HOLLADAY, Utah — On Saturday, nearly 80 teams—including The Ridge Cottonwood—participated in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s at America First Field in Sandy to raise money for Alzheimer’s care support and research. While the walk happens once a year, residents at The Ridge Cottonwood fight Alzheimer’s in a unique way every week.
It’s a competitive atmosphere and just when you thought you were positioned for a win, the opponent you thought was your friend sneaks in to claim victory, but you can’t expect anything less after all this is the advanced poker table at The Ridge Cottonwood.
"There’s probably 12 [residents] that are really good players that I would feel comfortable taking to a poker tournament honestly,” said Cristi Gulbransen, The Ridge Cottonwood’s Community Life Director who transforms into the advanced table’s poker dealer once a week.
Gulbransen plays as true to casino style as possible and all the residents have some skin in the game.
"Everybody’s got their best day,” said advanced table poker player, Patricia Decol.
Poker gives the residents the opportunity to win what they call “cottonwood cash.”
"We have a cottonwood cash store every month and they can buy things for their apartment, they can buy supplies, they can buy candy, they can buy toilet paper, toothbrush, toothpaste so that money does have value to them,” Gulbransen said.
"It’s just fun and you can beat your friends if you're lucky,” Decol said.
Decol has been playing poker at The Ridge Cottonwood for about a year and a half she says it helps keep her sharp.
"It helps you to remember what everybody else had, helps you to try to figure out if you got a good hand or not, what you need to get a good hand or not,” Decol said.
"They’re using their brain in ways they don't always use their brain so it's so important,” Gulbransen said. "The reason I so lean towards poker is you're using so much of it, you're learning so many different things, critical thinking all of it.”
Saturday, The Ridge participated in the annual walk to fight Alzheimer's, and it will continue to promote cognitive awareness through poker and other activities.
"As you get older, you've got to keep it sharp, no matter. You can read, you can play games, whatever we need to do in here."
