Cowboy Casino Poker Room
Five poker rooms reopened as of mid-November with Parx, the state’s largest, set to return in December. The city of Philadelphia added restrictions included another shutdown of Rivers Casino Philadelphia until at least Jan 1, taking away another option for live poker. One poker room continues to remain c onspicuously quiet – Wind Creek Casino. Played my first cash game at Cowboys Casino, bought into the $1/$2 NLH for $60 and had a good time! This poker room is right downtown calgary next to where they. Rivers Casino Pittsburgh has announced that its poker room will reopen on Wednesday. Games will be 7-handed with Plexiglas dividers on tables. Masks are required, and no eating or drinking will be permitted. For more information on poker room reopenings, visit our Reopen webpage. Poker Room devadmin2saracen 2020-11-06T22:45:04+00:00 Be part of the FUN and EXCITEMENT everyday! Come test your skills in one of our poker tournaments or in open play in our spacious and stylish Poker Room.
Four live poker rooms are now open in Pennsylvania. The rooms where you can find live poker right now are:
- The Meadows
- Mount Airy Casino
- Mohegan Sun Pocono
- Rivers Casino Pittsburgh
These five live poker rooms are currently closed:
- Parx (opening Dec. 15)
- Hollywood Casino
- Presque Isle Downs
- Wind Creek Casino
- Rivers Casino Philadelphia (reopened but closed again on Nov. 20)
In the New Year, players will also have another live poker option in Philadelphia. Live! Casino and Hotel in Philly will open in early 2021, and a 29-table poker room should open with it, pending COVID-19 restrictions.
We will continue to update casino and poker room closings and reopening plans in this second wave at our live updates page here.
Parx poker room reopening in mid-December
Pennsylvania’s largest poker room announced a date for its long-awaited return. Parx Poker Room will reopen on Dec. 15 at 9.m. with all of its usual games and be open 24 hours. The news came via Parx’s website.
What’s up at Wind Creek’s poker room?
With 26 tables, Wind Creek Casino has one of the larger poker rooms in PA. A representative from Wind Creek told PlayPennsylvania they had no update on when the poker room would open.
A Wind Creek employee provided an update on some of the happenings at Wind Creek including the poker room. Read the full story here.
PA poker rooms opening one by one
Other poker rooms in Pennsylvania could be reopening any day. According to a spokesperson for the PGCB, casinos submit plans and safety protocols for review. Once they receive final approval from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB), they can reopen.
It’s positive news for poker players who have been waiting a long time to get back to live games. Casinos in Pennsylvania started shutting down to slow the spread of coronavirus in mid-March. They did not begin to welcome back guests until June, and poker rooms were not open due to the social nature of the game.
PlayPennsylvania has contacted poker room reps for Hollywood Casino, Wind Creek Casino, and Presque Isle Downs Casino but they had no concrete plans to share.
We will continue to update you here as more rooms open or set a date for reopening.
Live Poker returned to Rivers Philadelphia but closed again
Rivers Casino Philadelphia reopened its poker room on Oct. 23. It did so with approval for up to 14 tables with a capacity of 100 guests. Under normal circumstances, the room has 28 tables and offers a variety of poker games but now the action returned with primarily No Limit Texas Hold’em cash games.
According to a recent press release, in addition to the existing casino-wide safety measures, the following precautions are in effect for the poker room (when it is open):
- Masks must be worn at all times
- Poker dealers will wear both a mask and a face shield
- Each poker table in play will have plexiglass dividers, separating players and the dealer
- A maximum of seven players allowed per table
- Frequent and thorough cleaning of all cards, chips and surfaces
- Only sanitized chips bought from the poker room cage will be used in play
- No food, beverage or smoking is permitted in the poker room or anywhere on the Rivers Casino gaming floor
Peter Longi, assistant general manager at Rivers Casino Philadelphia, commented:
“Poker players are excited to be back at the tables, enjoying the game they love. Our reopening was carefully planned with the safety of our team and guests being the primary concern. We’re eager to welcome back our poker team.”
To assist with social distancing, players are encouraged to call the poker room at 215-717-3883 to put their name on the waiting list when the room reopens. Guests can also check the Bravo Poker Live online or the website’s mobile app for the Rivers Casino poker room up-to-the-minute game status. In addition, players will have a chance to win their share of the $100,000 Bad Beat Jackpot. The minimum qualifying hand is quad 2s.
Rivers had to close its poker room once again along with the rest of the casino until at least Jan. 1, 2021.
