Event Article MetroplexMINI Takes the Lake - the 4th Annual Poker Run

MetroplexMINI Takes the Lake - the 4th Annual Poker Run
by Jo Johnston (aka MiniJJ)​

Photo by Angela Ross -- You can fit how many MM.org members in a borrowed Clubman?​

When it comes to combining motoring, eating, raising money for charity, winning prizes and springing a surprise, it is hard to find a group that does it better than the MetroplexMINI owners and enthusiasts club of the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

In mid October, about 70 club members and guests participated in MetroplexMINI Takes the Lake – the 4th Annual Poker Run. This year the 48-mile course had drivers navigating the twisty roads encircling Lake Grapevine, just northwest of DFW airport. The roads wove in and out of residential and undeveloped areas, always within a mile or two of outstanding lake views, complete with sailboats racing in the sun and the wind.

Previous MetroplexMINI poker runs have taken motorists through the streets of downtown Dallas (virtually empty on a Saturday afternoon) and around other area lakes. But this was the club’s first opportunity to circle an entire lake.

Along the way, contestants stopped at lakeside parks to compete in events such as horseshoes, Frisbee and football tosses and Clubman stuffing. The better they did, the more playing cards they could draw. The non-athletic participants had a chance to catch up by answering questions from 80s Trivial Pursuit cards. Six competitors came up with the best hands -- full houses, with Kings over Eights winning the grand prize of a $100 Visa® gift certificate. The next two winners won $100 gift certificates from Texas Speedwerks, a local designer and purveyor of aftermarket MINI and BMW performance products. The worst hand (2-4-5-6-7) merited a stuffed MINI bulldog.


Photo by Richard Wezensky –- Almost too much to give away, thanks Moritz MINI.

It isn’t just about having fun for the club, according to president Rexanne Dove. After an earlier successful Easter Egg Hunt benefiting the local Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) chapter, the club officers chose the American Diabetes Association’s StepOut Walk to Fight Diabetes as the beneficiary for this year’s Poker Run. MINI of Dallas sponsored the run and funded the Mexican buffet at a dockside eatery so that the $20 registration paid by each member went directly to the ADA’s walk. Several club members plan to participate in the walk later this fall. Also contributing as a sponsor of the event was Moritz MINI.


Photo by Bart Hamlin -- Yay!!! – That new Clubbie is ours!!

Dozens of participants were lucky to win door prizes, but the real surprise left almost everyone scratching their heads initially. Rexanne interrupted the door prize drawing to point out a brand-spanking new powder white MINI Clubman that had just pulled into the parking lot. “It’s a special delivery to someone who has been waiting for their ordered Clubman,” she said.

Sara Baker, attending with her husband and two children in their oxygen blue MINI, looked stunned when her husband finally convinced her that the new Clubman was hers. He ordered it for her in June, but hadn’t breathed a word to anyone. When it arrived at the MINI of Dallas showroom that morning, they quickly got it ready for the surprise delivery at the lake.