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It was during the latter months of 2017 that Pennsylvania lawmakers passed a landmark gambling expansion bill.
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The new law dramatically changed the gambling landscape in the state, allowing for the addition of new satellite casinos (or 'mini-casinos'), video gaming terminals, online casinos, daily fantasy sports, and more.
The bill also paved the way for online poker, making Pennsylvania just the fourth state to legalize it post-Black Friday following Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey. (Since then, West Virginia has followed suit, and Michigan is poised to do so as well.)
The lengthy process of drawing up of regulations followed, which meant it wasn't until 2019 — in fact, not until early November — that online poker finally launched in the state with the debut of PokerStars Pennsylvania.
Early response has been positive among players in the Keystone State, but there's still a long way to go for online poker in Pennsylvania, and for the country as a whole.
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Play NowPokerStars PA Leads Way With Fast Start
Following a successful two-day 'soft launch' starting November 4, PokerStars PA went fully live thereafter. Early reports showed Pennsylvania immediately surpassing neighbor New Jersey in terms of traffic despite NJ's six-year head start.
As shared here, traffic monitor PokerScout recorded a 24-hour peak of 784 players on PokerStars PA during the first week of operation.
That was about four times the number playing on PokerStars NJ at the same time, and nearly twice the number of players on WSOP.com which can combine player pools from NJ, NV, and DE thanks to the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association.
During that first week guarantees were easily surpassed for all scheduled tournaments on PokerStars PA, with prize pools in some cases more than tripling those guarantees. Checking back in mid-December, PokerScout reports the 24-hour traffic peak had climbed to 895 players with a seven-day average of almost 500.
Less than a month after going live, PokerStars began its first-ever Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker or PACOOP, a 50-event series for which the guarantees added up to $1.225 million.
That total was increased after the start of the series thanks to some events' guarantees being raised in response to healthy turnouts. While a few PACOOP events did end up having small overlays, by most accounts it was another case of expectations being exceeded with prize pools doubling and even tripling guarantees in some cases.
The PACOOP Main Event sported a $300 buy-in and a $125,000 guarantee. Ultimately that guarantee was easily surpassed thanks to 640 total entries creating a prize pool of $179,200. The winner, 'Gyea08', earned a first prize of $31,335.64.
All in all, PokerStars Pennsylvania earned almost $2 million worth of revenue during November, about four times its New Jersey counterpart.
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More PA Sites in the New Year
So far PokerStars has had the entire Pennsylvania player pool to themselves, a primary reason for its fast start and impressive numbers thus far. That will no doubt change in 2020 as more sites should start to come online.
In Pennsylvania, PokerStars has partnered with the Mount Airy Casino Resort per the new law's regulations.
At present six other casinos also have submitted applications that have been approved by regulators, allowing them to purchase licenses to offer online poker in Pennsylvania.
They include:
- Harrah's Philadelphia Casino & Racetrack
- Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course
- Parx Casino, Rivers Casino Philadelphia (formerly Sugarhouse Casino)
- Valley Forge Casino Resort
- Wind Creek Bethlehem (via Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem)
Most if not all of these other casinos' online poker operations were once expected to launch before the end of the year, dovetailing other offerings of online casino games first allowed to go live in mid-July 2019.
(In fact, the entire process has moved much more slowly than anticipated — some initially had believed online poker would launch in PA by the end of 2018.)
When Harrah's Philadelphia does finally get in the game, it should present a foremost challenge to PokerStars PA. As a Caesars Entertainment-owned property, the Harrah's site will operate under the WSOP.com brand with software powered by 888poker.
It should also be able to join that multi-state player pool with WSOP.com sites in other states, increasing its overall liquidity and, one presumes, its attractiveness to online poker players.
Meanwhile partypoker is looking to get involved in PA as well, via its owner GVC Holdings partnering with Valley Forge Casino.
Online Poker in Pennsylvania and Elsewhere: 2020 and Beyond
The prospects for online poker in Pennsylvania would seem bright. With 12.8 million residents, PA is the fifth-highest populated state in the country.
It currently ranks as the most-populated state with legal online poker (ahead of New Jersey's 8.9 million), and will likely continue to hold that title for some time.
That said, New Jersey also started strong when online poker first launched in late 2013 before levelling off and then enduring a steady decline over recent years.
Monthly online poker revenue in NJ peaked in January 2014 — just a couple of months after launching — when sites collectively earned $3.44 million. Two years later the total began hovering between $2-2.5 million per month, and during the latter months of 2019 has tumbled down around $1.6 million, less than half its earlier high.
Meanwhile, revenue from other types of online gambling and sports betting continues to increase every month in New Jersey
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All of which is to say, it is probably unlikely online poker in Pennsylvania will grow considerably, and indeed one challenge will be to avoid New Jersey's fate and continue to maintain the positive numbers of the first few weeks.
Even so, 2019 was a better than average year for online poker in the United States with Pennsylvania launching and two more states positioning to do so in the next year or two.
One hope for American poker players is that with each new state that legalizes online poker, others may become increasingly encouraged to do so as well. Such has been the case (albeit much more swiftly) with sports betting since the Supreme Court's lifting of the federal ban a year-and-a-half ago.
For now, though, like a poker player having to wait through a prolonged stretch of bad cards, American online poker players must continue to remain patient.