Here’s a look at a poker table at Rivers Philadelphia:
Players pine for poker
When the PGCB released its casino reopening protocols in late May, part of them stated that poker rooms were not authorized to operate due to players’ handling of cards and chips. They also said poker room operations would be re-examined based on changes in the CDC’s and PA Department of Health’s guidance.
On June 9, Rivers Casino Pittsburgh was the first to welcome back visitors. When asked when poker rooms would return, PGCB Director of Communication Doug Harbach said poker rooms present a different type of challenge since people are sitting close together in a room. He said at the time:
“The casinos want to walk before they run and make sure they are getting the venue open and then move on to opening up other areas once they know the protocols are working well.”
PokerStars, the state’s lone online poker site, has posted healthy numbers in PA, but players are still pining for in-person play.
Harbach gave this update to PlayPennsylvania in late August about poker rooms in Pennsylvania:
“There has been no alteration to the casino reopening protocols released by the Gaming Control Board in May in which poker rooms were not authorized to operate. At the same time, this guideline can be reexamined based on health experts’ guidance. Should casinos wish to explore reopening a casino room, it would need to provide plans to do so safely, which would be reviewed by the board on a case-by-case basis.”
Poker is back in New Jersey, too
New Jersey also had a long poker pause. The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa reopened its poker room, the largest in the state, on Oct. 21. The room is operating with 30 socially distanced tables. It’s about a third of the room’s 85 tables when operating at full capacity.
The Bellagio in Las Vegas opened its poker room in June. Nevada state guidelines mandated five-handed play in rooms without dividers or plexiglass partitions. However, the Bellagio’s request for six-handed poker games with partitions was approved by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
Other poker rooms in Nevada have also reopened with virus protocols in place.
When will poker rooms in Pennsylvania reopen?
Play Pennsylvania will continue to provide updates here as more casinos announce plans and reopen live poker.
Hollywood Casino live poker update
Currently closed.
Information about Hollywood Casino Poker Room:
- 17 tables
- Monday nights, $200 high hand, every 30 minutes; Wednesdays and Thursdays, $200 high hand, every 30 minutes; Fridays, $500 high hand, every 30 minutes; Sundays, hourly high hand prizes.
- Bad Beat Jackpot
- Weekly Rack Back Bonus
The Meadows live poker update
The Meadows poker room opened on Oct. 23 with daily hours of 11 a.m. – 1 a.m.
Welcome back Poker Players! pic.twitter.com/9X66QuZqXp
— Meadows Casino (@MeadowsCasino) October 23, 2020
Information about The Meadows Poker Room:
- 14 tables
- Live games such as Texas hold’em and Omaha every day
- Progressive bad beat
Mount Airy Casino live poker update
Mount Airy’s poker room reopened on Oct. 16 and is open 24 hours.
Information about Mount Airy Casino Poker Room:
- 12 tables
- Games such as Texas hold’em, Omaha and stud
Mohegan Sun Pocono live poker update
Mohegan Sun Pocono’s poker room reopened on Oct. 16.
Information about Mohegan Sun Pocono Poker Room:
- Eight tables
- Daily tournaments feature no-limit Texas hold’em and Bounty tournaments
- Offering a Bad Beat Jackpot for BOTH cash and tournament play
- Each day, $25 added to the Royal Flush Jackpot for each of the four suites
Parx live poker update
Parx sent out an email in mid-November saying they were finalizing plans but hoped to re-open poker “before the end of December.”
Information about the Parx Casino Poker Room:
- 80 tables — the most in PA
- The room offers a variety of no-limit hold’em games (from $1-$2 up to $10-$25), limit hold’em ($3-6 up to $30-$60), pot-limit Omaha, Omaha eight or better and a variety of mixed and draw games
- Weekly tournaments. Major tournament: Parx Big Stax
Presque Isle Downs live poker update
The poker room is currently closed.
Information about Presque Isle Downs Poker Room:
- Seven tables
- Games like hold’em and Omaha. Also offering multitable and single-table tournaments (sit and go’s)
Rivers Casino Philadelphia live poker update
Rivers Philadelphia reopened poker on Oct. 23. But it is closed once again as of Nov. 20 along with the casino to comply with city orders. It could reopen as soon as Jan. 1.
