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WHALE COVE
Dreary-eyed at 5:30 a.m. after playing since 8 p.m. the previous night, Arviat's Terrence King won $10,000 at a 97-person poker tournament in Whale Cove at the end of July.

At the poker table are Ronnie Ekwalak, left, and eventual poker tournament winner Terrence King, during the last weekend in July in Whale Cove. - photo courtesy of Chris Jones

"I had pocket jacks and my opponent had pocket fours," said King of the final hands in the Texas Hold 'Em match, after the game had petered down to Ronnie Ekwalak and King. "I raised, he went all in."

King followed Ekwalak in and came out in the top spot. Coming on the tail of a $20,000 poker win in Winnipeg, King modestly dismissed chances of becoming a professional poker player. He said he plans on buying a few parts for his Jeep and socking the rest of his money away. He also took home a trophy and bracelet.

The poker tournament ran in Whale Cove's community hall over two evenings on the last weekend of July, with prizes ranging from the first-place $10,000 to the 13th-place $500. Close to half the players were from Whale, with the other half made up of players from Rankin Inlet, Coral Harbour, Baker Lake and Arviat. It would begin at around 8 p.m. each night, after games in a concurrent, three-day floor hockey tournament wrapped up.

Rankin Inlet won the hockey tournament 4-0 over a team from Arviat.

"We've been trying to run this floor hockey tournament for three years now," said Whale Cove recreation co-ordinator Chris Jones. "We had a hard time bringing teams in so we brought in the poker tournament knowing that this would get people in."

He said it was hugely popular, and the out-of-town teams - two from Rankin and two from Arviat, adding to the three Whale Cove teams - gave great feedback.

"They really enjoyed themselves and said they would be back, guaranteed, next time," Jones said.

The community hopes to host another event like this in April, said Jones, aiming to fill up all 150 poker seats - Jones attributes bad weather to not filling up most of the empty seats this time around. The poker game had a $100 buy-in and Jones said the $33,000 raised paid for the event. All in all, the event was a success for the entire community.

"The co-op did a lot of business, people in town did a lot of business, so it was really good," said Jones. "There was no trouble in town at all. It was just a good weekend."

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