Royal flush
Participate in a poker run
It started with motorcycles. Bikers looking for a way to get together and ride started a poker run in which they would designate a route with places to stop and draw a card from packs of playing cards, indicating they had been to the stop and gather their cards for a winning hand.
Royal flush - highest poker hand over multicoloured background
As in the game of poker, a winning hand consists of five to seven playing cards with the categories of hands determining a winner. There are nine winning hand categories: five of a kind, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card. In an aircraft poker run, pilots fly from one airport to another, picking cards from a deck as they go. Usually in an aircraft poker run or if distances are great, pilots pick up two cards at a stop, meaning an aircraft poker run consists of three stops. Often the entry fee of some amount like $10 is added to a pot and that’s the winnings or contributes to running the event. Many airports sponsor poker runs for scholarships, meaning the pot is split between the pilot holding the winning hand and a scholarship winner. However the poker run is designed, it’s not about the money; it’s about the fun of flying with likeminded pilots on a beautiful day, competing in an age-old game of cards. If you’d like information on setting up a poker run at your airport, contact our You Can Fly Flying Clubs team.
youcanfly.aopa.org/flying-clubs/contact-us
[email protected]
Julie Summers Walker
AOPA Senior Features Editor
AOPA Senior Features Editor Julie Summers Walker joined AOPA in 1998. She is a student pilot still working toward her solo.
