Tavern competitions stress 'fun'
By Paul Vang, Jim Haney and Cole Boehler
Members of the Montana Tavern Association apparently enjoy their friendly competitions, as evidenced by a golf tournament, a round of sporting clays shotgunning, and a poker tournament conducted over two evenings at the recently concluded 54th Annual MTA Convention and Trade Show.
Players and organizers are always quick to point out the competitions are primarily about having fun, and the relatively unskilled are urged to sign up as enjoyment and camaraderie takes precedence over how well you finish.
The golf tournament kicks off first thing Monday morning of the convention, while almost simultaneously shooters gather at the sporting clays venue. The elimination round of the poker tournament commences that evening and concludes the following night.
Golf
The MTA/Coors Marie Durkee Memorial Golf Tournament was held Sept. 21 at the beautiful and challenging Missoula Country Club. Hosts Ron Svien, general manager. and golf pro Skip Koprivica had everything ready and set up for what turned out to be a spectacular day for golf.
There were over 80 Tiger Woods wann-a-bees all whacking and hacking and telling everyone on their team that this had to be the worst round of golf they had played in their life, and they couldn't figure out why all their shots were going right or left or off the mark by a 100 yards or so.
Despite the good natured commiserating, many players later commented that this was one of the best golf tournaments in MTA history. Brad Martens, who chaired the golf committee, and his crew had lined up enough prize “swag” to last through 10 golf tournaments
Martens even had Pat Coil, our old friend from Mr. C's and now running the show at Missoula Nissan Hyundai, sitting on a hole ready to give away a car.
There were team prizes awarded for the top 11 teams along with individual prizes awarded for long drive, KPs, shot drive and such.
The top three winning teams were: in third place and receiving Sun Mountain Ultra Speed carts were Connor Sproull, Sean Morran, Shane Willson and Tom Ehlert; in second place and receiving $400 in cash were Brent Rupert, Tom Hilley, Jupe Compton and Joel Kittelson; first place and $500 in cold, hard cash went to Cal McOmber, Kevin Helling, Jeremy Kehoe and Robin Fry.
During the tournament, to take away some of the pain some were experiencing due to playing their worst game in a lifetime, was plenty of ice cold Coors and Coors Light beer. Bob Hayes and Jack Joseph from Summit Beverage made sure that you didn't run out, all compliments of tournament sponsor MillerCoors.
There were also a few young ladies out on the course who were not only serving up cold Coors but were showing off a beautiful diamond necklace that was later raffled off.
After the tournament concluded, the Country Club served up a wonderful meal of tender and juicy steak with baby steamed carrots, twice baked potatoes, fresh salad and a great dinner roll.
If participants didn't have a good time at this event, there is something wrong with them and they need urgent counseling! Thanks are due the Missoula Country Club and Brad Martens and his crew. What a great time!
Next year the MTA convention is going to be conducted in Havre. It's going to be tough to top this one, but knowing that dedicated Hill County bunch, we believe they're up to the challenge.
Sporting Clays
The sporting clays shotgunning competition kicked off the 2009 Montana Tavern Association convention for 21 men and women under bright sunny skies at Big Sky Sporting Clays at Van Voast's Farm just southwest of Polson.
The weather was cool and crisp as competition began, but warmed up as the shooting squads worked their way through the course.
Sporting clays is a relatively new shooting format in the United States. The game was developed in Great Britain and came to the United States in the 1980s. The object of sporting clays is to give participants shooting challenges similar to what hunters might find in the field.
That's the concept. The reality is that in taking a stroll around the hills, gullies and trees on the Big Sky shooting course, a visiting shooter will find some challenges rarely seen in a season of hunting. For example, how often do hunters stand on a bridge overlooking a creek bottom and shoot at birds flying from thick trees far below?
But, let's not quibble. If there are some special challenges in the sporting clays game that may not often be found in hunting, it's all part of the fun. Best of all, there is a lot of fun, and as squads of shooters worked their way through the course, the predominant sound was laughter, along with calls of congratulations, or, more often, commiseration following a particularly challenging set of targets.
Still, when the shooting was over, a familiar name topped the list, as past MTA president Ralph Ferraro turned in a score of 68 hits on 100 targets. Robert Astle, a spirits company representative from Seattle, was a close second with 62 broken targets.
Among women shooters, Jonni Pekus was the top shooter with 43, whose shooting improved markedly after Ferraro offered her use of his over/under skeet gun.
And then there were the rest of us.
Shooting sporting clays is always a learning experience – even if the main lesson is that we don't shoot as well as we'd like to think we do. Which of course, may also explain why some of us may not put as many ducks and pheasants on the dinner table as we'd like.
Poker
Nearly 50 card players turned out to vie for the 2009 Roger Frampton Memorial MTA Poker Tournament championship Monday evening of the MTA convention.
Tournament organizer Sandy Jones had the seven tables set up, all the decks of cards, chips and dealers ready to go. For just $100, players could enter, then re-buy at $100 a pop if desired.
Jones has always stressed that while the poker tournament is indeed competitive, it is also mostly about getting to know industry peers in a fun setting, and enjoying a friendly game of cards.
By the end of the evening, it was down to a dozen who still had chips enough to play in the Tuesday night finals. Some of the best players who were expected to see finals action were absent when the dealing was done, having been taken out by veteran and novice competitors alike.
As the finals round commenced, it became apparent that conservative play was the norm as the clock ticked past midnight and almost half the field remained in contention. But that's when players are more willing to – or must – take more radical risks to garner a strong position heading into the top three, so the wheat is soon separated from the chaff.
In the past, both MTA and Gaming Industry Association have seen tournament champions emerge from among the novice ranks. And that was the case again this year.
Rashell Zumpf, a tournament rookie playing for Parker's out of Miles City, was crowned the champ, pocketing $2,400 for her astute play. Jones saw most of her hotshot Best Bet cronies fall out earlier, while she hung in for second place and $1,400. Finally, another newcomer, Ric Mussiett, who is the manager of the convention host facility Hilton Garden Inn, took third place and $1,000 home.
As always, the biggest winner was the MTA, which, after expenses, splits the tournament pool with the winners. In this case, MTA earned $7,451 for its coffers which will certainly help the association in its mission to promote the interests of adult beverage licensees.
Editor's note: Jones said she is seeking donations of poker tables to always have on hand for the annual MTA and GIA tournaments, which she's conducted for years. She explained it has become increasingly difficult to line up tables and said she hoped Tavern Times readers who have a good "traveling" portable table stacked in a back room gathering dust would consider donating it. She can be contacted at 251-3334, 544-9575 or 721-1432.