The Rivers Casino PA (formerly SugarHouse casino) poker room is the only live poker room in Philadelphia. Residents of the city can take part in a SugarHouse casino poker tournament 24/7. The Casino itself houses 28 state-of-the-art poker tables complete with backlit tables and full charging stations at every position.

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SugarHouse Casino unveils its brand-new poker room with a dedication ceremony March 23 at 10:30 a.m., marking it as the first Poker Night in America (PNIA) Poker Room in the nation. On hand to commemorate the event will be Philadelphia icons Dick Vermeil and Vince Papale, along with poker room ambassador and professional Matt Glantz.

In addition to showing off the new 6,000-square-foot space, featuring 28 tables, the day marks the beginning of the inaugural “SugarHouse Poker Night Classic” that will feature 35 tournaments over 20 days running from March 23—April 11. The PNIA television production team will be at SugarHouse to live-stream the main event final table on April 11. PNIA will also record high-stakes cash game action with a lineup featuring Philadelphia’s own Joe McKeehen, the current World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event champion.

“Being the first-ever Poker Night in America Poker Room is a big honor for the SugarHouse team,” said Wendy Hamilton, general manager of SugarHouse Casino. “In addition to continuing our high-caliber tournaments, poker fans will get to see some of the game’s best players here in Philadelphia.”

Poker Night in America Poker Room at SugarHouse Casino Dedication

Former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Dick Vermeil and his former player Vince Papale, whose life story was the basis for the movie Invincible, team up again to kick off the day’s festivities. Vermeil and Papale will showcase the new Poker Night in America Poker Room at SugarHouse Casino that features state-of-the-art, built-in charging stations for all 252 seats.

• The first-ever poker tables in the city of Philadelphia were delivered to SugarHouse Casino on Fri., October 17, 2014 at 10 AM. The tables were inventoried and verified by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PCGB) just before Sugarhouse General Manager Wendy Hamilton cut the seal that unloaded the 24 state-of-the-art tables into SugarHouse’s interim poker.
• Call 1-800-GAMBLER.The gaming service is brought to you by Rush Street Interactive PA, LLC, licenced by PGCB, address of record 1001 N. Delaware Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19125 SugarHouse™ and SugarHouse Casino® are marks of Sugarhouse HSP Gaming, L.P.

Special events have been planned for the dedication and will include a meet-and-greet with Vermeil and Papale, who also will join players for pictures. The first 100 poker players to register for the first “SugarHouse Poker Night Classic” event between 10 and 11 a.m. on March 23 will receive a welcome gift to commemorate the room’s dedication.

The First “SugarHouse Poker Night Classic”

The “SugarHouse Poker Night Classic” has been designed by Philadelphia poker pro Matt Glantz, who recently started working with Rush Street Gaming, the casino’s parent company. Glantz, a resident of Lafayette Hill, Pa., is well-known in the poker industry and, in addition to helping develop Rush Street’s poker rooms, is the producer and event manager for Rush Street Productions, owners of the PNIA television series.

“All of the multi-day events at SugarHouse will feature the fantastic tournament structures I am known for,” said Glantz. “I am so excited to take this beautiful, new room to the next level.”

The “SugarHouse Poker Night Classic” runs from March 23—April 11, with buy-ins ranging from $95 ($80 buy-in + $15 entry fee), to $1,100 ($1,000 + $100) for the PNIA main event. More tournament details are available at www.sugarhousecasino.com.

Poker Night in America

Philadelphia’s own Joe McKeehen, the current WSOP Main Event champion, will headline the PNIA high-stakes cash games that will be played at SugarHouse April 9—10. McKeehen, who wore Flyers, Sixers, Eagles and Phillies apparel on his way to winning $7.7 million and poker’s coveted gold bracelet, will be joined by other recognizable poker pros for the PNIA tapings.

Also playing in the cash games are Todd Brunson, the son of 10-time WSOP bracelet winner Doyle Brunson; SugarHouse poker ambassador Matt Glantz; Shaun Deeb, one of the best online poker players in the world, and others. Airing on the CBS Sports Network, PNIA is a nationally televised cable show and web series.

