by Andrea Doray
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Last year's poker party was a raucous affair, featuring Steve Almond. Who will win this year?[/caption]
I’m pretty much of a Lighthouse junkie; Andrea has joked with me about setting up a cot there, especially during Lit Fest. It’s all about craft for me, though (not the knitting or crocheting kind), and I figure I can never get enough. And Lighthouse just keeps providing more ways to learn craft, as well as to hang with other literary types around the house or on the porch (dancing also acceptable).
But when I heard about the 2nd Annual Lighthouse Poker Party Fundraiser on Saturday, September 21, I wasn’t so sure.
Sure, it’s a big Lighthouse event. Lots of cool people will be there. Last year’s Poker Party was a blow-out good time…or so I hear, because I was too intimidated to participate. After all, what do I know about poker?
I know that it’s hard to draw to an inside straight—whatever that means. I know that when all the faces on the cards are in the same color, it’s something royal. And I know that my dad once threw in his hand at a family card game and told me that I was ruining him for “real” poker.
So, I’m wondering whether I’d really have a good time at the Poker Party Fundraiser, or whether I would just be embarrassed by my lack of gambling guts.
Come to think of it, though, poker is no more of a gamble than writing is. A wager that practice, craft, feedback, and more practice will pay off. A bet that butt-in-chair is worth the time that I’m not doing something else. A risk that…well, what everyone risks is different, but it’s all part of the game.
And it’s no more of a risk, really, than the one I took when I joined Lighthouse some years ago and blundered my way through my first-ever workshop, totally intimidated. It was poetry with Mike Henry, who was incredibly patient as I flailed around looking for my writing guts. Maybe that’s why I continued to gamble: on poetry, essay, flash fiction, and my current foray into memoir, where I’m upping the ante (spellcheck says it’s not “auntie”) on every page.
Should I gamble on a good time? I hear there will be Coyote Gold margaritas. And, although margaritas alone are usually enough to get me there, here’s the kicker: there are lessons for learning and practicing “real” poker before the tournament. That sort of levels the playing field—or the felt-topped card table, as the case may be. Plus, my ticket to the Poker Party gets me $5,000 in chips (I’m guessing we don’t eat them) and some of that Coyote Gold courage.
So, you can bet that—God willin’ and the creeks don’t rise—you’ll see me at the tournament tables on September 21…but you’ll find me looking for my gambling guts at the poker lessons first.
If you want to join in the fun(draising) poker party, tickets are available here.
