A poker run across the Long Island Sound. Draw a card at every checkpoint; the best five-card hand at the awards dinner takes ten thousand dollars, and the first Black Pearl trophy.
Draw at every checkpoint. Play the hand you ran.
Produced by the National Powerboat Association, running East Coast
rallies since 1976.
Boats make Port Jefferson Harbor through the afternoon. Dockside welcome, then a first evening at the Black Pearl bar.
Hosted breakfast on the deck. Final registration, first card drawn, the fleet on display along the docks.
Captains gather at the NPBA tent for the course, the rules of the run, and the weather call.
Forty boats leave the harbor in formation. The picture the Sound talks about all winter.
Sixty-five miles across open water with checkpoint draws along the Connecticut shore, then home to Danfords.
The hand is called at Black Pearl Seafood Chophouse. Ten thousand dollars, trophies, and dinner worth docking for on its own.
Held automatically. October on the Sound keeps its own counsel; the run happens either way.
Black marble, brushed gold, and a wall of chinoiserie peacocks — the room this event is named for. The hosted breakfast, the awards dinner, and the calling of the hand all happen here, at Danfords on the Port Jefferson waterfront.
Steaks over open flame, a raw bar off the morning boats, and a cocktail program with its own following. Bring the crew; bring whoever asks why you love the water.
Danfords Hotel & Spa rises directly over the marina: harbor-view rooms, the spa, and a two-minute walk from your berth to the awards dinner.
A room block for the fleet opens with your invitation.
Slips at Danfords' operating docks, with additional dockage arranged across Port Jefferson Harbor for the overflow fleet.
Every hull is placed by the committee — no captain hunts for a slip.
The National Powerboat Association has run the East Coast's rallies since 1976: twelve hundred members, the NYC Poker Run around Manhattan every August, and camera boats, drones, and a helicopter over every mile of it. President Billy Frenz and the NPBA committee run the Black Pearl personally.
Tell us about you, your boat, and your crew. The event committee reviews every application; entry details accompany your invitation.
Apply for an Invitation