Rounding up the best Poker Run boat “races” and events of the year for high-performance boating enthusiasts.
The U.S. high-performance boat schedule runs year-round with enough boating events and races to challenge those with a penchant for speed to plan their travel schedules around the best water, parties, and places to showcase your boat. The variety of locations and the personalities of events affect those complex decisions, so let’s roll out a number of the top poker runs we’ve experienced to help you plan your next event. And if you’ve never been on a Poker Run, get ready for FUN! Remember, it is NOT a race! (I’m trying to squelch the chuckle here as these events are NOT sanctioned races, so let’s keep it straight, with a straight face!)
High-Octane Fun: Speed, Style, and Charity
Though speed is part of the run, these events are staged to collect playing cards at appointed or sponsored stops, so you can submit your complete hand at the end of the event and vie for the best hand to win the Poker Run. There are always other prizes like the Best Paint Job, The Best-Dressed Crew, The Best Engine, the Farthest Traveled, etc., so you get the point that there is a lot of show and a lot of GO! Almost every event raises significant funds for area charities, so with the go, there is a flow into communities, helping the less fortunate and children’s causes. Many include boat rides for disadvantaged children; those smiles shine as brightly as the sun and put hope in their hearts! It makes boaters proud to be a part of giving the gift of boating to those who would never experience that thrill!
A Boater’s Guide to the Best Poker Runs in America
Rounding up the best Poker Runs in America from Lake Havasu to Key West, we’ve come up with the Ultimate Poker Run Itinerary for you to experience the thrills firsthand.
Above: High-performance go-fast boats and helicopters are underway at the famous Desert Storm Poker Run. Photo via Marilyn DeMartini.
Desert Storm Poker Run
An annual season kickoff in April on Lake Havasu, AZ, this event has recently paired with Supercat Fest West, run by River Dave’s Place, to create a two-weekend marathon run. But Desert Storm is a long-stranding tri-state event as the winding, wide Colorado River touches California, Arizona, and Nevada with loads of bars, casinos, and fun, scenic stops along the way. The Thursday night pre-run Street Party in Havasu City adds to the spectacle with an overwhelming number of boats and vendors. Over the past 25 years, this event has grown so big that they even call off school for the Friday Parade of Power! Why bother if no one is going to be there?!
Boaters get up in the wee hours to beach their boats by 4 AM to get a prime spot on the river to watch the parade of boats go through the starting point of the Bridge Water Channel at the London Bridge, which was brought piece by piece to Lake Havasu when they rebuilt the official English London Bridge. The water is beautiful, the canyons majestic, and the array of West Coast boats—a lot of California-based Eliminators, a good representation by MTI, and a lot of smaller boats with BIG power–makes the Anderson Powersport Desert Storm Poker Run, presented by KICKER Marine Audio a unique combination of eye-candy and beautiful boating.
Tickfaw 200 Poker Run
This May run has been so popular for so long that it proved its Louisiana grit by making a big come-back. After a fire destroyed one of its famous stops, the Blind River Bar, in 2017, and Hurricane Ida tore apart the whole community in 2021, including the Blood River Landing, which is open to the public for one day a year, just for the poker run, the Tickfaw River and parts of Lake Pontchartrain again hosted the event in May 2023.
Above: Tickfaw 200 poster. Image via Marilyn DeMartini / Tickfaw.
Just the names of the places involved in The Tickfaw 200 Poker Run “Where the Big Boys Play” is enough to make a trip to the Louisiana Bayou—places like the Fun House, SunBuns, Boopalus—you just HAVE to go check out the big show of powerboats, beautiful women and oh, the cajun FOOD!
Lake Cumberland Poker Run
This June event, held on the Lake Cumberland, Kentucky State dock, draws boats from all over to a location that is the country’s heart of houseboat building. Many rent massive houseboats and party on the lake while the registrants take a slip and bring the party dockside.
Above: A boat at Lake Cumberland during the Poker Run event. Photo via Marilyn DeMartini.
Kentucky—coincidentally the home of Jack Daniels and many other Kentucky bourbons—has many counties, including Cumberland, that are “dry,” so all the boaters bring their own bottles—and MANY of them, creating the biggest self-contained BYOB party, complete with live entertainment—and the antics can also prove entertaining! The real action for the Lake Cumberland Poker Run happens on the lake for two days, with five speed-bracketed groups from under 75 mph to over 100 mph, heading out at 11 AM (with respect for hangover sleep-in time!). Boats can leisurely gather cards from the many marinas and card stops on this beautiful lake, then be ready for the Saturday night awards party. A two-hour drive from either Lexington or Louisville puts Lake Cumberland directly in the middle of nowhere—a great place to go boating!
Land & Lake Poker Run
July on Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire, captures the essence of summer in New England. A gorgeous 72 square miles, that is 44,500-acres of water, makes this lake the ideal cruising grounds for an impressive fleet of powerboats of all brands—but then it adds cars so you can enjoy the event by land or lake. Titled the HK Powersports Land & Lake Poker Run, as the dealer annually donates a Bombardier Sea-Doo for a raffle, the event has raised over $1.7 million for Easter Seals NH over the past 24 years.
Above: Boats at the Land And Lake Poker Run event. Photo via Marilyn DeMartini.
