It gets to be a lot of fun and everyone likes to play poker. You could add a joker for better odds or let them pay $3.00 more for 1 more card. We do this about 6 weekends a year and raise about $1500.00 for our state project for that year. Game nights can run long, especially if all players are enjoying the big night. Plan your food accordingly. Bring out main dishes every hour or so, starting with this cheesy Chicago-style pie. The spicy sausage adds bold flavor and a boost of protein, to keep the players going. Recipe: Chicago-Style Pizza. Poker runs typically involve motorcyclists, but you can plan a poker run for cars, boats or other vehicles. Your organization may choose to donate 100 percent of the profits to your charity, or you may need to deduct expenses. Set a date for the event. Allow plenty of time to plan and advertise.

Poker Run Party Ideas Party

We've all done it. Signed up for a poker run, get three cards in and have a crap hand and lose all enthusiasm for the remainder of the ride.

Now, honestly if you sign up for a charity poker run with the expectation of winning and coming out ahead, then you're probably doing it for the wrong reason. But, from a competitive spirit kind of thing, we all hate to lose and it's even worse when halfway through the game you know there's no way you can win.

That's why we like a slight variation on this old standard..the POKER CHIP RUN.

What makes this game better than a standard 5 card poker run is NOBODY has a clue if they have a good hand or a bad hand until they return to the starting point.

Poker fundraisers are becoming increasingly popular and are a fun way to raise money for many causes. Depending on how creative you get, this type of fundraiser can earn your group more funds than you might think. Following are some ideas on how to raise funds with a poker fundraiser - selling admission tickets is just the beginning!

That helps you (as the event organizer) in several ways. The first is the majority of your participants will enjoy the event all the way through, you'll ensure that almost everyone will return to the start (instead of dropping out halfway) and the old 'I don't know how to play poker' excuse some people use for not attending your event.

How it works

The poker chip run is the simplest run you can set up. Here's what you need to do.

1. Decide on the number of stops you will have. Typically you can have as many as 5 or as few as three. If you're short on volunteers to man your stops, then we recommend having only 1 additional stop someone along the route. This gives you 3 draws from the poker chip bag. One when they register and before they leave, one at the stop out on the route, and one when they return to the starting point.

Get a set of generic poker chips, or contact Custom Products Plus (478-299-4601) for custom printed chips.

Divide the chips into equal numbers in a opaque bag so your participants can't see which color they're getting.

At each stop have your participants draw out 3 chips. Then note the colors drawn on their registration sheet.

That's it. Pretty simple huh?

Oh yea, once everyone leaves for the run, or (preferably) once everyone is back in and all the sheets have been returned, stage a public drawing where you put 1 chip of each color in the bag and have a volunteer reach into the bag and blindly draw out a chip. The first chip drawn is worth 20 points, the second chip is worth 10 points and the third chip is worth 5 points.

For example, if the first chip drawn is red, then every red chip drawn on the ride is worth 20 points. If the second chip is white then all the white chips are worth 10 points and the blue chips were worth 5 points.

The beauty of this is that because the value of the chips wasn't established until AFTER the ride concluded, no one knew if they had a good hand or not. They could've had all blue chips, or all red chips or all white chips and they either won big, or was a big loser!

Just make sure the person blind drawing the chips has no way to tell which color is which when they're in the bag and that person doesn't know anything about the participants scores or who has what colors on their sheets.

But if it's a blind draw, it's still pretty hard for anyone to cheat with this system.

If you have questions, or need more info, call us at Biker Nation, 478-268-7528 and we'll be happy to answer any questions about this system. We've used this dozens of times and it works great!

Are you planning on holding a Poker Run? Well, hold onto your handlebars, because Odds On Promotions has come up with some great ideas to help ensure that you run the ultimate Poker Run party at your next event that will have participants itching to come back the following year for more!

1.) Hold a Lucky Joker Poker Gameboard Promotion
Are you wanting to draw big attention to your event by giving a few lucky finalists the chance to win up to a $1,000,000? Lucky Joker Poker, a poker-themed Pick ‘Til You Win game, does just that! The game board holds 40 envelopes, each of which is filled with one of three prize symbols. Contestants choose envelopes one at a time, until they collect five matching prize symbols, winning the corresponding prize. If your lucky contestant finds the five Royal Flush symbols first, Odds On will be there to pick up the tab!

Be sure to advertise the promotion at your event by making an online flyer that you can post somewhere visibly on your website and direct all potential attendees there. Qualify your partipicants by holding a simple raffle or poker-themed prequalifer. Another great idea would to have the top 3 finishers of the actual Poker Run come back to try their hand at Lucky Joker Poker.

Decorate the site of the promotion in joker or poker-themed props and/or decorations. Be sure to create a banner (or have Odds On create one for you) for the occasion to catch the attention of your attendees. Include not only the name, date and/or time of your event, but also announce the prize to be won at the promotion! ‘Dress’ the site of the promotion by having volunteers wear joker costumes and have others hand out fun joker hats as complimentary gifts for those who participate in the promotion!

Holding a Lucky Joker Poker promotion in conjunction with your Poker Run will help increase the number of attendees at your event. After all, there’s nothing quite like seeing a big grand prize advertised… OR having to worry about the risk of pay-out!

Poker Run Party Ideas Decorations

2.) Insure a Dice Roll
Here’s a great promotion that combines the thrills of high-stakes poker with the fast-paced action of a dice roll! Contestants simply roll their way to fabulous prizes using Odds On’s customizable over-sized dice. When someone rolls the grand-prize winning combination of symbols (i.e. 10-J-K-Q-A, R-O-Y-A-L, or F-L-U-S-H), they’ll win your jackpot (up to $1,000,000) and Odds On will send you a check! Talk about easy money!

Looking for a unique qualifier? Instead of holding a traditional Poker Run, have a Dice Run! Rather than collecting cards during your Poker Run, players will roll dice at each stop. The objective is to have the highest cumulative score, which is determined by the total sum of the dice rolls. Bring the top 1-3 “high rollers” back to attempt the Dice Roll!

Don’t forget to award consolation prizes (fuzzy dice, anyone?) to everyone who doesn’t manage to roll the winning combination of letters, numbers and/or symbols!

Insuring a Dice Roll will be sure to attract foot traffic at your event, so you’ll definitely want to take the time to dress up your promotion! If you still plan on incorporating poker into your event, have your contestants roll the dice onto a poker table (ideal for 1″ dice). Serving hors d’oeuvres at your event? Why not make some square-shaped marshmallow treats with chocolate chips which symbolize dice? The possibilities are endless!

3.) Insure a Lucky Hand Poker Run
A Poker Run whether by land, sea, or just at a special event is a proven fundraiser or simply just, fun! Register contestants and issue a list of five sponsor locations to visit. At each location, contestants randomly draw a playing card. After visiting all locations, they proceed to the final stop and enter their five cards into Odds On’s Verification Computer. If their “lucky” hand matches the preselected winning hand, Odds On will pay for the prize! Better yet, the computer will also tally the highest hands for easy administration of self-sponsored prizes.

Looking to add in a little something extra to the traditional Poker Run? While insuring a Lucky Hand Poker Run is undoubtedly a good approach to piquing your participants’ interest, you might want to consider having your participants participate in multiple, small insured promotions at each sponsor location they stop at. Whether it be a small envelopes promotion, a zoom ball promotion or even a “lucky motorcycle” promotion, have the individual who is currently in the lead at the time try their luck at any one of our great contests! On a budget? Simply hold one of them at the final sponsor location stop!

Questions? Ideas? Pricing inquiries? Give us a call at 888-827-2249… or as always, feel free to shoot us an email.