Pirates Of Lanier Charity Poker Run At 100 Boats With Registration Closing Tomorrow

The first-year organizer of the Pirates of Lanier Charity Poker Run in Northern Georgia, Zach Martin didn’t expect to hit a home-run immediately. But on participation alone, he already has as 100 powerboat owners have signed up so far. To keep things manageable and personal, Martin is closing registration for the September 12-13 event tomorrow.

That makes today something of a last call for the resurgent event based at the lake’s Margaritaville resort property.

The Pirates of Lanier Charity Poker Run returns next weekend. Photo by Matt Trulio/Speedonthewater.com.

“We definitely exceeded our expectations this year,” Martin said. “We want to maintain a personal touch, so we are closing registration tomorrow.”

As previously reported, the happening will kick off with a Friday-evening “Block Party” in the nearby Grand Hall parking area. The celebration is set to run from 5 p.m. to midnight and will include food trucks, adult-beverage vendors, a live DJ, high-performance pleasure boats and offshore race boats and 50-plus exotic automobiles from Atlanta-based DDATL Exotics.

Financial transparency is among the top concerns for Martin, who has put hundreds of hours into organizing the once-massive event.

“One of my biggest things about doing this is being 100-percent transparent,” he emphasized. “We will display everything about our expenses and where everything is going to support our charities—100 percent of the post-expense revenue will go to the charities. We want participants not just to understand why we’re doing this, but to give them a warm and fuzzy feeling about exactly where the money they spend is going.

“We are blessed to be able to do this stuff,” he added. “It reminds us that we should give back to those are less fortunate.”

Speedonthewater.com chief photographer Pete Boden will capture all the action. Boden will be sharing the photo-helicopter with Michael Dyer of Fly Visual Cinema, who will handle video coverage for the event.  

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