Philadelphia Poker Championship Series Recap

Poker Tournaments are always full of adrenaline, and the Poker Room at Rivers Casino Philadelphia is no exception. Our Philadelphia casino is always hustling and bustling with some of the best poker tournaments. In this blog installment, we’ll be discussing the tournaments that were recently held as a part of the very first Philadelphia Poker Championship Series. 

The brand new series was composed of three events: Little Rush, the Main Event, and Mystery Rush. The series also included satellites for the Main Event and Mystery Rush tournaments. 

One of the tournaments offered at this Philly casino and the tournament that kicked off our Philadelphia Poker Championship Series is the Little Rush. Our most recent installment of this tournament took place from Sunday, February 19 - Sunday February 26. It was a two-day tournament with 11 starting flights. The buy-in was $180 and there was a guaranteed prize pool of $100,000. We beat our previously held single event record by pulling in 1,610 entrants! 

If your favorite part of casino gaming is the table games, a satellite tournament is a great way to get into poker. Our satellite poker tournaments for the Main Event took place from February 26 - March 2. These tournaments guaranteed up to two seats to the Main Event which was the biggest event for casino gaming our Poker Room had ever seen. PA Poker peaked from March 3 to March 5 when we ran the main event for our Philadelphia Poker Championship Series. 

This poker tournament was very attractive to potential players with its $250,000 guaranteed prize pool and a $2,200 buy-in structure. Rivers Casino Philadelphia Poker proudly worked together with local poker professionals to offer a great structure for the price point. To date, this is the largest buy-in poker tournament ever at Rivers Casino Philadelphia. 

For background, Day 1 had 45 minute levels, Day 2 had 60 minute levels and a 40,000 starting stack. Day 1A started out strong with a healthy mix of Rivers core tournament players, a sprinkle of regional pros and a dash of new faces. March 3 ended with 84 entries in total. This set up the prize pool to surpass the guarantee. 13 poker players ended up advancing to Day 2 of the Main Event. Day 1B featured a talented group of East Coast poker players and their contributions brought the total entries for the poker tournament up to 187. 

Ultimately, we had a winner, and a former World Series of Poker winner at that! Joe McKeehan, who won the WSOPMain Event in 2015, took home the trophy and the grand prize of $7,683,346. It was a successful Philadelphia poker tournament.

$125 buy-in Green Chip Bounty Satellites guaranteed 5 seats per tournament for the returning fan-favorite Mystery Rush Tournament. These satellite poker tournaments are popular because players win a bounty (cash prize) for each player that they eliminate. This allowed several winners to win cash plus entry to the Mystery Rush.

The Mystery Rush tournament closed out our series from March 8 to March 12. It had a $560 buy-in and a $200,000 guaranteed prize pool. Day 1 featured 30 minute levels and Day 2 had 40 minute levels with a 30,000 starting stack. 

As the poker tournament went on, the stakes got more interesting. Any poker player that was eliminated on Day 2, was able to draw a mystery bounty with the top prize being worth $25,000! 

This tournament started with 254 entries and ended with 77 finalists. This poker event exceeded the guarantee by over 100 entries. 

PA Poker is always exciting at our Philadelphia casino! From the best poker in PA, to thrilling table games, and all the hottest slots, there’s something for every casino gaming enthusiast! If you’re looking for poker tables near you, feel free to check out our upcoming tournaments and promotions here. Read about our other poker events here.

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Author’s note: This blog is informational only and should not be taken as representative of the opinions of Rivers Casino Philadelphia or Rush Street Gaming.