This generous crowd goes all out with a silent auction and drawings, including the registration fees and a super party and lunch with live music that is hosted by The NASWA Resort in Laconia, at the NAZBar & Grill on its huge swath of sandy beach. The 45-mph speed limit on the lake doesn’t intimidate the powerboaters who wait for their “favorite spot” in the middle of the lake (the name withheld to protect the guilty) to let it loose. A pirate theme this year added another spectacle—besides the hardware brought by racers and recreational boaters. Goal for 2025, $2 MILLION raised for Easter Seals NH!
Boyne Thunder Poker Run
Boating in the Great Lakes in July is another fine experience and the Boyne Thunder Poker Run, just completed its 22nd year of fun and fundraising for area charities. The 150-mile poker run route winds through beautiful Lake Charlevoix, Round Lake, out to Lake Michigan, Grand Traverse Bay, back up to Little Traverse Bay, Harbor Springs, and back to Boyne City for the finish.
Above: Crowds at the Boyne Thunder Poker Run. Photo via Marilyn DeMartini.
The lovely small towns that enjoy a lot of sailing traffic can be a bit overwhelmed by the show of power—especially at the pre-run Street Party—but Lake Michigan is BIG and so are the Boyne Thunder boats!
Lake of the Ozarks Shoot-Out
This week-long, largest unsanctioned race in the country and multi-faceted event is the Mack-daddy of all runs for a variety of reasons. The man-made reservoir/lake has a surface area of 55,000 acres, more than 1,150 miles of shoreline, and the Main Channel stretches 92 miles from Bagnell Dam to Truman Dam. Its snaky shape creates more party coves than any other body of water and earned it the nickname “The Magic Dragon.” Started in 1989 when area fire boats participated, Lake of the Ozarks Shoot-Out (LOTO) has grown to become the Mecca for speed freaks, raising millions for area charities. While the Poly Lift Boat Lifts Poker Run, Street Party, Wishing on a Ride for kids, even a Mini-Shootout and a Kilo race, draw all types of powerboaters from all parts of the country, the Shoot-out, held this year on August 24-25, from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM at Capt. Ron’s is a legendary home of speed records.
Above: Boats line the waterway at the annual Lake Of The Ozarks Shoot-Out Poker Run. Photo by Kimer Cline, via Marilyn DeMartini.
The ¾ mile course is well-marked and scrutinized for precision and safety as the bragging rights hold long-standing “street cred”—or “water cred” with this crowd. There are a variety of classes, from Personal Watercraft (PWC) and Pontoons to V-bottoms and Cats with various engines. Over 100,000 on-water spectators enjoy a speed-fueled party, watching from fleets of boats lining the course, rafted up for miles.
Randy Scism of Marine Technology Inc. (MTI) won the original Top Gun Title at 101mph back in 1989, but over the years, the speeds have climbed continually as boat and engine innovations increased. John Cosker, builder of Mystic Powerboats, has held the Top Gun title and record since 2015, having broken his own record of 208 mph, now standing at 214 mph in “American Ethanol,” a 51’ Mystic catamaran, built for owner, Don Onken.
The fastest speed to date was in 2014 by Spirit of Qatar, a 50’ turbine-powered Mystic cat, driven by Sheikh Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani and multi-championship throttleman, Steve Curtis at a blazing 244 mph.
World Champion F1 Racer Shaun Torrente, a manufacturer of performance engine brackets and other marine parts, designed and built his own S2, a 32’ carbon fiber catamaran with partner, Sean Connor, hence the name. The duo plans to race the boat with Vision Marine Technology electric motors to break the speed record that Torrente set last year at 116 mph. Torrente speculates that they could break all records with this combination.
Those kinds of aspirations are exemplified by boaters like Warren Duke who has spent years and unfathomable sums of hard-earned money to build a 28’ Skater with outboards, clocked at 131 mph at LOTO (138 mph on a local mile track). Duke professes his boat to be the fastest 28 Skater in the world and wants to earn or break that record at LOTO. These are the kinds of boaters who fuel the performance industry! Stay tuned to hear the results later this month!
Key West Poker Run
No mention of Poker Runs could be complete without citing the annual November Florida Powerboat Club event as climactic. Held in conjunction with the APBA World Championship Race and promoter Race World Offshore, over the years, the Key West Offshore Poker Run boat numbers have dwarfed the number of race boats. These dual race and poker run events turning Key West into a week-long loud, living Powerboat Village. There may be over 100 race boats, but over 300 powerboats—that can go faster than the rev-limiter regulated race boats!
The participants leave in groups from Miami over four days to accommodate the large numbers, complete with lunch stops at Gilbert’s, hotel and dock accommodations, a raft up, the Poker Run Village, replete with vendors and sponsors and a kicking awards party at the Conch Republic, all staged by Club owners Stu and Jackie Jones.
EVERY slip in Key West is occupied as is every hotel room, at astronomical prices, due to the high demand of high rollers who fly, boat and drive into Key West to be a part of this international phenomena. The race boats run from the pits at the Truman Annex, around the breakwater wall and in front of the waterfront hotels making the entire wharf area spectator row with a spectator fleet on the water as well. The weather is usually hot and steamy and the water can be especially rough given the end of hurricane season in South Florida. The entire event is a tropical experience, enhanced by the Key West “Margaritaville” atmosphere with everything from boating to body painting a part of the extra-long weekend!
So plan your boating itinerary to include at least one Poker Run, as a reason to get out on the water with friends and family, raise money for local charities and have the kind of boating experience you’ll talk about for years to come! Pack your bathing suit, cooler, sunblock and flip flops—and add a little casual party attire—you’ll need it all as you pack a little Poker Run into your spring, summer or fall boat bag!
