Last year, PokerNews sent a team down south for a weeklong “Texas Road Trip” to visit various cardrooms and local historical poker spots. On Monday, we did the same thing by sending PokerNews Community Manager Jesse Fullen and US Live Reporting Executive Matt Hansen to Philadelphia for the start of our “East Coast Road Trip.”
Over the course of the next week, we will be updating this piece daily documenting our adventures, which will include visits to live poker rooms, checking out the online poker sites in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and even meeting up with some notable East Coast players. You can also follow along on PokerNews social media.
This week we are sending our own @jessefullen and @MattyBet on a week long road-trip all along the East Coast!
PA Best Online Poker Sites: Play Online Poker in Pennsylvania
Day 1 – Live Poker Rooms in Philadelphia
After traveling from Las Vegas to Philly on Sunday, Matt and Jesse got a good night’s rest before checking out the live poker rooms in the “City of Brotherly Love.” First up was Parx Poker Room, which houses a massive 48 tables. It was there we were welcomed by Director of Poker Operations Bill Entenman, an industry veteran.
He started in poker after watching Rounders when he was 21. Since then, he has worked in every position you can imagine in a poker room starting as a dealer before taking a floor position. Two decades later, he’s been at Parx for several years and has seen lots of change over his tenure.
He told us some great stories about local players such as Matt Glantz and Shaun Deeb, and he also shared his love for the game. While tournaments haven’t come back to Parx yet post-pandemic, daily tournaments appear to be coming back in June 2023.
If you’re in the area north of Philadelphia, you have to check out Parx – they currently have a Bad Beat Jackpot sitting at $424,000 – and tell them PokerNews sent you! Here’s a look at the Parx Poker Room:
From there, the crew headed to Rivers Philadelphia, formerly known as Sugar House Casino. Their 28-table enclosed poker room is gearing up for their $1,100 Ultra Rush Event this weekend. The $200K GTD tournament kicks off with Day 1a on Thursday, May 18 at 6:15 p.m. Days 1b and 1c will take place at 11:15 a.m. on Friday and Saturday respectively, and the survivors from all flights will return at 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, May 21 to play down to a winner.
The last stop of the day was over at Live! Philadelphia, which is home to a 29-table poker room with plenty of tournaments on their calendar.
Day 2 – Stay Tuned
Be sure to check this running article daily for updates on the PokerNews East Coast Road Trip.
Executive Editor U.S.
Executive Editor US, PokerNews Podcast co-host & 2013 WSOP Bracelet Winner.