Like some Wonderland cartoon, before the players have even taken their seats at the table, the Red Queen (AKA Danielle Smith) is screaming that the deck is stacked!
Give it a rest Ms. Smith! We're tired of the rhetoric that the other players are cheating you! Why not come to the table like a serious adult and wait to hear who the players are and what the game is before yelling that you want better cards!
If anyone can be accused of stacking the deck it’s Smith! Before coming to the big table she needs to get her own cards in order and stop trying to hide things up her sleeve. When public opinion says Albertans don't want their own set of jacks, that we're happy with the protective services already in play, perhaps the Queen shouldn't be using public funds to deputizing her own trumped up cards to supposedly protect the deck. Nor should she be making up new rules to separate her cards from the rest of the deck! Maybe make sure all her cards are on the table and that the other jokers in her hand aren't making unhealthy deals under the table, hiding cards or sliding cards off the bottom of the deck.
It's rather telling when some of the cards Ms. Smith's once held actually left her hand because they feel the deck she's dealing from is getting too sticky!
Mature players come to the table with poise and decorum looking to be a part of sophisticated tournaments involving strategy and skill. Most players realize good matches don't involve jokers or wild cards. Poor players are bombastic, bluff a lot, over bid their hand and whine about the deck being stacked.
In games of skill, like bridge, good players carefully listen to the people around the table, bid cooperatively and collaboratively in partnership with the person across the table and thus help win the hand. This way the partners can overcome the odds even against boisterous players who think they hold all the Trump!
Danielle needs to up her game; stop looking like the red queen who has lost her head; stop stomping her feet before the cards are dealt and come to OUR table to play OUR game on OUR team, instead of going over to the gambling table pandering to sit beside the joker!
Smith needs to be reminded which players anteed up for a pipeline that was actually built and who bet on one that wasn't? Who had to give money back from the pot other players put up because she refused to follow the rules and ante up her share?
The Queen needs to remember there are at least 10 other cards that can be winners in the deck. Getting a fair deal comes with playing a fair game with strategy, skill and collaboration. It doesn't come by accusing others of cheating, before fresh cards are even dealt, while you try to play with jokers!
Or maybe heads should roll!
Dan Carberry
Cochrane, AB
