Rivers Casino & Resort Schenectady is bringing its Electric City Poker Series back for a second consecutive year this September, with $250,000 guaranteed across a ten-event series.
The series isn’t for another month, so New York poker players have time to practice — and can do so for free by playing Clubs Poker, a new social poker site that is available in the Empire State and follows the sweepstakes poker model. (Details are explained below).
Electric City opens on September 19 with five flights into the Mini Main Event, which has $50,000 guaranteed for a $300 buy-in. One in eight players will advance to Day 2, where all players will be “in the money.”
A double bag bonus that pays $1,000 for each surrendered stack is also available in the Mini Main Event, which ends on September 22.
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Three flights into the Main Event begin on September 26 — players will compete for $150,000 guaranteed, with an $800 buy-in. Rivers Casino increased the double bag bonus to $3,000 for the Main Event.
The series runs through September 29, with all of the events taking place in the poker room at the casino and also inside the Van Slyck’s lounge.
Series Features Some Unique Events
The third event on the series is something brand new for players in the Empire State — “Savage Average” is an Omaha/Stud event scheduled for 12:15 p.m. on September 23. Under this format, the blinds are adjusted as players are eliminated, rather than using a clock. Rivers Casino said the average chips stack is 25 big bets of the next blind level.
Players will find several interesting events on the Electric City Poker Series, including three (Uber Stack and the two “Revivals”) that are unique to the series:
- Event No. 2 — Uber Stack Turbo, where all players start with 60,000 tournament chips and play with a faster clock
- Event No. 5 — Rivers Revival, when a player first faces elimination, they can “revive” and continue playing with 20 Big Blinds
- Event Nos. 6 and 8 — Respectively, PLO and NLH events with $50 bounties
- Event No. 7 — Seniors Championship, for players aged 55 and older
- Event No. 10 — Rivers Revival Turbo, same as Event No. 5, but in Turbo format and with 15 blind levels
Last year, the first running of the Electric City Poker Series had 11 events, including a Mystery Bounty that at the time was the first mystery bounty tournament in the modern gaming history of New York State. The series also had $290,000 guaranteed — a little more than this year.
“Electric City” is a nod to Schenectady, aka the City that Lights and Hauls the World. Rivers Casino & Resort Schenectady is built on a former industrial site and opened in February 2017. The Rivers brand may also be available for online poker under the name BetRivers Poker (an online poker room that is expected to launch in some states near the end of 2024, but it would take new legislation for New York online poker to become a reality.
Clubs Poker a Great Option for Practice
Clubs Poker is a new poker platform available in most US states, including New York, because it operates under sweepstakes law. Players will find ring games and tournament action in a variety of formats on Clubs Poker.
Under the sweepstakes poker model, players buy tokens, aka Gold Coins, which don’t have any monetary value and can only be used on games where your winnings cannot be exchanged for real money.
However, when players buy Gold Coins, Clubs Poker often gives them another type of token, Sweeps Coins (SC), as a free gift. Sweeps Coins games are where the action is because Sweeps Coins can be exchanged for real money prizes.
It’s important to know that you can always get Sweeps Coins for free — no purchase is necessary. For example, the site routinely awards 0.5 SC just for logging into the site on a daily basis, there are daily freerolls where you can win Sweeps Coins, and you can also mail Clubs Poker a postcard to receive more SCs as a gift.
We recommend Clubs Poker because it runs on modern software and is packed with features that players are sure to love — including bad beat jackpots, bomb pots, rabbit hunting, run it twice, and straddles.
Electric City Poker Series 2024
| Event | Date | Time (EDT) | Name | Buy-in | GTD | Starting Stack | Blind Levels |
| #1A | 9/19 | 5:15 pm | Mini Main Event – Flight 1A | $300 | $50,000 | 25,000 | 25/20 |
| #1B | 9/20 | 12:15 pm | Mini Main Event – Flight 1B | $300 | $50,000 | 25,000 | 25/20 |
| #1C | 9/20 | 5:15 pm | Mini Main Event – Flight 1C | $300 | $50,000 | 25,000 | 25/20 |
| #1D | 9/21 | 12:15 pm | Mini Main Event – Flight 1D | $300 | $50,000 | 25,000 | 25/20 |
| #1E | 9/21 | 5:15 pm | Mini Main Event – Flight 1E | $300 | $50,000 | 25,000 | 25/20 |
| #1-Restart | 9/22 | 11:15 am | Mini Main Event – Day 2 Restart | $300 | $50,000 | 30 | |
| #2 | 9/22 | 5:15 pm | Uber Stack Turbo NLH | $160 | $5,000 | 60,000 | 10 |
| #3 | 9/23 | 12:15 pm | O.E. “Savage Average” | $160 | 5,000 | [1] | |
| #4 | 9/23 | 5:15 pm | Monday NLH | $200 | $7,500 | 20,000 | 20 |
| #5 | 9/24 | 12:15 pm | Rivers Revival (Bust & Get 20 BB) NLH | $200 | $10,000 | 15,000 | 20 |
| #6 | 9/24 | 5:15 pm | PLO with $50 Bounties | $200 | $5,000 | 15,000 | 20 |
| #7 | 9/25 | 12:15 pm | Seniors (55+) NLH | $160 | $5,000 | 15,000 | 20 |
| #8 | 9/25 | 5:15 pm | NLH with $50 Bounties | $200 | $7,500 | 15,000 | 20 |
| #9A | 9/26 | 12:15 pm | ECPS Main Event – Flight 9A | $800 | $150,000 | 30,000 | 30 |
| #9B | 9/27 | 12:15 pm | ECPS Main Event – Flight 9B | $800 | $150,000 | 30,000 | 30 |
| #9C | 9/28 | 12:15 pm | ECPS Main Event – Flight 9C | $800 | $150,000 | 30,000 | 30 |
| #9-Restart | 9/29 | 11:15 am | ECPS Main Event – Day 2 Restart | $800 | $150,000 | 40 | |
| #10 | 9/29 | 4:15 pm | Rivers Revival Turbo (Bust & Get 20 BB) NLH | $200 | $10,000 | 15,000 | 15 |
Notes: [1] The blind levels during the O.E. “Savage Average” event are based on 25 big bets of the average chip stack.