ABOUT SUGARHOUSE CASINO

SugarHouse, which opened in September 2010 as Philly’s casino, features 1,891 slots, up to 103 table games, a 28-table poker room, fun and unique dining options, riverfront views and free on-site parking. The casino employs approximately 1,700 people, and for five consecutive years it has been voted a “Best Place to Work” by the Philadelphia Business Journal and a “Top Workplace” by Philly.com. For more information, visit www.sugarhousecasino.com.

[toc]SugarHouse Casino has officially kicked off the Philadelphia Poker Classic (PPC), a $370,000 guaranteed tournament extravaganza featuring a $200,000 Main Event and the return of the popular Poker Night in America television series.

The series marks one of the casino’s strongest attempts to draw poker fans to its PNiA branded poker room, which celebrated its ribbon cutting ceremony just 11 months ago.

Sugarhouse Casino Philadelphia Pa

Running dates are March 1 – 20. Full schedule here.

Big on flights, low on buy-ins

The two biggest PPC events offer players the attractive combination of a low price point and a high guarantee. This is accomplished via multiple starting flights and by allowing players the option to buy their way to Day 2 for an increased price point.

The baseline buy-in for Event #1 – SugarRush Challenge 100k Guarantee (March 1 – 5) is just $250. Players can play in one or more of eight starting flights, or ante up $1,150 for four times the starting stack and a guaranteed Day 2 seat. Re-entries are available up until the start of Day 2.

Sugarhouse Poker Room

The PPC Main Event (March 12 – 19) is structured much the same way, except instead of eight starting flights, there are seven. And the price point is $500 for Day 1 entries, and $2,100 for those who wish to skip the “preliminary” round.

The Main Event guarantees $200,000, which is on par with some of the smaller Big Stax events at nearby Parx Casino – the presumption being that SugarHouse wishes to one day compete with the current king of live Philadelphia-area poker.

In addition, SugarHouse will host the following tournament events:

• March 11: $400 buy-in, PLO Black Chip Bounty 10k Guarantee
• March 12: $230 buy-in, Super Mega Deep Stack Turbo
• March 13: $265 buy-in, Seniors Event $5k Guarantee
• March 17: $125 buy-in, Poker Night in America Presents: Ladies Event
• March 20: $230 buy-in, $5k Guarantee Black Chip Bounty

Sprinkled throughout will be low buy-in daily events and $125 satellites into the Main Event.

Poker Night in America returns

Sugarhouse Casino Poker Tournament Schedule

St. Patrick’s Day will hail the return of Poker Night in America. Kicking off the filming will be a two day Celebrity Cash Game featuring prominent poker icons Phil Hellmuth, Shaun Deeb, poker pro turned YouTube star DougPolk, and OlivierBusquet.

Rush Street Gaming and PNiA advisor MattGlantz will also be making an appearance, as will Cate Hall and MikeDentale.

The $5,000 minimum buy-in game will be open to spectators, with the only requirement being that they are of legal gambling age (21).

March 19 will see two old pals, Hall and Dentale, duke it out in a best of three “Grudge Match.” This may very well be the first time that a player challenged another to play “heads up for rolls” and it actually happened.

The duo began their feud on social media platform Twitter during the WPT Five Diamond Classic in December. Suffice it to say, the heated exchange quickly escalated into Hall challenging the trash-talking Dentale to a match.

The time for talk is nearly over, as each player is readying to ante up $15,000 per round, at stakes of $25/$50.

Finally, on March 20 PNiA will host Locals Live, which will grant local and regional players the opportunity to gain television exposure.

The blinds will be set on at $2/$5, which is an accessible stake for low-to-mid level grinders. This price point was likely chosen by design.

SugarHouse also operates an online casino in New Jersey, but no online poker site. The online operation isn’t integrated into this event. The casino is expected to launch an online casino in Pennsylvania should legislation allow it.

Bottom line

The combination of low buy-in tournaments, big poker names, and one highly publicized grudge match should go a long way toward attracting recreational players to the PPC.

There are a few aspects not to like, namely the over-reliance on reentries and the high tournament entry fees. But all told, this feels like it’s going to be one of those events that’s ultimately good for the game of poker.