"Lucky at cards, Unlucky at Love"

Well, it must be true. I mean who could love that huge pain in the ... Oops, what I meant to say was, Congratulations, Brian Kibler on winning the big pot of the "1st annual Gryphon Construction Land and Sea Poker Run". Brian Kibler not only took first place in the tournament but also won one of the top two door prizes sponsored by Rinker, a set of Four tickets to a Miami Heat home game of his choice.

It seemed that all had a good time at the event which included a hearty lunch (again sponsored by Rinker), door prizes by Florida Concrete and Gryphon Construction and what some people might call, "great weather". Those people would be everybody but me. It was way to cold! Next year, I vote for summer time. A brisk 92 degrees would be perfect.

Other big winners of the day were:

• Michael Gayol took 2nd place for 20% of the pot.
• Billy Wood’s girlfriend, Kim, got 3rd place for 15% of the pot.
• With the closest hand ever, Billy took 4th place for 5%.
• Donny Peel was our first winner of the day who picked a pre-selected card at our fourth stop.
• Tammie, Marks girlfriend won the other set of Heat tickets. These will probably end up on eBay to help Mark recover from his day of losses. His boat "The Nasty Habits" barely made it to the second stop due to mechanical failure and then Mark lost a little side wager in a game of High/Low to yours truly.
• Eight $50 dollar gift cards to Chili’s Restaurant and some polo shirts were also raffled out.
• Jason Goff provided long sleeve "Pirate edition" tee shirts for all involved.

Special Thanks to Captain Buddy who led the nautical fleet through the intercoastal waterways of Biscayne and Florida bays and made a pre-run the month before to insure the route was feasible. The boats made great time between stops, beating some of the over-roaders to a couple destinations.

The mastermind of the entire event was Willie Cotto. With his sleeves rolled up, dark glasses and his hair pushed back from the wind. Willy looked like the leader of "La Raza Mala" Biker Gang of East L.A.. We had a great turnout of bikers for the event. Tough guys, Larry and Manny, were sorely missed by the rest of the bunch that rumbled up and down the highway.

Some of you old timers may remember the title given to my little buddy years ago "Eric Montes De Bookie". Well, he didn’t disappoint. The man showed up with his own mobile casino ready to take on gamblers in Craps, Cards, Roulette or Rock, Paper, Scissors. With his two assistants, Andres Valencia and myself, he kept the game entertaining and on the up-and-up. Unfortunately, the participants FORGOT TO TIP THE DEALERS.

At the end of the day it was unanimous that we will definitely do this again next year. I’m sure this years crowd will be there and we hope you will be there too.

Until next time, Let it Ride.

Joe Llanes - General Superintendent