Our stalwart team of 4, Alysa and Don (who you’ve seen here before ) and Anne and Troy, chipped it out with about 200 other players last Thursday at the Golden Nugget. I couldn’t go because I am in the infamous “Black Book” which lists known cheats, card counters and buffet devastators. <cough crab leg fight cough cough> Fortunately for us, Derek, spouse of Anne, is not yet in the Black Book and he took some pictures.

Here’s the deal - all the players from all the different Corporate Challenge companies were spread out into tables of ten, given a starting pot of 5000 “dollars” and turned loose. Survival of the fittest. The better you did, the more points your team received. Here’s Anne at her table and doing her secret ear signal. She was fifth at her table.

Here’s Troy at his table. He was also fifth at his table. Troy and I go way back – to CLT training last April.


Alysa managed to get third on her table. Alas, the cards were not going Don’s way that night and he got eliminated early. This is the final week for the Corporate Challenge so I’ll be blogging soon about how Zappos did in Corporate Challenge 2009.

Okay, I am a poker novice. Flop, hit, river, stud, blind, back door – all foreign to me. I mean I can use these words in the regular way ie “Hey Joey, put your safety glasses on when you drive those mounting studs for those back door hinges. If you get hit in the eye and go blind, you’ll end up living in a flop house down by the river.” <groan! that was the prose>

But, I still had a great time watching my friends duke it out in the 2nd qualifying session for the 4 slots on the Zappos Corporate Challenge Poker team. This event had one of the highest ratios of applicants for the slots available. The top 2 players from each session would make the team. The game was no limit hold em and each player started off with 5000 in chips.

I showed up about an hour into the session and I think about half the pool had been eliminated - there were 5 players remaining. Soon it was down to just three – Alyssa, Derek and Don. Don had the biggest pile and it went back and forth a bit between Alyssa and Derek. Alyssa came back and edged Derek out. It would have been cool to watch Don and Alyssa battle it out for 1st, but that might have made for a long night.

So congratulations and best of luck in the real deal on June 5, Alyssa and Don and Anne and Troy!

Oh boy was that a groaner of a title or what? My apologies. I do have the pleasure of sharing this write up and these photos from William, our Corporate Challenge Badminton team captain. Over to you William!



Lauren, Erika, Danny and William

Zappos was represented last night in the Badminton Tournament in the Corporate Challenge. The team consisted of the team captain William Bessette, players Danny Del Aguilar, Erika Paman-Mercado, and Lauren Atchley and back ups Louie Muro, Dave Wilkins, and Anthony Abayan. At the outset of the challenge it looked daunting, as there were some great players on the court. While Danny and William put up a spirited fight in men's doubles, it was the ladies that stole the show. After defeating The Yucca Mountain project, proving that radiation is a dish best served cold, the ladies went on to send the players from IGT and Bally Gaming back to the tables, before losing to Aristocrat gaming in the finals. In the end, Erika and Lauren took home the silver medal and won some valuable points for Zappos' overall standing. Good job ladies!!

Our Silver Medalists, Lauren and Erika

It was a gorgeous Spring Saturday morning at Lorenzi park in Las Vegas and teams from all over the valley prepared to splash it out and paddle to glory in the CCCC - Corporate Challenge Canoe Competition! The race was held in a fake lake complete with cute l'il ducks, geese and water you’d rather not be splashed with. <cough water fowl fouling cough>



Here’s Alex and Frank the Tank cruising by the turn marker, the red life jacket, to try and take their heat. The lead boat is fairly far ahead at this point in the race but Alex and Da Tank pour it on for a super close finish. I think they lost by about a size 23 shoe. This was their 2nd year as a team and they’ll be back and shan’t be denied a metal medal next year!

Beverly and Greg are digging deep to line up for the canoe eating turn. This is the 4th year they’ve teamed up for the CCCC and they are a Zappos Corporate Challenge tradition. Click here for a video clip of Bev and Greg edging out another boat for 2nd in the heat. Bouy-yah!

Here’s Kim and Marisa finishing up their heat. Alas, they were disqualified because they went below the hard deck (went out of bounds) but hey this was their first year and I’m guessing that they’ll be back next year as well. There was talk of having a campout and canoe clinic next year, a week or so before the 2009 CCCC. Sounds like fun – I’ll be there with an underwater fisheye camera and flipvideo. I can hold my breath for a really long time and paddle around underwater for some especially sneaky images! <cue theme from the movie Jaws>

Hey our bike team in the Las Vegas Corporate Challenge really brought home the metal last night! Our Fantastic Foursome in the picture above (Stacey, Monica, Max and Mike) pedaled out and all returned with either a 1st or 2nd place finish in Division B. They all rode the 10.9 mile course which started and ended at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. ...Let’s go to the infield and read what our ace riders had to say! (And a big thanks to Max for these fine pictures!)



Monica – 1st place, Women 30-34 - Casual Life Style Merchandising

"We had a lot of positive feedback from customers that we met during the race, all stating that they loved ZAPPOS! And of course we told them, we loved them too! Pretty cool! It was a nice surprise that everyone placed. Now, we're all looking for the next race. It's addicting !http://blogs.zappos.com/images/emoticons/happy.gif!"

Stacey – 2nd place, Women 35-39 - Creative Services

“The cool aspect about this race is you start on the NASCAR race track, go through the tunnel and up into the stands, you then head around to the back, up the drag strip, then circle inside the bull pen. Finally, you
head back and finish in the same spot where NASCAR winners get the checkered flag. If you focus hard enough, you can become the next Kasey Kain!”

Max – 2nd place, Men 30-34 - Outdoor Business Unit

“It was a challenging race…Fun and worth the experience! Way to go everyone!”

Mike – 1st place, Men 18-24 - Rideshop Merchandising

“Max and I were the only ones there to ride fixed gear bikes which is ten times harder because you constantly have to pedal and no BRAKES!!!!”

Congratulations to our bike team and to all our Corporate Challengers!