Charity Rides and Poker Runs: How They Work and How Clubs Run Them

Charity rides are the public face of most clubs in this directory, and the poker run is the most common format. If you want to meet a club, ride in its charity event. If you want to understand a club, look at how it runs one.

How a poker run works

Riders pay an entry fee and receive a scorecard. The route includes five stops, usually bars, dealerships, or sponsor businesses, spaced twenty to forty minutes apart. At each stop the rider draws a playing card, which is recorded on the card or stamped by a volunteer. At the final stop the hands are scored like poker, and the best hand wins a cash prize or a share of the pot, with a smaller prize for the worst hand. Riders can buy extra cards at the end to improve a hand, which raises more money. The riding is not timed and is not a race.

What a rider should expect

Registration opens in the morning at the first stop, with a window of an hour or two so groups can leave at their own pace. Entry fees typically run twenty to thirty dollars per rider and less per passenger, and often include a meal and a pin or patch. Expect a safety briefing, a map or a route card, and a final stop with food, raffles, music, and the drawing. Ride your own pace between stops. Groups form informally, and the sweep from the host club usually runs the route last to pick up stragglers.

Other formats

Dice runs replace cards with dice rolls at each stop. Scavenger runs send riders to find and photograph locations. Memorial rides and escorted rides follow a single route as one large group, often with police escort, and end at a ceremony. Bike shows, bike blessings at the start of the season, toy runs before the holidays, and benefit parties round out most clubs' calendars.

How clubs organize one

A good poker run takes two to three months to plan. The club chooses a beneficiary, lines up five stops willing to host and often to sponsor, recruits business sponsors for prizes and printing, secures general liability insurance and a certificate for each venue, sets registration and scoring volunteers, promotes the event through social media, shops, and other clubs, and designs the route for safety rather than for scenery. On the day, volunteers staff each stop, the treasurer handles cash with two people present, and the club announces the total raised and presents it to the beneficiary publicly.

Insurance and the law

Event organizers are liable when something goes wrong, which is why established clubs carry event insurance and require riders to sign a waiver at registration. Some states regulate raffles and games of chance, and a poker run can fall under those rules. Clubs with federal tax-exempt status can offer donors a deduction. Clubs without it should say plainly that the entry fee is not tax-deductible.

Signs of a well-run event

• A named beneficiary and a public announcement of the amount raised.
• Waivers, insurance, and a safety briefing.
• Stops spaced for safe riding, with the last stop reachable before dark.
• Volunteers who know the route and the scoring rules.
• No pressure to drink at the stops. Many clubs now favor coffee shops and dealerships over bars for daytime stops.