Tenth Dan Sesker Memorial Poker Run is May 24, 2015

Photos: Dan Sesker Memorial Poker Run

Organizers of the 10th Annual Dan Sesker Memorial Poker Run are taking on-line registrations for the Sun., May 24 event, which takes place during Memorial Day weekend.

The event commemorates Iowa Army National Guard Sgt. Dan Sesker, killed by an Improvised Explosive Device (I.E.D.) on April 6, 2006 in the vicinity of Tikrit, Iraq. He was nine days short of his twenty-third birthday.

The event will start and finish in Ogden, Iowa. Day-of-ride registration and sign-in will be 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. in the Ogden city park. Pre-registration is available on-line here. Cost is $20 for one hand and one shirt. Additional hands are $5. Extra T-shirts are $12.

In a poker run, registered participants are dealt random cards and each stop along a designated route. At the final stop of the day, the participant with the highest poker hand wins a pot of cash. Raffles, T-shirt sales, and other fund-raising efforts may also take place during the event.

There will be food, drinks, and entertainment at the end of the ride, according to organizers, and the event will be held rain or shine.

James "Juice" Justice and Dan Seske

Sesker was a member of Troop C, 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment (1-113th Cav.), both then and now part of the Iowa's 2nd Brigade, 34th Infantry "Red Bull" Division. In his role as a citizen, he was a youth counselor and part-time police officer. He learned his fiancée was pregnant with their first child while he was deployed, and looked forward to his future role as a father.

Sesker was friends with many citizen-soldiers, including Staff Sgt. James "Juice" Justice, who was himself killed in action during a later brigade deployment to Afghanistan.

Proceeds for 2015 poker run event will go to:

• The Gage Sesker Trust Fund
• Ogden Water Buffaloes 
• Boone County Freedom Flight                 
• Purple Heart Tour 

A Facebook page for the event is here.

A website is here.

The 2015 route map is here.