Ace of Hearts Poker Run Raises About $4,400 for American Heart Association

MOBILE, Ala. — Bikers set off from Mobile Bay Harley-Davidson and Harley-Davidson of Pensacola on Saturday, riding to the FloraBama for the third annual Ace of Hearts Poker Run, a charity ride that turns a day of Gulf Coast cruising into money for the American Heart Association.

Riders made pit stops along the route, drawing cards in hopes of a winning hand. Poker runs work exactly as the name suggests: at each stop along the ride, participants draw a playing card, and the rider who arrives at the final destination with the best five-card poker hand takes the top prize.

All money raised benefits the American Heart Association, the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Funds raised through events like the Ace of Hearts run support research, education and advocacy programs aimed at the nation’s leading cause of death.

For many participants, the ride is personal. A large share of the riders are heart-disease survivors themselves or have loved ones affected by heart attack or stroke, and the event doubles as a rolling reunion of people whose lives have been changed by cardiovascular disease.

Sherrie van’t Hoff had the winning hand at this year’s run. She and her husband, Frans, are from Irvington, the rural Mobile County community south of the city, and the couple took home the $500 top prize at the ride’s conclusion.

In a gesture that captured the spirit of the event, the van’t Hoffs gave $50 of their winnings back to the American Heart Association, adding to the day’s total. In all, the event raised about $4,400 for the cause.

How a Poker Run Works

Poker runs have become a fundraising staple across the Gulf Coast, blending the freedom of a group motorcycle ride with the excitement of a card game. Organizers map out a route with five or more stops, and riders register, pay an entry fee and receive a scorecard before the first wheel rolls.

At each stop, riders draw a card from a shuffled deck, have it recorded on their scorecard, and continue to the next checkpoint. The route from the two Harley-Davidson dealerships to the FloraBama, the storied beach bar on the Alabama-Florida line at Perdido Key, gave riders a scenic run through Mobile County and across the coast.

The format rewards luck rather than riding skill, which keeps the event accessible. Riders of all experience levels have the same chance at the winning hand, and the stops themselves become social occasions, with participants comparing cards, sharing stories and meeting fellow riders they have never encountered on previous runs.

By the time the pack rolls into the final stop, the competition comes down to a simple reveal: scorecards are checked, the best hand is identified, and prizes are awarded. The $500 top prize at the Ace of Hearts run gave this year’s winner a substantial reward, though most riders will tell you the draw is the ride itself and the cause it supports.

Riding for the Heart

The Ace of Hearts run takes its name and its purpose from the fight against cardiovascular disease, which remains the leading cause of death in Alabama and across the United States. The American Heart Association funds research into heart disease and stroke while promoting public health measures, from CPR training to nutrition education, in communities nationwide.

Charity motorcycle rides are among the most reliable grassroots fundraisers on the Gulf Coast. The region’s strong riding culture, scenic routes and supportive dealership community combine to make benefit runs a proven way to turn a Saturday into real money for nonprofit causes.

The dual starting points, Mobile Bay Harley-Davidson in Mobile and Harley-Davidson of Pensacola to the east, underscored the ride’s regional reach, drawing participants from both sides of Mobile Bay and the Florida panhandle. Converging routes gave the ride the feel of a coastwide gathering rather than a single-city event.

The FloraBama, the ride’s final destination, is arguably the most famous landmark on the Alabama-Florida line. Known for its music, its annual mullet toss and its laid-back beach culture, the venue regularly hosts charity events, and its location at the end of Perdido Key makes it a fitting finish line for riders crossing the coast.

Survivors in the Saddle

What sets heart-focused charity rides apart from other benefit runs is the makeup of the field. On rides like the Ace of Hearts, the pack includes riders who have survived heart attacks, lived with heart disease for years or received implanted devices that keep their hearts beating. For them, every mile is a statement.

Equally common are riders carrying the memory of loved ones lost to heart attack and stroke. Spouses, siblings and children of the deceased ride in their honor, and many wear shirts, patches or helmet decals bearing names and dates. The ride becomes a rolling memorial as much as a fundraiser.

Survivor stories also serve the American Heart Association’s educational mission. Cardiovascular disease often shows few symptoms until a crisis, and events that bring survivors together naturally create opportunities for conversations about warning signs, blood pressure, cholesterol and the importance of emergency response when a heart attack strikes.

The $4,400 raised this year, the third straight for the event, will join the association’s broader fundraising stream. Grassroots events like this one collectively account for a significant share of the organization’s annual revenue, and their local character keeps the mission visible in communities far from any research laboratory.

Irvington Winners, Community Spirit

The winning hand belonged to Sherrie van’t Hoff, but the story that traveled home with her and her husband Frans to Irvington included the $50 they handed back to the cause. In the world of charity rides, such gestures are noticed, remembered and retold at the following year’s event.

Irvington sits in southern Mobile County along the corridors that lead toward Bayou La Batre and the coast, a community of small farms, neighborhoods and family businesses. That the winning pair came from just down the road added a hometown flavor to the ride’s conclusion at the beach.

Organizers of the Ace of Hearts run have now held the event three years running, building a base of returning riders who mark the date on their calendars each season. Events that reach their third year have typically moved past the startup phase, with sponsors, routes and stop logistics becoming routine.

The motorcycle community’s charitable streak is well established on the Gulf Coast, where benefit rides support veterans, children’s hospitals, cancer research and disaster relief throughout the year. The Ace of Hearts run slots into that tradition with a focus on the organ that keeps every rider moving down the road.

With the cards dealt, the prizes awarded and about $4,400 headed to the American Heart Association, the third annual Ace of Hearts Poker Run closed the books on another successful year. Riders will get their chance at a winning hand, and at the winning feeling of giving back, again next year.

The Route from the Dealerships to the Beach

The ride’s geography told the story of the Gulf Coast’s connected riding community. Riders leaving Mobile Bay Harley-Davidson headed south through Mobile County, while the group starting at Harley-Davidson of Pensacola crossed the Perdido area from the east, with both routes converging on the barrier island strip where the FloraBama sits straddling the state line.

Riding a route like that means bridges, bayous and beach highways, the kind of terrain that makes Gulf Coast rides popular with motorcyclists across the Southeast. The stops along the way gave riders frequent breaks, which matters in the coastal heat, and each card draw kept the poker competition alive until the final stop.

Dealerships have long served as natural staging grounds for charity rides. They offer parking for dozens of trailers and trucks, space for registration tables and vendor booths, and a built-in community of riders who hear about the events year-round. The partnership between a Mobile dealer and a Pensacola dealer for a shared cause reflected the way the riding community crosses state lines without a second thought.

For the American Heart Association, events hosted at beloved landmarks like the FloraBama also carry visibility beyond the riders themselves. Beach-goers, staff and passersby encountered the event, and every conversation about the ride was another chance to talk about heart health.

The final tally of about $4,400 will support the association’s work long after the motorcycles are loaded and the scorecards are turned in. It is the kind of sum built from dozens of entry fees, raffle tickets and donations, contributed one rider and one hand of cards at a time, in the true spirit of a community fundraiser.

Organizers thanked the riders, the dealerships, the stop hosts and the volunteers whose work made the third annual event possible, and they left little doubt that the Ace of Hearts run will roll again, with more cards, more survivors and more support for the fight against heart disease.