Elks’ Annual Poker Run to Benefit Soldiers’ Home

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Planning is now underway for the Winthrop Elks Third Annual Poker Run benefiting the Chelsea Veterans Soldiers Home on Saturday, July 23 .

The Poker Run is not a race – it is a fun filled afternoon-long game of chance where the best Poker Hand wins.

“This is a charity fundraiser to benefit the Chelsea Soldiers Home,” explained Poker Run organizer Pamela Milton of the Winthrop Lodge of Elks. “It costs $30 per hand to play the game .”

Food and prizes are all available at the final destination.

Any entrant may begin their run at one of the four designated Yacht Club stops, where they get one card to make their five card poker hand, and all players must end at the final destination, the Winthrop Elks, where they receive their fifth and final card.

For details on how to enter the Winthrop Elks 2011 Poker Run contact Pamela Milton at 617-834-4058 or Ron Milton at 617-510-4143.

All entries are due no later than Sunday, July 18.

“Plan to load up your boat or car with friends and play. Everyone is welcome to enter,“ said Milton. “All players will receive a ticket to include a special buffet; those not entered and on boats with players may purchase the meal ticket for $7. The entry fee is $30 per hand and entry forms are also available at the Elks and Yacht Club destinations.

“This grew from 34 people years back and could probably be much bigger.,“ added Milton. “It really is a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. Summer is a hard time to nail down extra help with people away on vacation so we’ve been coordinating this.”

In each of the last two years the fun run has had 104 entries, but entries have been closed several days in advance of the run.

“We’ve said that if more people were to go by car, we could add another 52 entries – that’s one more deck of cards to each stop – which would bring in about another $600-$800, at the least, for the Veterans,” said Milton. “The only down side is that it would be much more work and we could really use some more volunteers.”

The four yacht clubs that participate with the Winthrop Lodge of Elks are Orient Heights Yacht Club, Jeffries Point Yacht Club, Chelsea Yacht Club and Pleasant Park Yacht Club. Anyone can enter, there is no requirement that you belong to a yacht club or the Lodge of Elks to play.