Brad Smith Memorial Poker Run Set for June

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Hosted and organized by Ugly John’s at Thunder Bay Marina on Grand Lake in Ketchum, Okla, the first Brad Smith Memorial Poker Run is scheduled for June 13 and 14. In addition to honoring Smith, who died in a high-speed boating accident last year, the event will raise money for the Brad Smith Children’s Fund.

“I would call Grand Lake Brad’s ‘home lake’ because it was so close to his home in Joplin (Mo.),” said Travis Reed, Smith’s longtime close friend and customer. “He had a lot of power in boats there, as well as on Lake of the Ozarks and as far away as Florida.”

Reed said he plans to rally a contingent of performance boats from the Lake of the Ozarks, Mo., area and at present he has six boat owners committed to making the five-hour haul to Grand Lake. A local Lake of the Ozarks television production company and station, Lake TV reportedly also will provide coverage of the event.

“We’re doing this because it’s the kind of thing Brad did for everybody,” Reed said.

The $200 entry free for the event includes one T-shirt designed and produced by Dynamite Graphix of Joplin, the same outfit that handled the Smith Power Memorial T-shirts currently offered through the charity’s Facebook. (Additional T-shirts from the upcoming event will be sold on site.)

The schedule for the poker run and surrounding events is below:

June 13
5 p.m.—registration opens
5:30-8 p.m.—silent auction
8-9 p.m.— live auction (All auction proceeds will benefit Brad Smith’s Children. Individual can also make direct donations to the Brad Smith Children’s Fundat Arvest Bank.)
9-12 a.m. entertainment.

June 14
10 am— poker run registration opens. (Proof of insurance mandatory)
11 a.m.—captains meeting
11:30 am— all participants meet at dock to start their engines for “a moment of loudness” to honor Brad Smith, after which the run begins.
7 p.m.—poker run party and hands played/displayed

For additional information on the event including donations to the auction of sponsorship, please contact Tisha at Ugly John’s, 918-782-4414 or Tisha@uglyjohns.com. More information is available on the Ugly John’s Poker Run Facebook Page.

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(Photo coutesy/copyright Jay Nichols/Naples Image)