Cards are in the air! Welcome back players! $200 high hands are on every hour 24/7 all of October! Call 215-717-3883 to reserve your seat. pic.twitter.com/MwcxTABsNM
— Rivers Philadelphia Poker Room (@riverspokerphl) October 23, 2020
Information about Rivers Casino Philadelphia Poker Room:
- 28 tables
- Rivers offers a wide variety of poker games, including, but not limited, to Texas hold’em, Omaha-high, Omaha-hi/lo split eight or better, seven-card stud high, seven-card stud low, seven-card stud hi/lo split and seven-card stud hi/lo split eight or better.
- Poker promotions and tournaments listed on site when available.
Rivers Casino Pittsburgh live poker update
Cowboy Casino Poker Room Games
Rivers Casino Pittsburgh opened on Nov. 11. And beginning Nov. 16, Rivers Pittsburgh will operate 24/7, according to their twitter.
We are excited to announce that the Poker Room will be opening on Wednesday, November 11th at 4PM. We can’t wait to welcome you back!
Learn more about what you can expect and current hours: https://t.co/heQ3qJyQbV
Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-Gambler pic.twitter.com/FjgJY2cC7v
— Rivers Casino Pittsburgh (@WinBigRivers) November 10, 2020
Information about Rivers Casino Pittsburgh Poker Room:
- 30 tables
- Poker promotions and tournaments listed on site when available
Wind Creek Bethlehem live poker update
Wind Creek poker room remains closed.
Information about Wind Creek Bethlehem Poker Room:
- 26 tables
- Variety of games such as limit and no-limit Texas hold ’em, stud and Omaha. Limits starting at $3 and $6
- Automated shufflers on every poker game
- Bad Beat Jackpot available daily
- Massage service
Lady Luck Nemacolin and Valley Forge do not have poker rooms. PlayPennsylvania exclusively reported that Harrah’s Philadelphia closed its WSOP-branded room in August.
More online poker operators coming to PA
PokerStars arrived in Pennsylvania in November 2019 and has been the state’s only operator for 11 months. Partypoker was rumored to be coming in the early fall, but like most party plans in 2020, it hasn’t happened.
Last week, the PGCB approved Caesars‘ online poker partner 888 Holdings for an interactive gaming manufacturer license. 888 Poker was the No. 1 poker website in the country last year. It has a self-branded poker platform, and its software powers World Series of Poker (WSOP) online and mobile sites.
It seems only a matter of time before both partypoker and WSOP.com make their way to PA.
Health and safety at PA casinos
Here are a few things you should know in case you have not been to a casino since they reopened. Per the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, all casinos in the state must follow the COVID-19 Casino Reopening Protocols, which detail the minimum safety and health-related requirements that are mandatory before reopening.
Casinos may also choose to have additional measures, such as temperature checks at the entrance.
Key points to remember are:
- Casinos can reopen at 50% capacity. (Rivers Casino Philadelphia is open at 25%.)
- Employees and guests must wear masks.
- There must be markings on the floor to promote social distancing.
- Enhanced cleaning is required throughout the facility.
In addition, there is a current pause on smoking at casinos, no drink service on the gaming floor and no sitting at the bar.
Cowboy Casino Poker Room Golden Nugget
Be sure to check back often as we continue to post updates on PA poker room reopenings here.
Lead image of Meadows poker room via AP Photo/Keith Srakocic.
Whether on a riverboat atop the Mighty Mississippi or in the smoky dimness of a mining camp saloon, a lucky draw could turn a broken man into a winner. In the days of the frontier west, poker was king with the mustachioed likes of Wild Bill Hickok, Doc Holliday, “Canada” Bill Jones, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and hundreds of others.
In the old west towns of Deadwood, Dodge City, Tombstone, and Virginia City, gamblers played with their back to the wall and their guns at their sides, as dealers dealt games with names such as Chuck-A-Luck, Three Card Monte, High Dice, and Faro, by far the favorite in the wild west saloons.
The exact origin of poker is unknown but many have speculated that it originated from the 16th-century Persian card game called As Nas. Played with a 25 card deck containing five suits, the rules were similar to today’s Five Card Stud. Others are of the opinion that it was invented by the Chinese in 900 A.D. In all likelihood, the game derived from elements of various gambling diversions that have been around from the beginning of time.
Poker in the United States was first widely played in New Orleans by French settlers playing a card game that involved bluffing and betting called Poque in the early 1800s. This old poker game was similar to the “draw poker” game we play today. New Orleans evolved as America’s first gambling city as riverboat men, plantation owners and farmers avidly pursued the betting sport.