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What is a Freeroll Poker?
Freeroll poker is the best way for new players to play poker online and start building a bankroll. After all, freeroll poker allows those new to the game to play online poker tournaments at the best online poker sites for free. While these freeroll poker tournaments cost nothing to enter, they do, however, offer small prize pools for the winners.
Many players have built up poker bankrolls playing Texas hold ‘em and other poker games at free poker sites. To show that it can be done, some well-known poker pros have even taken up the freeroll poker challenge. They subsequently show poker novices that it’s possible to enhance their poker skills and review their play without first having to play real money poker games. In other words, poker freerolls bonuses are a low risk way of gaining experience at the online poker tables. They do this while opening the doors for many potentially lucrative ventures at the poker tables.
In addition to free poker tournaments, new poker players have other great ways to help them learn the game without spending real money. One of these freeroll poker options include using play money to gain experience at ring games. The skills they learn at these play money poker tables they can later apply at real money online ring games. This includes such games as Texas hold ‘em, Omaha, Seven-Card Stud and Razz.
Professional Poker Players Who Got Their Start Playing Freerolls Only
Online poker phenom Annette Obrestad of Norway won millions of dollars in her poker career. However, when she began to play poker online in her teenage years, she started by playing freeroll poker at the best online poker sites. She was not old enough to deposit poker money on her own, so she played free poker tournaments to start building a bankroll. As she improved and earned real money, she moved up in stakes, ultimately collecting more than $500,000 on PokerStars and several hundred thousand dollars on other sites before she cashed out. She also took advantage of other poker bonuses and maxev options along the way, including rackeback.
Chris “Jesus” Ferguson, founder of Full Tilt Poker and longtime poker pro, took on a freeroll poker challenge to prove it could be done. He decided to build a $10,000 bankroll playing online poker at free poker sites without any money in his account. Ferguson accomplished this over the course of 2006 and 2007, and he had to start by playing freeroll poker only. He took free poker tournaments very seriously, too. It initially took him a few weeks to earn his first $2 in real money. When he got that amount to $22, Ferguson then played micro-stakes real money poker games, $1 tournaments, and ultimately met his goal.
Disciplined Bankroll Management Key
These are not a few isolated incidents, only the most publicized. The internet population of successful high stakes players is filled with players who won free poker tournaments and then used disciplined bankroll management and improving skills to progress in stakes. Moreover, the experience subsequently gained is more valuable than anything else in the learning process. That’s because it teaches the discipline and patience that are vital in becoming and remaining a successful poker pro.
Just remember, poker freerolls play very differently than real money poker games. Winning freerolls doesn’t mean you’ll be a successful real-money player, but it is a solid start if used to move slowly up in small buy-in tournaments going forward.
US Poker Sites with Great Freerolls
Freerolls are tougher to find in 2020 than in previous years. PokerStars always offers freeroll poker – every day at various times of the day. And some of the sites in New Jersey and Nevada put freeroll tournaments on their schedules. But offshore sites have removed many of their freeroll tournaments due to an abundance of players competing who would sometimes overload their servers.
BetOnline used to have lucrative daily freerolls but withdrew them at the beginning of 2018. Instead, players making their first poker deposit on BetOnline can take advantage of a New Player Freeroll bonus that offers up to $10,000. It runs on the second Sunday of each month, and new players are given a free ticket to enter. There is also a Happy Hour Freeroll every Monday evening. However, it pays out in chips that can only be used on the live casino part of the site.
Ignition Poker also removed many of its freeroll poker games, though it does offer a weekly $2,500 freeroll tournament every Thursday for players who participate in the free rewards program and have earned Chrome status.
Likewise, 888 poker offers daily freeroll Texas hold ‘em tournaments. In fact, up to $50,000 in prizes are up for grabs at 888 poker every week.
These represent just some of the incredible poker bonuses available for players wanting to visit the best online poker sites for free, and play free poker tournaments, while having the chance to win real money.
Legal Poker Rooms and States
If located in New Jersey, PokerStars is a great option for those players who would like to play poker freerolls. These are offered on a regular basis and can be found in the tournament lobby in brown lettering.
Players in New Jersey and Nevada will find freerolls on the WSOP poker site. There is a daily $100 freeroll bonus, though player numbers are limited to 600 each on a first-come basis. There is also a monthly Hero Freeroll bonus offered to verified members of the US Armed Forces, police departments and fire departments in the US.
When the new poker sites launch online in Pennsylvania, there will likely be numerous freeroll poker bonuses to lure new players and introduce them to the poker sites. Regardless there are plenty of options for online poker.
US Poker Sites with the “Best Value” Freerolls
Since many offshore sites have removed most of their freerolls, it is best to take advantage of any that appear on BetOnline or Ignition Poker. And if located in New Jersey or outside of the US, PokerStars has the absolute best value freerolls.
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It should be noted that players have a lot of influence with online poker sites. They want to keep their US poker customers. Therefore, it’s important to review these sites and let them know if you’d like to see more freeroll poker games. Contacting customer service or tagging the sites on social media, such as on Twitter, is a good way to review these poker rooms. It’s also a good way to let them know how you feel. And that you’re more likely to play on their sites and deposit poker money if there are freeroll bonuses and opportunities available.
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Author:Cliff Spiller
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