The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

28 * WATERLOO CHRONICLE * Wednesday, February 13, 2008 30%.0FF _ Up to »> A vision for the future of transportation in Waterioo Region > How walking. cycling, transit, roads and highways and the movement of goods will fit _( '; into this vision Ri ow r p> The Regional Transportation Master Plan process and your role in it We will be discussing: You have an important role in the future of transportation in Waterloo Region. Get involved in the community conversation by attending one of the following workshops: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 First United Church â€" 16 William St., Waterloo Thursday, February 21, 2008 Regional Administrative Headquarters â€"â€" 150 Frederick St., Kitchener Hockey Sticks United Kingdom Club â€" 35 International Village Dr., Cambridge REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION Thursday, February 28, 2008 Region of Waterico 50% OFF All Hockey Equipment "Au.%” & Q”M‘Aâ€"..._ C had the crowd support for most of the week, which was also great." â€" _ â€" It also felt like home for Paul Moffatt, the lead stone of the Corner rink, who lives in Waterâ€" loo and teaches at Bluevale. in addition to family and friends coming out to watch him in his adopted hometown, he also had some of his students come out in support. Continued from page 25 "I saw a few familiar faces from Bluevale out including some staff and students," said Moffatt. "I don‘t know if all of them knew what was exactly going on all the time, but it was nice to have the support out here." depends a lot on lady luck. For McDonald, it‘s a game of skill that has turned all the tactical skills he learned as a chess whiz in high school to his advantage at online and live poker events. To hear him talk about the game, it‘s all about variations, percentages and survey data that belie his math mind. There is a methodology to winning poker, and McDonald doesn‘t let his "gut" get in the way. Continued from page 25 It‘s another math game that his parents Rick and Pattie played with him growing up. It‘s no wonder where those math smarts come from with dad Rick a computer programmer at Research in Motion, while mom Pattie is an accountant. Chess and the math behind that game were McDonald‘s first real passion. And he studies it under another local math whiz, Andrew Peredun, the founder of the local Chess for Kids proâ€" The Waterloo Wildfire will close out its fifth season in the National Ringette League when it entertains the Rive Sud Revoâ€" lution this coming Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Moses Springer Arena. In fact, it was his parents who introduced him to the game that started it all for McDonald â€" chess. Peredun, who is well known for setting up chess boards at local events and taking on more than one challenger at a time, was a mentor to McDonald. A master strategist, it was those lessons with kings and queens on the chess board that helped Peredun‘s protégé figure out what to do with that royalty in poker, The Wildfire will be rewardâ€" ing its fans at Fan Appreciation Night with many door prizes. â€"_ "He was a tactical player like me," said McDonald. "He was the one who said to give poker a try." That‘s where McDonald got his start â€" the online poker world. That‘s great news for all those poker sites out there, but even then it wasn‘t so much about winning as Moffatt comes up short in first Brier bid McDonald says game is more than luck Waterloo Wildfire wrapâ€"up NRL season Saturday While he enjoyed the supâ€" Last Saturday evening at port, he was hoping that his team could have produced a litâ€" tle better result. "We weren‘t in this event to come second," said Moffatt. "We came in here knowing that we were good enough to win. And the more points McDonâ€" ald collected the better he got. It was a happy coincidence that it also started filling the bank accounts he kept in euros and US dollars. The most he ever won online was $330,000, but McDonald said it came after hours of playâ€" ing on the computer. He‘s no overnight success in the game and it required hours of hard work to get where he is. And for those that want to follow in his footsteps, it takes a lot of commitment. It‘s a comâ€" mitment he doesn‘t think a lot of his peers have, nor should they. He still remembers all the card games that went on in the school cafeteria at Waterloo colâ€" legiate institute. That never interested him. Katie Dawson scored both goals for the Wildfire, which was forced to play with just three in defence due to university exams and injuries. "I remember there would be guys who would miss class to play poker," said McDonald. "I wasn‘t one of those guys, I was one of those good kids who couldn‘t figure out why you would skip class." Dom Cardillo Arena, Waterloo dropped a 5â€"2 neutral site deciâ€" sion to the Quebec Cyclones, who are in a tight battle for secâ€" ond place with Rive Sud in the Quebec division. collecting points. This is no getâ€"rich scheme, and younger gamblers who wish to emulate him have to underâ€" stand that. Even McDonald doesn‘t plan to stay with the game that long. He‘s circled 21 as the age he‘d like to get out of the game and get on with his life. _ He thought he might want to study actuarial science, which deals with the probabilities in "After I won he said, ‘You‘re good.‘ That was cool." Winner of the European Poker Tour Event â€" Mike McDonald Paul Moffatt "On the other hand, we know that when the world champion is playing out of your province you‘re going to have to beat them at least twice to get to the Brier." Moffatt thought they were up to that challenge after beating the Howard rink to open the playoffs. But they needed their best game to beat them again in the finals. Unfortunately, they came up a little short. "We know that they are a beatable team" said Moffatt. "But we also know that they are consistently strong, so we had to put together our best game as well. "Today just wasn‘t our day, and Glenn and the guys played really well." the insurance industry. They do the math that helps establish the industry‘s exposure to risk. â€" "I talked to a few of them and they told me to stick to poker," laughed McDonald. "So I guess I‘m still looking for something a little more life fulfilling." Until then he‘ll stay with the game, and hope for hands like the one he drew to win the Euroâ€" pean Poker Tour event in Dortâ€" mund, Germany, last week. He drew an ace king in the final. Putting his math skills to work McDonald knew he already had a 60 per cent chance of winning with the hand that he drew. "People have all sorts of names for it like Anna Kournikoâ€" va, because it‘s like the perfect hand," said McDonald. "It would have been nice to win with a litâ€" tle tougher hand, but I‘m not complaining." The dealer flipped up anothâ€" er king to give him top pair, and by the time the river card was flipped over he had three kings. But it was the way he drew out opponent Andreas Giiliinay and got him to go all in that earned him some grudging respect. "After I won he said, ‘You‘re good,‘" said McDonald. "That was cool." McDonald also has one of those cool nicknames that all the bigâ€"name poker players seem to have. They call him "Timex." Is it because of his methodiâ€" cal approach to poker or the way he just keeps on ticking despite any setbacks? Julie Mahy, Cathy Van Oostâ€" erhout and Shelagh Rouse shared the defence duties in both this game and in an afterâ€" noon loss in Cambridge. "Actually the story isn‘t that cool," said McDonald. "My parâ€" ents told me to think of a name when I play online. "I looked at my wrist and happened to be wearing a Timex watch, so I went with that. When I tell that story people are usualâ€" ly pretty disappointed." Waterloo‘s record fell to 7â€" 20 for the season and they will miss the playoffs, which comâ€" prise the top three teams in each of the Ontario and Queâ€" bec divisions of the NRL.