By Alicia Payne

Each year in mid-July, Lake Lanier is home to one of the largest poker run charity events in the United States.  A local non-profit group called the Lanier Partners of North Georgia, Inc. holds the Pirates of Lanier Poker Run charity event.  Close to 200 boats and their crews participated in the three-day event which is held annually at Margaritaville at Lake Lanier Islands.

This year’s event kicked off on Thursday night, July 18 with the Meet and Greet Party. Paradise Beach was the scene for the Cheeseburger on Paradise Beach Party on Friday where participants got to have a great afternoon of food and fun. The annual Pirate Stereo Competition sponsored by AVC Marine was held during that time.  The first-place winner of the Pirate Stereo Competition was Kim Chapman in his Supra SE550. Second-place went to Ricky Lohr with Yeah Buoy! And coming in third was Rob Green with Centurion.

Friday evening the participants gathered for the Captain’s Party and Auction.  Sponsors of the event donated items that were auctioned off with the proceeds going into the larger pot of funds that Lanier Partners will donate. Lanier Partners donates to several charities with the money they raised from this event and a Christmas boat parade held at the beginning of December. 

The main event is held on Saturday where the object of the Poker Run is to collect cards and at the end of the event be left with the best poker hand of all the participants. Each boat set out from their home dock or marina on the lake and they went around to eight stops on the lake to pick out a card. The eight stops the participants had to go to were Holiday Marina, Lazy Days Marina, Aqualand Marina, Hideaway Bay Marina, Port Royale Marina, Gainesville Marina, Habersham Point Marina, and Margaritaville.

If participants were not quite satisfied with their “natural hand” or the hand that they were dealt at the various stops, they could buy additional cards on Saturday evening.  This year’s “natural hand” winner was Matt Arden, second place went to Tracy Hurd, and third place was Matt Wilson. 

When it came time to announce the winners of the best “purchased hand,” the Lanier Partners were faced with a dilemma that they had never faced before. Five captains had bought themselves into royal flushes. In order to break the five-way tie, those five captains were presented with a set of cards in which they drew a card from the set.  The captain with the best card once everyone selected a card was deemed the winner. The winner of the best “purchased hand” went to Jon Russell, second place was Greg Dunn, and third place went to Mark Beverwyk.

Awards were also given out for the best-dressed crew, best-decorated boat, and for the best overall boat. Boats and their crews were decked out in their best pirate regalia on Saturday. Judges were stationed at Aqualand Marina to decide who would take home those three awards. The award for the best-dressed crew went to the Lady of the Lake and her crew dubbed the Pirate Posse. The FUNSHIP captained by Shane Treadwell won the award for the best-decorated boat. The best-overall boat award went to the Irish Pearl, a 51 ft. Sea Ray 460 Sundancer captained by Earl Thompson. 

As with every winner in the past, this year’s group of winners donated their winnings back to charity. The 2019 Pirates of Lanier Poker Run raised over $100,000 which will be donated to charities like Camp Twin Lakes, Camp Sunshine, Boys & Girls Club of Lanier, and the Edmond Telford Center. During the event, people could buy raffle tickets to win two Yamaha wave runners that were donated by event sponsor, Park Marine & Yamaha with all the proceeds going into the pot of money for charity. The winner of the two wave runners was Kevin Ryan.

It takes a lot to pull off an event of this magnitude.  Lanier Partners President Barkley Geib said, “I just want to thank my fellow Board Members and the over 200 volunteers that helped put this great event on again this year. I would also like to thank the 172 Boat Entries for this year.” He went on to thank Margaritaville “for all their help and support, as well as our sponsors.”

For more information about the Lanier Partners of North Georgia, Inc non-profit organization, the Pirates of Lanier Poker Run, or the annual Parade of Boats visit www.lanierpartners.org.