NAQCC July 2009 Challenge

Call     RF-SF-4K-FH-FL-ST-3K-2P-1P-0P  Tot    Points
KE7LKW          3  1  1        1  4      10      48 - certificate
K3WWP              2     1  1  3  6      13      44 - certificate
N8XMS           1  1        1  2  1  3    9      30
N1LU            1           1     7  2   11      28
KU4A               2           2  2       6      24
W2JEK                       3  1  1  2    7      19
WY7N                        1     2  1    4       9
KQ1P                           1  2  2    5       9
Less than 3 hands for participation point:
VE3HUR                            2       2       4

Soapbox: N8XMS - I'm sending in my poker challenge a few days early because we are leaving on vacation. BTW, I will have my KX1 with me so if you hear N8XMS/4 over the next couple of weeks please give me a call. 73 - Paul

K3WWP - This was a busy month with this and that and the other thing, so I didn't get the chance to run up a whole bunch of QSO's in contests to up my score. I just used my regular daily streak QSO's plus my 37 NAQCC sprint QSO's plus a couple extra QSO's for my meager score. I really like this challenge, and wish I had the time to make more QSO's to see what I could come up with.

W2JEK - my first time at the poker challenge. seemed simple once i got the hang of it. 72 and 73 don younger w2jek #1135

KE7LKW - Maybe make Canada/Mexico stations wildcards? Or is V another suit?

KQ1P - There is a reason I never play poker and my luck carries over into this challenge! Good thing I didn't have any money riding on this one. 72 & 73. John

PREMISE:
A repeat of a challenge first run in July 2008 on a suggestion from Randy KB4QQJ. This challenge is to make poker hands from stations we work. Huh? - you say. Read on.

TIME FRAME:
Jul 1, 2009 0000Z through Jul 31, 2009 2400Z

RULES:
There are 4 suits of cards, and 4 letters that start USA call signs. Convenient, isn't it? So our poker 'suits' are A, K, N, W. Only the first letter of a call counts, i.e. KA4QQJ counts as K, not A. The number of our 'cards' is the first number in a call, i.e. K3WWP is a 3; special call K98IOO is a 9, not an 8; and K3WWP/4 is a 3, not a 4. Since there are only 10 'cards' in a suit, not 13 as in a real deck, a 0 is considered an ace and 7,8,9 are our 'face cards.'

Now that we have established that, here are examples of each poker hand and the points assigned to it:

Royal Flush    - K6 K7 K8 K9 K0 - 10
Straight Flush - A2 A3 A4 A5 A6 -  9
4 Of A Kind    - A1 K1 N1 W1 N7 -  8
Full House     - A1 K1 N1 N3 W3 -  7
Flush          - K1 K3 K5 K7 K9 -  6
Straight       - K1 N2 W3 W4 K5 -  5
3 Of A Kind    - K3 W3 A3 K4 W7 -  4
2 Pair         - K5 W5 N4 K4 A7 -  3
Pair           - K2 W2 A3 W5 N6 -  2
No Pair        - K1 W3 A5 N6 W2 -  1

Obviously there are duplicate 'cards' in our 'pack'. In your 5 card 'hand' you may well have say, two K4's as in K2 K7 K4 K3 K4. Don't worry about it. In this example case, you can use the 5 cards as a pair of 4's or a flush. Just make whatever you can from the 5 cards without worrying if you hold duplicate cards. Consider it playing poker with 5 decks shuffled together. Hey you could even get 5 K3's in a hand which you could use as a flush or 4 of a kind (we're not counting 5 of a kind hands in our game). Again it's obvious there will be discrepancies between playing with call signs and a real deck of cards. Just deal with it logically or ask me (K3WWP) about it and we'll figure something out.

In the unlikely event you're not familiar with this popular card game, check here for more info about the poker hands.

Ours is a play what you're dealt game. The first 5 QSO's you make in the month are made into the best possible hand. The next 5 QSO's likewise, and each 5 QSO's in order after that during the month. There is no shuffling or discarding. No Six-Guns allowed at the table!

Add up all your points during the month and report it as described below in the Logs section.

Obviously the odds of getting a 'hand' this way is nowhere near the same as from an actual deck of cards, so we just went with the actual Poker hand rankings for assigning points. I am really into this challenge, and can't wait till it starts. I hope you feel the same.

AWARDS:
A certificate goes to the two members making the most total points.

PARTICIPATION AWARD AND WEB LISTING:
You must make at least 3 'hands' during the month and submit a report to get a Participation Point and a web listing.

LOGS:
For your report, simply tell us how many of each kind of 'hand' you made and your points total. You may also include comments about the challenge.

Please preface any comments you want posted with "SOAPBOX:" so we will know what you want posted and what is private.

Send your results to:

E-mail:

You must type that address into your email program.

Subject must read: (your call) NAQCC (month) Challenge

For example: K3WWP NAQCC July Challenge

Postal mail:
John Shannon, K3WWP
478 E. High St.
Kittanning, PA 16201

All entries must be RECEIVED before Aug 10, 2009 at 2400Z.