I know how to play the game and am competent at it, but I don't take a lot of ballsy risks like Going Alone, etc., so I never place in the top five. Honestly this game is like 95% luck of the draw, so that doesn't even really matter. This year, however, I was on fire, and was in the top three spots for most of the night. Ultimately, I ended up placing in 4th place, which meant I made my $10 back plus an additional $10 - not bad for a night's work of playing cards and drinking beers.

So here you go, folks - this year's Coll'Euchre (something Ryan's AI came up with, don't ask me.) Enjoy. . .

Some of the wives grab some shots of something or other that Mitch whipped up. Left to Right: Kirsty, Courtney, Mees, Lori, Beth (the wife of one of Collier's college friends who comes out to the Euchre tourneys ever year), and Danielle.

Grazing on some Mexican food.

Collier sets up the tournament's spreadsheet (a crap-load of formulas go into this thing, I have no idea how it works - Cory set it up for him.)

Morgan, Mitch and Erik talking among Collier's famous homemade cookie spread.

The taco spread they set out for these tournaments is pretty impressive. A few clicks up from what we usually do for our family on any given weeknight.

Different types of proteins.

I'm always grateful so many folks in this tribe of ours knows how to operate a grill - the food is always top-notch.

As we approached the 7pm start time, Collier once again went over the House Rules for all those in attendance (not that we needed a refresher, we're all old hands at this by now.)

Cory has won the last couple of years and is a notoriously aggressive player. Collier wanted blood.

The tournament begins. . .

After each round, as various tables concluded their two rounds, folks would come back to the kitchen to continue grazing on the spread and observe the scores as they came in.

We noticed at one point in the evening that the Collier's family room windows had plastic on them. Mees tried telling us this was probably for energy purposes, but we told her that that's not really a thing. When she told us that they had been up since they had moved into the house back in like 2017 or whatever, we tried telling her that the plastic wrap was probably just never taken off during the installation process (because the previous owners had installed the windows shortly before selling the house.) Mees had to run outside to investigate.

Holty and Morgan face off against Lori and Danielle.

Kris showed up shortly into the second or third round after dropping the girls off in Saginaw.

I brought my Oredock stein along for the night 'cause Collier had a keg of Miller Lite primed in his kegorator. The flip lid is awesome for events like this where folks are constantly knocking drinks over.

He had five tables set up throughout the main level of his house. We had eighteen players this year, so we didn't have to set up any tables in his basement (which is usually like twenty degrees colder than the main level - no one was complaining.)

I came roaring out of the gate this year, and was in first or second place for the first several rounds. Mees was on fire, though - she kept getting insanely good hands all night.

Erik, Kelli and Mees gang up on some over-zealous petting of the Collier family dog, Winnie.

Collier adjusts the spreadsheet as the tournament drags on.

I fell to fourth place in the last stretch of the tournament and remained there for the rest of the night. Would have been cool to make it to third place, which paid out like $30, but I was cool placing as high as I did - probably won't happen again.

At the end of the tournament, we were met with an unprecedented anomaly: a tie for first place.

Mees and the infamous Cory had tied for the top spot, so Collier decided to hold a final, sudden death round to determine the night's winner.

Stakes were high for Mees, who was the tribe's best shot at unseating the usual champion.

But there was no stopping the juggernaut - Cory came out on top once again.

Mees concedes defeat. Cory won a trophy mug for nabbing first place, but he was nice enough to bequeath it to Mees for her efforts.

Being inappropriate with some Vienna sausages. . .

This lil' guy is super excited about Collier's cookies. . .

Courtney tries dislodging something from Winnie's mouth. Dogs are a-holes.

Collier and Cory

An attempt at a group pic towards the end of the night, right before the vast majority of folks took off for the night.

At the end of the night, it was us, the Johnsons, Amy, and the Colliers remaining. The wives took up singing karaoke to the music Collier had playing in the background, which is pretty typical for midnight-ish around these parts.

So there you go, gang - this year's Collier Euchre Tourney. Hopefully next year Yours Truly will crack the Top Three, but I'm not getting my hopes up. . . 

- Brian

Card Sharks

Hi kids.

A much-appreciated taco/nacho bar was the spread for this evening's party.

One of our tribe's annual parties one can always count on is the big Collier Euchre Tournament, which almost always goes down during the drudgery of winter existence. 

Generally he gets like two dozen people to participate in the tournament, which lasts like ten rounds and randomizes all players into different pairings for each round. This year was somewhat smaller than the previous few years, so we only had five tables going instead of six or seven, but it went fast and so folks didn't get funned out with cards ('cause after a few hours of cards, it does tend to get boring.) In all the years we've participated in this tradition, I've never placed higher than like 6th or 7th place, and can usually be found resting smack dab in the middle of the pack.

And once or twice I've ended up kinda near the bottom. But anyway. 

Once again making an appearance: Mitch's world-class sushi rolls. 

While Euchre does require an understanding of the game and a tiny bit of skill, your success is like 95% thanks to the cards you are dealt. So if you end up with some awesome cards in your hand, you're bound to rank higher in the brackets. You can only do so much with a bunch of 9's, 10's, Queens and Kings.

Which is basically what I had all night. Again.

So, ultimately, I once again ended up right in the middle of the pack: I didn't win any money, but I also wasn't one of the bottom feeders facing ridicule from my peers. Kris didn't even participate this year - she hates card tournaments and only jumps in if she's absolutely needed - and spent the evening chatting it up with Alicia, who also wasn't playing. All in all, it was a fun way to pass an evening with the usual suspects.

Check it out. . .

Folks receive their marching orders at the beginning of the tournament.

As usual, Collier had a series of numbered tables set up throughout this house: this one here in the living room, two in the 'dining room,' and two in the basement.

Aside from the usual tribe families - about five of which weren't on hand this evening, a big reason why turnout was as low as it was this evening - Ryan supplemented the guest list with a few couples that they know from college (including the randoms shown throughout these pics you'd probably otherwise not recognize.)

Mitch and Kelli's oldest, Drew, sat in to help fill in some gaps for the tournament.

Down in the basement. . .

My luck throughout the night was consistently shitty, except for maybe one round where it was somewhat respectable.

Back upstairs as the tournament drags on. . .

I forget why Kris and Alicia were walking around with all these beers (Kris definitely doesn't drink beer.)

Steven attempts to take a nap (seriously.) 

Kris hung out here for pretty much the entirety of the night.

Checking out the scoreboard in the living room (which, like I've said before) is automatically updated as each round's table scores are submitted.

After the tournament ended, some of the dads got into some bourbon that was sitting around. I opted against this, which ended up being an incredibly smart move on my part - Mitch didn't handle it so well.

Hens, grazing around the food spread.

Kelli, Mees, and Corey doing more shots.

Congratulations, Ryan.

Mees and Ryan "I'll Never Get a Dog" Collier, showing off their brand new puppy, Winnie.

Folks starting to head home at the end of the night, ready for bed (or a toilet, in Mitch's case.)

- Brian