The first American gambling casino was opened in New Orleans around 1822 by a man named John Davis. The club, open twenty-four hours a day, provided gourmet food, liquor, roulette wheels, Faro tables, poker, and other games. Davis also made certain that painted ladies were never far away. Dozens of imitators soon followed making the gaming dens the primary attraction of New Orleans. The city’s status as an international port and its thriving gambling industry created a new profession, called the card “sharper.”
Professional gamblers and cheats gathered in a waterfront area known as “the swamp,” an area even the police were afraid to frequent, and any gambler lucky enough to win stood a good chance of losing his earnings to thieves outside of the gambling rooms and saloons.
Gambling was outlawed in the rest of the huge Louisiana territory in 1811, but New Orleans continued to enjoy the prosperity brought by gambling for more than 100 years. Though the law was passed for the entire Louisiana Purchase, it was obviously not enforced and casinos and gambling began to spread.
As commerce developed on the waterways, gambling traveled up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, then westward via covered wagons, and later on the railroad. The first written reference in the United States came from Jonathan H. Greer in 1834 when he referred to the amusement as the “cheating game.”
Some of the first gambling dens outside of New Orleans were started on river towns that were popular with both travelers and professional gamblers. It was here that many “sharpers” preyed on these transient people, with their pockets filled with their life savings, on the way to the new frontier. The dishonest gamblers also often ran confidence games and other con artist businesses, in order to gaff the unwary pioneers. A host of companies specialized in manufacturing and selling card cheating devices. One riverboat gambler named George Devol was so proud of his ability to slip a stacked deck into a game that he once used four of them in one poker hand, dealing four aces to each of his four opponents.
It was professional gamblers who were largely responsible for the poker boom. Considering themselves as entrepreneurs, they took advantage of America’s growing obsession with gambling. Though having a high opinion of themselves, the public viewed them with disdain, considering them as contributing nothing to society. This viewpoint was often warranted in many cases, as a large number of professional gamblers often cheated in order to win. To be successful, professional gamblers had to have irresistible personalities in order to attract men to play with them. Often dressing in dandy clothes, their success depended partly on chance and partly on skill, sometimes on sleight of hand, and in the Old West, their shooting abilities. By the 1830s, citizens began to blame professional gamblers for any and every crime in the area and gambling itself began to be attacked.
James Bowie
It was during these riverboat gambling heydays that an interesting story occurred in 1832. On a Mississippi steamboat, four men were playing poker, three of which were professional gamblers, and the fourth, a hapless traveler from Natchez. Soon, the young naïve man had lost all his money to the rigged game. Devastated, the Natchez man planned to throw himself into the river; however, an observer prevented his suicide attempt, and then joined the card game with the “sharps.” In the middle of a high stakes hand, the stranger caught one of the professionals cheating and pulled a knife on the gambler, yelling, “Show your hand! If it contains more than five cards I shall kill you!” When he twisted the cheater’s wrist, six cards fell to the table. Immediately, the stranger took the $70,000 pot, returning $50,000 to the Natchez man and keeping $20,000 for his trouble. Shocked, the Natchez man stuttered, “Who the devil are you, anyway?” to which the stranger responded, “I am James Bowie.”
Anxious citizens of these river port towns grew more and more wary of the confidence men that were multiplying so quickly. In Vicksburg, Mississippi, the citizens’ rage had become so increased by 1835, five cardsharps were lynched by a vigilante group. It was soon after this that many of the gamblers moved onto the riverboats, benefiting from the transient riverboat lifestyle.
At the conclusion of the Civil War, America pushed her boundaries West, where the frontier was born of speculators, travelers, and miners. These hardy pioneers had high risk-taking characteristics, making any gambling situation a popular pastime for these rough and tumble men of the frontier. In virtually every mining camp and prairie town, a poker table could soon be found in each saloon, surrounded by prospectors, lawmen, cowboys, railroad workers, soldiers, and outlaws for a chance to tempt fortune and fate.
During the California Gold Rush of 1849 gambling houses sprouted up all over northern California, offering a wide array of not only gaming tables but also musicians and pretty women to entertain the gamblers as they played. It was at this time that dance halls began to appear and spread throughout later settlements. While these saloons usually offered games of chance, their chief attraction was dancing. The customer generally paid 75¢ to $1.00 for a ticket to dance, with the proceeds being split between the dance hall girl and the saloon owner. After the dance, the girl would steer the gentleman to the bar, where she would make an additional commission from the sale of a drink.
A popular girl would average 50 dances a night, sometimes making more a night than a working man could make in a month. Dance hall girls made enough money that it was very rare for them to double as a prostitute, in fact, many former “soiled doves” found they could make more money as a dance hall girl.
