World Oilman’s Poker Tournament 2014 at the Wynn Las Vegas
Ahh the annual WOPT Poker Tournament in Las Vegas!! It has become one of my favorite Spring events to look forward to and it feels like last year’s tournament JUST happened! This is my 8th year shooting Cornerstone’s annual WOPT Tournament at the Encore/Wynn in Las Vegas and each year it gets more and more ridiculous, high-stakes, and fun! I have to thank Kurt Hartman for doing such an amazing job organizing this event year after year…and of course Sarah Horowitz, my photography sidekick who helped me out:)
As usual, I left Vegas feeling like a truck ran me over, but I survived to tell the tales. Thank god this event is only once a year, because these Texans know how to party and their “happy hour” was from 10am-6pm and then the cocktail hour started at 7pm, which would then go into a lavish 5 course, 3-hour meal, then after-dinner drinks, then the late night bottle service and gambling. I truly don’t know how they get up and are ready to play Poker the next morning by 8am! After about 4 days I can’t keep up with them anymore!
This year our hospitality suite was at the Encore Fairway Villas and Kym and Katie were our fabulous bartenders AGAIN! I LOVE those ladies! Kurt and Riki kept it in the family and brought their little sisters to help out, which definitely added to the fun of the event, because let’s be serious…we are in desperate need of more estrogen in the room! Besides the main attraction.. the poker tournament, these guys kept busy late night at the craps tables, playing golf, going to the spa, having lavish meals, a private comedy show by Sebastian Maniscalco, bottle service at Surrender and XS, shooting machine guns and of course flying into the Grand Canyon on a helicopter for a champagne brunch…You know, a typical day in the life:) I normally leave on Friday night, but this time I stayed and spending Friday night with the boys, bottle service and DeadMau5, may have been the highlight for me this year!
I have to say I ALWAYS love my job, but I ESPECIALLY love my job when I get to document this every year. I heard that next year may involve racing Aston Martins, blowing up cars in the desert, possibly reviving the dune buggies again???..all I have to say about that is…BRING IT ON!
