June 21, 2018

Puig’s Poker Tournament

One of the highlights of the year is the Puig Poker Tournament. This year was the second annual tournament. It started out being a big drag but ultimately it was one of the best times that Norma and I have had. One of Norma’s good friends Greg decided to go with us. He probably had the best time of all.

This is a good post on National Selfie Day. You’ll see why soon.

We arrived early since we weren’t sure what time to be there. We didn’t want to miss anything. When we bought our tickets early, there was no special ticket called VIP so we had bought general admission since we weren’t going to play poker. VIP tickets were only $200 more and included a sit down dinner and early admission. We were a little unhappy that we hadn’t been able to purchase the VIP tickets but it didn’t matter that much after all.

We were excited to see Yasiel Puig and his girlfriend Andrea. She looked absolutely beautiful. Since we didn’t have VIP tickets, we had to wait outside until the program was over. There was really nowhere to sit so we were relegated to standing room only.

Yasiel was in his element being interviewed by media. He is proud of the accomplishments that his Wild Horse Foundation has made in just a little over a year.

My friends Norma and Greg were my partners in this fun endeavor.

Hyun-Jin Ryu arrived with his wife

Kike arrived with Mariana and pretty much ignored us. They are like the Hollywood glamor couple. Oh well! No time for us.

Tyler Toffoli of the LA Kings arrived with fiancé Cat Belanger. I totally love them. They are so NORMAL!! They always have time for a few selfies.

I can’t tell you how much I love this couple!! They will be married on June 30.

There was a bevy of wrestlers. I’m not sure what their names are but I can tell you that they are big and scary.

They were setting up the tacos and tamales at the taco truck which was supposed to be for the general admission. It smelled heavenly. We couldn’t wait for them to start serving. The tacos and tamales were delicious and worth waiting for.

We waited outside the Stadium Club for about 2 hours on our feet. We were unhappy that they hadn’t provided seating. We weren’t allowed inside and of course dinner was served late. By that time everybody’s knees and feet were hurting.

When they finally started serving tacos and tamales, we realized we had to stand at a ledge to eat. Very poor organizing on their part. It would not have taken much to set up a few tables outside. We found some dirty chairs and tables on the lower level but it was a bit of a trek especially for Norma with her new pointy toed shoes.

The strawberry and cream cheese tamale was amazing. It sounds weird but it was really good. It was more of a dessert tamale. Norma and I are very big on desserts.

We had been able to go into the Stadium Club early because they hadn’t posted security at the door yet. We had to go out to get our tacos and tamales though and once outside couldn’t get back in.

We helped ourselves to the appetizers while we were there. Norma doesn’t eat seafood so she couldn’t enjoy the oysters, shrimp and uni like I did.

They had set up a few booths in the foyer.

A Sprinkles cupcake booth with, of course, cute mini cupcakes. I ate 3. They were mini size. Don’t judge.

Portos also had donated pastries. The shortbread cookies were lucious. The owner of Portos was there and was very gracious.

Everyone was given a take home box with a fruit tart. In the foreground is a potato puff. Yes, I did eat a lot. One of my favorites was the mochi ice cream. I tried all the flavors of course. Those of you who haven’t ever tried mochi ice cream are missing out.

When we finally were able to get into the Stadium Club, everyone had pretty much filed out into the poker tournament on the other side. They were serving a chocolate dessert inside which I think was for the VIP’s but we were able to snag some.

Very sweet and decadent

Yasiel was a little harder to get to than last year. He was always surrounded by a lot of people. Interesting enough there were hardly any fans. Most were VIPs and sponsors.

I was able to get a selfie with him but Norma and Greg weren’t successful. He was always being scurried off to be somewhere else.

Manny Mota and his wife were there to support Puig along with this big guy…can’t remember who he is but he obviously plays basketball.

Manny was very nice. I complimented his wife on her fantastic first pitch on Manny Mota bobblehead day.

I peeked outside the window and looked out on an eerily empty Dodger Stadium. So beautiful in its calm.

I looked for Andrea. She was at a table with her Mom and Heather Grandal.

Andrea’s Mom was kind enough to take pics of Andrea, Heather and myself. And yes I am wearing a dress. This is the only dress I own and I did have to purchase it for the event with much help from a helpful Nordstrom’s salesperson. Thank you Nordy. The ticket said cocktail dress. It’s not quite a cocktail dress but a little black dress does work. I am also wearing tights and real shoes. That’s also a stretch for me. All this fancy attire was retired.

Andrea is one of my favorite people. She complimented me by telling me I was the Dodgers #1 fan. Greg asked if he could get a picture with them to show the guys in the office. Hahaha.

I had fun with Heather and Andrea. They are the nicest Dodger wives.

I told Heather that I had taken and printed up Mother’s Day pictures of her husband for her. They were pics of him hitting the homerun ball and running into base. I asked her if she would ask Yasmani to actually get the pics from me since he tends to not look at anybody. She said she would. The next time I saw him before a game he was going into the dugout. He saw me from a distance waving the envelope. I thought I was being creative by pasting block letters with his name on the envelope. The envelope had been in my backpack so long that a couple of the letters had fallen off and the envelope was looking a little dog eared and worn out. He started to run past me as usual but I called out to him saying “This is for Heather.” He stopped in his tracks and to my surprise he grabbed the envelope and went into the dugout without a word. At last I was able to get the pics to her!! I was relieved. Mission accomplished.

The event turned out to be one of the most memorable Dodger events to date. Greg had a ball.

And since this event was a poker tournament, here are a few shots of the tournament itself.

Yasmani smiling….wow!!

Kourtney Turner and Cat Belanger at the head of one of the tables and Clayton Kershaw to the right with Cali.

Another shot of Clayton and Cali. Kudos to Clayton who supported Yasiel. I was a little disappointed that more of the team didn’t come out to support the cause. Those team members that did come were Yasmani, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Kike Hernandez, Justin Turner and Kourtney, and Matt Kemp. Other celebrities did attend including the wrestlers and some actors, LA King Tyler Toffoli who always supports the team.

Jaleel White mostly known for his role as Steve Urkel was there. He was funny and friendly.

I don’t have a tv so I don’t know the actors from many of the popular tv shows but this actor is on Major Crimes. Forgive me if I don’t remember his name.

Justin Turner whose beard gets longer and longer. Remember for his wedding during the offseason, it was trimmed short.

Beautiful Kourtney who is now Mrs. Turner.

Hyun-Jin Ryu who was on his way out. He had eaten before attending. I was so happy to see him.

One of my all time favorite singers, Jeffrey Osborne. Who doesn’t know his beautiful song “On the Wings of Love?” Of course I went home and downloaded two of his albums from ITunes.

My favorite Matt Kemp. Notice again his “Judy” necklace. Judy is his gorgeous Mom.

We had to hit the taco and tamale wagon again. Thank you to all the staff for their donation and contribution to Puig’s Wild Horse Foundation. Other donors were of course Portos, Sprinkles Cupcakes, the makers of Mochi ice cream…is there anything more delicious? The gift bags were Adidas sports bags filled with goodies. Thanks to Adidas.

It wasn’t a surprise for me to see Matt Kemp outside at the taco wagon saying “I got to get me some more of those tacos.” He wasn’t inside with the celebrities but outside with us. He ate off the ledge like we did.

I love you Matt. I asked him if he could take pictures with my friends.