GT Poker Ride, Hike, and Bike logo featuring poker cards in Gunnison Tough colors, a horse shoe, and banner with the event name.

Gunnison Tough
Annual Poker Ride, Hike, & Bike, BBQ, & Music

September 2025
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM

2025 Entertainers
Mae Estes, SJ McDonald, Autumn McEntire, & Marti Dodson.

Read more about Mae, SJ, Autumn, and Marti.

Ticket Information

Poker Ride, Hike, or Bike Entry, BBQ, & Music – $150.00

Includes poker ride, hike, or bike and one poker card entry.
Delicious BBQ & Live Music.
Limited to 50 riders.

BBQ & Music ONLY – $125.00
Kids Under 12 BBQ & Music – $40.00

You can play poker without doing the ride/trail! Includes delicious BBQ & Live Music. One Poker Hand.

Additional cards at the event:

$20.00 each or 3 for $50.00
Gunnison Tough Deck of Cards $5.00

We will also have a live & silent auction with some pretty special items!

Want to Sponsor the event? Please get in touch with Heidi – 970-209-6332

THANK YOU, SPONSORS!

All hearts flush poker cards is a $20,000 sponsor.

Jack & Mary

Blake

 

A hand of cards with a pair of Aces that says Top Pair, In Kind Sponsor.

Dorothy & Russell Budd, Ambush Ranch

Four of a Kind in orange Hearts and Aces.

Hearne

Excavating

Full house hand of cards with 3 Aces and 2 Threes.

About the Event

Enjoy a trail ride on your own horse or choose to hike or bike through spectacular views of the gorgeous fall colors and see if you collect the cards for a winning poker hand.  This is an outdoor fundraiser for Gunnison Tough!

Poker Ride

Horse Owners: ready to try your luck on horseback and have some fun? The horseback loop is approximately 2 hours and you will draw cards for your poker hand along the way.  We will be staggering small groups of horses starting at 9:00 am. You must have your own horse!

Poker Hike

Hikers: the hiking loop is approximately 1 1/2 hours and you will draw cards for your poker hand along the way. Hikers start together at 9:30 am.

Poker Bike

Bikers: the biking course is being set – more details to follow. You will draw cards for your poker hand along the way. Bikers start together at (time to be announced).

Barbeque Lunch

Flexible times for the BBQ to accommodate biker, hiker, and rider arrivals back to the ranch:
12:00 pm (ish) – 5B’s BBQ Lunch & Drinks
12:30 pm (ish) -MUSIC
Evelyn Roper – our beloved and talented local singer-songwriter
1:30 pm (ish) – Mae Estes, SJ McDonald, Autumn McEntire, & Marti Dodson

How the Poker Ride/Hike/Bike Works

Rider/Hiker/Biker receives 7 cards per hand and can use top 5 cards. There will be 7 stations along the trail where folks pick up cards.

CASH Payout for Top Five Poker Hands!
Additional Prizes for Top Hands

If Possible, Please Carpool. BYO Chairs or Blankets. Please, NO dogs allowed.

DIRECTIONS & PARKING

The Ambush Ranch is located up Brush Creek Road.

There will be parking for cars, trucks, and horse trailers in the upper pasture near the house, so please make your way through the gate and up the private Ambush Ranch road.

Please try to carpool.  Volunteers will be there to help guide you to the parking areas.

 

2025  Entertainment

Mae Estes

Mae Estes

Featuring CMA Next Women of Country & AIMP’s Rising Artist Writer of the Year, Mae Estes!

Mae Estes began her music career at age 7, singing the national anthem in an Arkansas rodeo arena, and has been performing ever since. A native of Hope, Arkansas, she spent nearly a decade in Music City before releasing her first music in 2019 and signing a publishing deal with Plaid Flag Music in 2020. Her independent efforts have garnered over 13 million streams and 1 million YouTube views, earning her praise for her “plain-spoken truth” (The Boot). In 2022, Estes’ single “Thinkin Bout Cheatin’” was featured on CMT and earned her the Arkansas CMA Female Vocalist of the Year award for the second time. She released her debut EP, “Before the Record,” in 2023, produced by Paul Sikes, and later signed with Big Machine Records and other key industry players. Named AIMP’s 2024 Rising Artist-Writer of the Year, Estes is a notable rising star in country music and supports servicemen and women through international tours with Armed Forces Entertainment and CreatiVets.

