It's Poker Run day at the Grenade Games and the sun is out shining. A bunch of the SBC crew are in town this week so I met up with Snowboard Canada editor Scott Birke, Associated Editor Gerhard Gross, Photo Editor John Scarth and Advertising Rep Jamie Reekie.

Sweet laminates. Levitt photo

That's me, #147. Levitt photo

I picked up the rules for the Poker Run out side of the Longhorn Saloon at the base of Whistler. We had to ride to 4 different spots to pick up cards; 2 stops on Whistler, 2 stops on Blackcomb and the final stop back at the Longhorn at the end of the day. We decided to head up Whistler first for some cruisers. The rest of the crew had some great stories from the previous night. Monster had booked out Sushi Village for an all you can eat, all you can drink extravaganza and things got a little crazy. Needless to say they were all feeling a pretty haggard and looking a little green.

Gerhard's looking a little rough. Levitt photo

Team SBC on the Whistler Village gondola. Levitt photo

First stop was at the bottom of Red Chair and my first card is the ace of clubs; can’t really do much better than that. Next stop is over at Harmony Chair, which yields a ten, but it’s club as well: Ace/Ten suited, so far I’m looking pretty good.

First card is an ace. Scarth photo

The next two stops are over on Blackcomb so we decided to ride the new Peak 2 Peak Gondola . If you’ve never heard about it, the P2P stretches between Whistler and Blackcomb and cost a mere $50 million to construct. It’s also the longest free span gondola in the world and the highest as well sitting 1500 feet off the valley floor. It turns out that both Birke and Jamie are scared of heights; combine that with a good hangover and it made for one hell of a ride. Birke actually conquered his fear while Jamie had his head between his knees most of the trip.

The view from the P2P gondola. Levitt photo

Birke (in green) conquers his fear. Jamie (in blue), not so much. Levitt photo

The first stop on Blackcomb was at the race centre, where we had ride in a head to head GS race. For some reason I had to ride against Gerhard who is a semi-retired pro shred. On any other day he could freeride me off the mountain, but thanks to a great wax job I managed to beat him. At the bottom of the course was the third table where I managed to pick up another ten; my hand is looking better at every stop! The final check-in point was at the bottom of the Blackcomb park which yielded another ten; trip tens with an ace, damn son!

As we got to the Longhorn and I was feeling pretty good about my hand, until we started talking to a few other riders who were claiming to have royal flushes and even 5 of a kind. The only way I stand a chance is to hit another ten at the final table. Turns out fate was on my side because it hit; quad tens with an ace kicker.

The hand that got me to the final table. Scarth photo

The final table consisted of Danny Kass, the Dingo, Mark Sollors, Todd Malus, Ryan Tiene, Dustin Craven, Eero Niemela, Dennis Bannock, Helen Schettini and myself. Everyone had been hitting the après pretty hard so I figured people were going to be playing pretty reckless. I decided to play conservative for the first half hour or so, trying to get a read on everybody. It was a good strategy for a while as a bunch of guys, including Kass, got knocked out. Unfortunately the blinds started going up and my cards went cold. I had a pretty small stack of chips when I got an ace/queen suited. I pushed in a pretty big bet pre-flop and Helen, sitting next to me, went all in. She had a pair of 9’s and I hit a queen on the turn to double up and knock her out.

The final table — that's me on the lower left. Levitt photo

I'm trying to look like a pro with the glasses on. Dalby photo

The biggest hand of the night was when I was dealt pocket tens. I was the big blind and the whole table ante’d in. I should have pushed in a big bet but I chickened out and then thought I lost the hand when 2/Ace/9 came on the flop. The entire table checked to the turn where the Dingo put in a small bet. At this point I was pretty sure nobody had a hand so I went all in which nobody called and doubled up again to win a pot of around $7000. I think at that point I was in 2nd place behind Eero, who proceeded to knock out the rest of the table.

The final heads up between Eero and myself was a bit of a mismatch; he had 4 to 5 times as many chips. I had around $6000 in chips and the blinds were at $2400/$1200 meaning I wasn’t going to last very long if I didn’t win big off the start. The first hand I got a 7/2, the worst starting hand in poker, but I was the big blind and Eero just decided to call. The flop was 2/3/5 giving me a pair so I thought I’d push my luck. Turns out Eero had a King/5. He hit another 5 on the river giving him the win. My goal was to finish top 5 and I ended up in second a won a really dope Monster Energy poker chip set.

Eero and myself before the head's up battle. Levitt photo

7/2 vs. King/5; I'm in deep trouble at this point. Scarth photo

Who's #1? Not me. Scarth photo

These are my 2nd place prize. Scarth photo

Thanks to Oakley for hooking up all the players up with Frogskins and throwing in a $5000 watch for first place and Monster Energy for making the event happen. And thanks to Rube Goldberg for dealing the cards all night.

For more photos and video from the day, click here, here and here

Coming up next the Dual Slalom Moguls and the halfpipe jam.