Jim Nichols, president of LakeRacer LLC, has a couple of new things in store for the Desert Storm Poker Run on Arizona’s Lake Havasu. Photo by Jay Nichols/NaplesImage

While conducting interviews on Monday for an upcoming magazine feature, I reached out to a couple of influential promoters of poker runs—Jim Nichols and Paul Robinson. Nichols is the president of LakeRacer LLC, the organization behind the Desert Storm Poker Run and Monster Bash Poker Run in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., and Robinson heads up the efforts behind the Texas Outlaw Challenge in Seabrook, just outside of Houston.

For both Nichols and Robinson, these popular events are practically full-time jobs on top of their “real” full-time jobs. And somehow they’re always quick to get back with participants, sponsors and even media types like me. After talking with each of them about their plans for 2014—some on the record, some off—the enthusiasm I’ve shown in two of my last five columns (see My 2014 Event Wish List and A Positive Outlook) toward the impending boating season and beyond is even greater.

Read more: Southwestern Splendors: Desert Storm and Texas Outlaw