Cappelletti in Halifax

I was delighted when I was hired to play on a bridge team up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a beautiful, modern city that had once been the "last bastion of British supremacy in the new world" (see the famous Halifax Citadel). My wife and I had won a regional bridge tournament in Halifax in the mid-'90s, and one of my first columns was a travelogue entitled "Maritime Province Circle," which included a stop in Halifax.

I still highly recommend the following three- or four-day Maritime Province "circle" vacation tour, which starts with flying into Bar Harbor, Maine (a very nice little town), and renting a car and seeing nearby Arcadia National Park. The next day, drive north through Calais up to Saint John, New Brunswick, and try to time it so that you have lunch or dinner at the restaurant overlooking the spectacular "reversing falls," where the ebbing tide of the Bay of Fundy changes the direction of water flow into the St. John River.

Then, drive north and take the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island (PEI). Drive through the lush farmlands of this beautiful pastoral island – perhaps stopping to see the Anne of Green Gables house. Then, go into Charlottetown, where I recommend a seafood meal at the restaurant at the end of the town wharf (over the water). From this eastern side of PEI, take the Wood Island Ferry back to the mainland and head toward beautiful Bretton Reef (in Northern Nova Scotia).

The hundred-mile drive south down to Halifax along the east coast of Nova Scotia is one of the most picturesque coastal drives in the world, as there seems to be a Kodak moment around every curve. And there is much to see and do in Halifax. Then, continue driving south along the coast, stopping at famous Peggy's Cove (and perhaps go on a scuba search for lost diamonds worth $15 million), and then down to Yarmouth, where you take the overnight ferry back to Bar Harbor. We made this circle on a long weekend, but easily could have stretched it into a week.

While attending the big regional bridge tournament in Halifax, I spent much of my spare time at the Casino Nova Scotia, which is connected by a "pedway" to the Casino Hotel along the picturesque Halifax waterfront. Poker is apparently growing in Canada (as it is everywhere), and the Casino Nova Scotia poker room is planning to expand its four-table poker room, which currently has three tables of $5-$10 hold'em and one of $10-$20 hold'em. This large casino is also considering hosting a big poker tournament.

I arrived at the Casino Hotel late at night. Although I was scheduled to get up early the next morning, I spent a couple of hours in the $10-$20 game, and managed to win about $400, notwithstanding a disastrous start.

I sat in behind the button and posted $10. With two limpers in front of me, I peeked at my A Q and raised before the flop. The small blind seemed offended by my raise, and reraised with his K-9 offsuit. I called in the three-way action.

I liked the A-K-X flop, so I raised the small blind's lead bet – partially to see where he was coming from. If I had really liked my hand, I probably would have called and waited to raise his expected double-size bet on the turn. He instantly reraised, suggesting that he might be holding big slick (A-K) or a set; the other player folded.

I called in this heads-up duel. I had the right vibes, as we all have seen this type of player before, and I was resolved to call him down and see his hand. A low card came on the turn. He bet, and I called after a brief thought. Since I was going to call his next bet anyway, I might as well try to keep him coming if he was bluffing.

The last card was a king. He paused and thought, as if he had a problem, and bet. I called and lost to the trip kings he made on the river.

Lady luck was much kinder to me on my next A-Q go-around. I raised before the flop in five-way action, and again got reraised – this time by a hand that folded after the flop. A queen flopped, and my pair of queens with an ace kicker ended up beating K-Q and pocket jacks that insisted on coming along for the ride.

In the last several years, I have been playing hold'em all over the world and have noted many differences in styles of play and fashionable/favorite ploys (sometimes referred to as "quaint local customs"). Perhaps the two most distinctive characteristics of these Nova Scotia hold'em games were the reraising of preflop raises with reckless abandon, and the tendency not to raise before the flop with pocket aces and kings (that is, call and trap). All in all, the games are relatively loose and I would expect that most readers of this magazine would enjoy playing there – and winning.