Listen to Mae
Website

SJ McDonald

SJ McDonald

SJ McDonald is an Appalachian-raised cowgirl whose music fuses the nostalgia of 90’s country and raw, contemporary storytelling.
Hailing from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, SJ developed her tenacity and dedication working on her family’s 5-generation cattle and turkey farm. Her love for authentic country music grew through the static of a farm-truck radio, and by the age of 9, she was already
penning songs, eventually leading her own band through high school.

At 18, she took to the neon streets of Nashville, where she spent six years performing for tips on Lower Broadway. During that time she immersed herself in the city’s music scene, perfecting a high-energy, infectious performance style that’s true to her. This year, SJ has
been on a self-booked coast-to-coast tour, bringing her down-home sound to audiences nationwide.

SJ McDonald isn’t just a performer; she’s a musical powerhouse whose broken-in boots and unyielding spirit light up every stage she steps onto. As she takes on rodeo and dive bar crowds across the country, her captivating blend of grit and grace promises to keep the heart of country music beating strong.

ARTIST LINKS
Website
Listen to SJ

 

Autumn McEntire

Autumn McEntire

Oklahoma native Autumn McEntire comes from a country music legacy, her aunt Reba McEntire, and her family band The Singing McEntires. Autumn began playing guitar and writing songs when she was 14 and moved to Nashville to pursue her music dreams at 18. She signed her first songwriter publishing deal after graduating from Belmont University with a degree in Music Business and has been writing songs for dozens of country artists ever since.

Autumn’s style and personality comes out in her cuts by Lauren Alaina – “Don’t Judge A Woman” (2023), “Radioland” by Ashley McBryde, and the Grammy nominated title track to Reba McEntire’s album “Stronger Than The Truth” (2019). Autumn has also landed cuts from country artists Mickey Guyton, Matt Stell, Trea Landon, Mae Estes, Emily Ann Roberts, Britnee Kellogg and many more. She has also co-produced two full length records, Hannah Blaylock’s “The Fall & Rise” (2023) and Britnee Kellogg’s “She’s Come A Long Way” (2024).

ARTIST LINKS
Website
Listen to Autumn

Marti Dodson

Marti Dodson

Marti Dodson is a BMI award winning singer/songwriter from Franklin Furnace, Ohio. As a student at Ohio State University, Marti founded pop/rock band Saving Jane and went on to become one of the highest charting independent acts of the 2000’s. Marti penned and performed 2 RIAA Certified Gold Singles in Saving Jane and shared stages with Pink, Rihanna, Dierks Bentley, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, and more. She has continued her career as a songwriter with songs recorded by some of music’s biggest stars including Lainey Wilson, Luke Bryan, and Gabby Barrett, and landing placements on several major networks including NBC, ABC, MTV, Lifetime, WE, and TLC.

ARTIST LINKS
Marti’s Instagram
Listen to Marti

Become a Sponsor!

SPONSORSHIP CATEGORIES

A Royal Flush hand of Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and 10 in orange hearts.

Royal Flush Sponsor: $5000.00

10 BBQ Tickets, each ticket gets a poker hand. T-shirt and cards. Logo promotion. Lucky horseshoe karma for supporting a local cause. Trail Naming: gets to pick ride, bike, or hike.

Straight Flush in purple clubs.

Straight Flush Sponsor: $2500.00

6 BBQ Tickets, each ticket gets a poker hand. T-shirt and cards. Logo promotion. Lucky Horseshoe karma for supporting a local cause.

Four of a Kind in orange Hearts and Aces.

Four of a Kind Sponsor: $1000.00

4 BBQ Tickets, each ticket gets a poker hand. T-shirt and cards. Logo promotion. Lucky horseshoe karma for supporting a local cause.

Full house hand of cards with 3 Aces and 2 Threes.

Full House Sponsor: $500.00

2 BBQ Tickets. T-shirt and cards. Logo promotion. Lucky horseshoe karma for supporting a local cause.

To become a sponsor, sign up online by clicking the button below or call 970-209-6332.

The deadline for sponsorship sign ups is  September 15th, 2025.