Off Beat: Pair of Vancouvers cause confusion at poker table

Brandon Cantu

Even though Brandon Cantu is becoming a familiar face on the poker circuit, he continues to be a blur for most Americans. Oh, how we feel his pain.

Brandon received quite a bit of ESPN air time as the sports network televised the World Series of Poker Tournament. Brandon maneuvered his way through 6,844 players — each ponying up a $10,000 entry fee — to near the top of the leader board.

At one point during his run, a player asked Brandon where he was from originally.

“Vancouver, Washington,” he told him.

“You a big hockey guy?” another player asked.

(Now, many of us know that the other Vancouver — the one in another country — has the National Hockey League Canucks. We are, ah, “pro-less” when it comes to sports).

Brandon paused for a moment, then said it again.

“Vancouver, Washington.”

Shortly thereafter Brandon lost all his chips to a guy holding pocket aces. Brandon still finished 20th and took home more than $250,000. The money, we suspect, will soothe the identity crisis.

SPIT: As a noun, it’s a pretty unsanitary substance when introduced into the public-health environment; as a verb, it’s tough to do with your tongue planted firmly in your cheek.

And if you happen to hear how “fat” is making Clark County a healthier place to live, you have every right to be skeptical.

Actually, those are a couple of the recent initiatives from Clark County Public Health. Staffers were having a little fun when they named their campaigns, including the Public Health Awareness Team, or PHAT.

And the tongue went a little farther into the cheek with SPIT, or Strategic Plan Implementation Team.

The public health agency also has people ready to take the HEAT, should that become necessary. They would be the members of the Health Equity Awareness Team.

Off Beat lets members of The Columbian news team step back from our newspaper beats to write the story behind the story, fill in the story, or just tell a story.