EVENT History

• Phil Peterson's Key West Poker Run started some 45 years ago as an idea to drum up some business during a normally slow time of the year for his motorcycle business in Miami and Key West. Phil thought if he made a Poker Run event to Key West in August that would do the trick. Phil and a handful of local Motorcycle Clubs, decided to try it. The Run started early Saturday morning with sign-ups at the Miami Store. The Poker Run consists of a ride to Key West hitting five restaurants or bars along the way to draw a card, and arriving in Key West in time to get cleaned up for the Awards Dinner, Dance and Bike Show. The best hands would win prizes and as an added attraction, they had a Best Dressed Contest (where riders and their passengers) would wear matching boots, pants and shirts with their helmets painted to match their bikes so not only was the bike judged but also the riders were judged for the best looking couple and they were awarded trophies. On Sunday morning they would have a Field Meet showing off their rider skills and scored for different events ,i.e. slow race, roll a barrel with your front tire, ride over the feeler-totter plank etc., competing for trophies) in those days there were small well-organized riding clubs with a lot of camaraderie and friendly competition between clubs. Everyone would return home on Sunday afternoon and this went on for many years in the early days of the Poker Run. Today the Poker Run has grown into a major event with police estimates of 10,000 to 15,000 riders. In the recent years it has managed to sell out of all Key West hotels for the day. Drew Peterson, Phil's son, now manages and promotes the Poker run and believes another way that we can grow this event is to make it a Key's Bike Week with a Keys Poker Run. 

• In previous years we have had motorcycle ride events and attractions throughout the Middle and Lower Keys to attract riders to come and stay for the Week and Island hop. There are thousands of hotel rooms and places to stay throughout the middle and lower keys. The idea is to ride down and ride all over the keys for the first three or four days and enjoy many of the things, like snorkeling or dive trips, fishing and fishing trips, kayaking, jet skiing, para-sailing and of course, enjoying Paradise while eating, drinking and shopping. Then there is the Poker Run that will start on Friday, October 11th this year and end on Sunday the 13th at 4pm at the last stop.
  Again this year, the Peterson's Harley-Davidson® Dealerships will start the week off with a Pre-Poker Run Party on October 5th. Come and sign up for the Poker Run, get ready to have good time partying with us.
  You can sign up in person starting October 1st, at either one of the Peterson's Harley-Davidson® Dealerships. Buy as many hands as you like and increase your chances. Sign up for the Poker Run is $10 a hand.

For general questions please contact Peterson's Harley-Davidson® south at 305.235.4023 or email to drake@petersonsharley.com

POKER HAND WINNERS

WINNERS OF THE 2016 POKER RUN/"TEXAS HOLD-EM":

1st prize winner of $10,000:

Roy Bram from Miami, FL -

Winning the final Texas Hold-Em w/2 Qs

1st: Roger Tapanes, Miami, FL/5 Queens = $1000.00 & Plaque

2nd: Robert Hart, MPort St. Lucie, FL/4 Aces = $500.00 & Plaque

3rd: Chuck mantegazza, Hollywood, FL/4 JKings = $300.00 & Plaque

4th: Sally Mishmash, Marathon, FL/4 Jacks, King High = $200.00 & Plaque

5th: Roy Bram, Miami, FL/4 Jacks, 10 High = $100.00 & Plaque

6th: Girolamo Dicembrino, Pembroke Pines, FL/4 Jacks, 5-4 High = Plaque

7th: Mike Sizer, from ?/4 Jacks, 5-3 High = Plaque

8th: Bryant Wade, from ?/4 10s = Plaque

9th: Thomas Evans, Hollywood, FL/4 9s = Planque

10th: Miguel Marino, Miramar, FL/4 7s = Planque

Winner of the Diabetes Research Institute 50/50 Raffle: Chad Herzog won the CASH!

The Longest Traveled Winner is - with 1,806 miles:

Robert Dixon, Omaha, Nebraska, who a $300.00 Peterson's Harley-Davidson® Gift Card.

Winner of the Oldest Poker Run T-Shirt: K.C. Casper, Miami, FL - a 1985 T-Shirt won him a $200.00 Peterson's Harley-Davidson® Gift Card.

A "GREAT BIG THANK YOU" TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED, DONATED AND PAID FOR PARKING ON DUVAL STREET.

The Peterson's Harley-Davidson® Family and the DIabetes Research Institute, would like to thank everyone for participating in another successful and fun-filler Poker Run weekend.

WOW, that a great "Poker Run Bike Week" and weekend this turned out to be!

The weather did not look good according to the weather reports with an 80 to 90% chance of rain for Thursday and Friday but that is NOT how it turned out! The Harley® Gods shined on us once again with only an occasional shower or downpour depending on where you were and when, but with a smartphone and the radar app it was very manageable. The Keys Bike Week with parties and entertainment scheduled for Monday to Thursday started off very slow again this year due to poor weather.

On Friday morning I headed down with Stu Jones from Paradise Riders to film the Run and ride down for another episode of "The Florida Motorcycle Riding Life Style" show to be aired on Fox Sun Sports Network this Fall.

The weather for Saturday and Sunday was Blue Skies and Beautiful for the Duval Street Bike Show with all the show bikes parked in front of Rick's/Dirty Harry's and Sloppy Joe's dominated by all the Custom Baggers from all the local builders. They really amped it up this year with their beautiful detailed creations of rolling art producing Booming Music and some great showmanship.

Congratulations to Peter Gonzalez for taking the Best in Show and Cartel Baggers for winning Best Pro Shop (See ALL the winners on our website!)

We signed up about the same amount of people to play poker as we did last year about 3,000 but we had a lot more people pay for parking on DUval STreet.

Thanks you all who played and participated!

Drew Peterson

BIKE SHOW WINNERS - 2016