As the Gold Rush gained momentum, San Francisco replaced New Orleans as the center for gambling in the United States. Over one hundred thriving saloons and brothels met the sailors and fortune-seeking travelers as they disembarked at the San Francisco harbor and stumbled into the infamous Barbary Coast Waterfront District.
Faro was by far the most popular and prolific game played in Old West saloons, followed by Brag, Three-card-monte, and dice games such as High-low, Chuck-a-luck, and Grand hazard. It was also about this time that gambling began to invite more diversity including Hispanics, blacks, Chinese and women in the games. Three of the more famous women gamblers of this time were Calamity Jane, Poker Alice, and Madame Mustache.
Before long, many of the Old West mining camps such as Deadwood, Leadville, and Tombstone became as well known for gunfights over card games than they did for their wealth of gold and silver ore. Professional gamblers such as Doc Holliday and Wild Bill Hickok learned early to hone their six-shooter skills at the same pace as their gambling abilities. Taking swift action upon the green cloth became part of the gamblers’ code – shoot first and ask questions later.
One such occasion that clearly showed the quick and violent code was when Doc Holliday was dealing Faro to a local bully named Ed Bailey in Fort Griffin, Texas. Bailey was unimpressed with Doc’s reputation and in an attempt to irritate him; he kept picking up the discards and looking at them. Peeking at the discards was strictly prohibited by the rules of Western Poker, a violation that could force the player to forfeit the pot.
Though Holliday warned Bailey twice, the bully ignored him and picked up the discards again. This time, Doc raked in the pot without showing his hand, nor saying a word. Bailey immediately brought out his pistol from under the table, but before the man could pull the trigger, Doc’s lethal knife slashed the man across the stomach. With blood spilled everywhere, Bailey lay sprawled out dead across the table.
Inevitably there were liquored up miners and cowboys who would shoot up the saloons and sometimes the poker winner when they were angered by their losses. Even Wild Bill Hickok, who is mostly known for his heroics and prowess with a six-shooter, took advantage of those abilities when faced with a loss in Deadwood, South Dakota. Shortly before midnight after a night of drinking and gambling, Hickok was playing a two-handed game with a man named McDonald when the stakes began to increase with every card dealt.
When the hand was complete and the middle of the table piled high with money, McDonald showed his hand, displaying three jacks. To this, Hickok responded, “I have a full house – aces over sixes,” then threw his hand face down upon the table. However, when McDonald picked up Hickok’s hand, he exclaimed, “I see only two aces and one six.” Wasting no time, Wild Bill drew his six-shooter with his right hand and replied, “Here’s my other six.” Then he flashed a bowie knife with his left hand, stating, “And here’s my one spot.” McDonald immediately backed down saying coolly, “That hand is good. Take the pot.”
By the end of the 19th century, gambling had spread like wildfire through the many mining camps, multiplying as the gold and silver hunters spread across the West, searching for new strikes. It was about this time that both states and cities started to take advantage of these growing ventures by taxing gambling dens and raising money for their communities.
It was also during the late 1800s that many towns and states across the western frontier began to enact new laws against gambling. Attempting to gain new levels of respectability, the laws primarily targeted the “professional gambler” more than gaming in general. Some types of gambling were made illegal, while limits were established on others. Initially, anti-gaming laws were weak and had little real effect on gambling, as they were difficult to enforce, establishments simply introduced new variants, and penalties were light.
Faro gambling card game about 1900.
Cowboy Casino Poker Room Poker
However, the laws were gradually strengthened and ironically, Nevada was one of the first states in the West to totally make gambling illegal in 1909. Other states soon followed suit and true to the worst fears of the Puritans, gangsters combined liquor and gambling in the cities of New York, Cleveland and Chicago during the 1920s.
By the time construction on the Hoover Dam was underway in 1931, Nevada relaxed its gambling laws and casinos once more began to flourish. By 1939 there were six casinos and sixteen saloons in Las Vegas. As automobile traffic increased and people began to travel more for leisure, Las Vegas began to boom into the gambling Mecca it is today.
Over the years, poker has evolved through legitimate casinos and backroom games to its many present variations. Over the last decade several states have reintroduced gambling in limited formats and the fastest-growing gambling opportunity today doesn’t even require you to leave your home, as you log onto your computer to tempt the fates. Carefully regulated by gaming laws, poker is now the most popular card game in the world.
© Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated November 2019.
“If you’re playing a poker game and you look around the table and can’t tell who the sucker is, it’s you.” –– Paul Newman
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