Poker Run personalities are in the spotlight in our special profile section.

Bob Barnhart

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada /Marco Island, Florida
50¡¯ Nor-Tech, Predator
Triple 850-hp Nor-Tech engines
Mercury Racing Dry Sump Six drives

For Bob Barnhart, poker runs are not about speed. Even though his 50¡¯ Nor-Tech is a 100-mph boat, he frequently will hang back and run with the 80-mph and under boats. ¡°During a run, I cruise 75 to 80 mph,¡± he said. ¡°I like the long-range cruising and I love the navigation.¡± At the Sarasota Spring Poker Run in March, Barnhart had just turned more than 700 hours on his 3 1/2-year-old boat, so he does a lot more long-range running on his own. The semi-retired homebuilder has no qualms about jumping in his boat and taking a 1 1/2-hour cruise to Key West. Known as bobthebuilder on OffshoreOnly.com, he organizes fun runs for boaters from Southwest Florida. Last winter, he led a fleet of more than 20 boats down to Everglades City, Fla., a spot where most of the boaters had never been. While some poker runners make the events family affairs, Barnhart often shows up with different crewmembers at each run. ¡°I¡¯ve been doing this since 1990,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ve met so many great people, there¡¯s never a problem putting together a crew.¡± He estimates that he¡¯s participated in 12 poker runs per year since 1990 and his best finishes in the card game have been two third places.

Frank & Jenine Dagostino

Brigantine, NJ
OuterLimits 46 Limited, Liquidator
Twin Mercury Racing HP1075 SCis
Mercury Racing Dry Sump Six

When Frank DAgostino got into his first go-fast boat, he made a huge jump. He stepped from a Sea-Doo to a 37¡¯ OuterLimits in 1997. Since then he¡¯s stayed loyal to the manufacturer, having moved up to a 42¡¯ Limited, the first Liquidator, and in 2006, he went bigger again with his current OuterLimits, the 46 Limited, Liquidator. His driver, wife Jenine, took her own unique path to the wheel of a 128-mph boat. She raced her 1970 Chevelle SS convertible around the Philadelphia area. Today, she blasts around in a Corvette Z 06. But she had no problem getting the hang of 100 mph on the water. ¡°I was really at home, I couldn¡¯t wait to get behind the wheel,¡± she said. This past February, the couple celebrated its one-year anniversary and Jenine said that she gets her honeymoon at every poker run. ¡°If we didn¡¯t do it together, we wouldn¡¯t be involved,¡± she said. Many poker run boats have an interesting story behind their names. Liquidator comes from Frank¡¯s industrial electrical business that buys excess inventories of electrical products from big industry. One of his side ventures is Silverhawk fishing boats. Frank has been doing about seven poker runs per year since 2000, and as far as how he¡¯s fared in the game, he said, ¡°Any time there¡¯s cards involved, that¡¯s where I get rid of my bad luck.¡±

Joe Pandak

Houston, Texas
Cigarette 39 Top Gun Unlimited,
Offshore Cowboy
Twin Mercury Racing HP600SCis
Bravo One XRs

When Joe Pandak got married, he got out of performance boats because he lost interest in the hard-partying life that sometimes comes with the go-fast lifestyle. That is, until he discovered poker runs. ¡°They gave me a safe outlet for performance-boating,¡± he explained. The 35-year-old from Houston is already on his sixth go-fast boat with his 39¡¯ Top Gun Unlimited that he bought from Pier 57 Marine. ¡°I don¡¯t hunt,¡± he said. ¡°I boat.¡± In the past few years, Pandak said he¡¯s established a good circle of friends among fellow Cigarette owners. ¡°We all hang out together. It¡¯s a nice clique of Cigarette guys.¡± Normally, his wife, Birgite, comes to the runs with him and hangs out by the pool with his friends¡¯ wives when the guys are out participating in the run. Pandak estimates that he¡¯s already done at least 30 runs and he averages about eight per year. He said that his best finish was a third place at the first event he ever attended and he took home $1,500. At the season finale last year in Sarasota, he never got the chance to find out how he did. ¡°We had all our cards on the table and we went up to the room to shower and came back down and the cards were gone, so we didn¡¯t even get to play.¡±

Joe Trapuzzano

Port Orange, Florida
29¡¯ Velocity, Famous Philly¡¯s Beef Missile
Single MerCruiser 496 MAG HO
Bravo One X

Despite often having the smallest boat at many of the events on the PRA Tour, Joe Trapuzzano might have the most enthusiasm. ¡°We have a ball,¡± said the owner of the 29¡¯ Velocity, Famous Philly¡¯s Beef Missile. ¡°Poker runs give you the actual feeling that you¡¯re part of the event, no matter what size the boat is, 29¡¯ to 60¡¯.¡± If you¡¯re from the Port Orange area, you know Famous Philly¡¯s as the winner of the Best Philly Cheesesteak in Southwest Florida for the last five or so years. At the Sarasota run, Trapuzzano unveiled the new logo for his latest business venture, franchises for Zanos Famous Philly cheese steak restaurants. In addition to getting great exposure for his restaurant at poker runs, he uses the boat to raise money for charities in Florida. He raised money for tornado victims in Ocala, Fla., and at an LPGA event, the boat helped bring in $125,000 for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Volusia County. Trapuzzano has been poker running for about two years, joining 12 events. He said his best poker hand was three of a kind, but he hasn¡¯t cracked the top three at an event yet. ¡°I won a jacket from Velocity and that was when we broke down and ran out of gas last year,¡± said Trapuzzano. ¡°I think they felt sorry for me.¡±

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