Hi! I’m Keith Becker, PokerNews Ambassador and Pennsylvania native, here with a PA poker update for July 2024. It’s an exciting time in America for the game we all know and love, and I’m excited to be bringing you state highlights every month.
What are the big issues and stories on everyone’s minds? Let’s get into it.
PA Players Winning NAPT Gold Passes
I’m having a great time right now atPhilly Live! Casino each weekend for the Pennsylvania State Poker Championship, sponsored by PokerStars. This past weekend I got to speak with fellow PA reg Andrew Kershaw, aka “philltaxguy”, who outlasted other online qualifiers to win an NAPT Gold Pass. The pass is valued at $10,300, and includes a bunch of amazing perks. Check out the PokerNews article about that for more information. Oh, Andrew also took home his biggest score ever for over $44K!
The next two weekend events – $1,100 and $2,200 respectively – will see the winner of the event also awarded one of those precious NAPT Gold Passes. A dozen players have qualified through the PokerStars PA client for the $1,100 event and three for the $2,200. I’ll be there both weekends, so if you’re one of these players or anyone else battling for that Gold Pass, come find me! I might just record your punt. I mean, strategic play.
And you can also qualify directly for the NAPT! Three players have done so in the PA online client. Kyle Lorenz from Pennsylvania won an NAPT Gold Pass and told PokerStars, “I am extremely bad at satellites, so it felt good to luckbox my way into a Las Vegas package.”
Kyle, I’ve battled with you on the felt and you seem to get lucky … well, all the time. Funny how that works. Good luck out in Vegas!
Brian Frasca from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania – which is, incidentally where I live! – saved up FOUR $100 Step 4 bullets and won his Gold Pass on his first attempt. Frasca says his proudest moment in poker came from a deep run in the 2021 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event. I hope you top that at the NAPT, Brian.
And finally, Scott Haze of Havertown, PA came out on top of over 1,000 entries in the Pennsylvania Summer Stacks Main Event back at the beginning of July to win almost $15K plus the NAPT Gold Pass. Scott said he plans to take in some shows and visit the Sphere in Vegas. Scott, I hope you visit the NAPT podium as well!
And finally speaking of PokerStars, there are some rumblings that the PACOOP schedule should be released soon. The COOP series are perhaps THE most anticipated series each year on the PokerStars clients, so keep an eye on that lobby and get ready to make plans accordingly.
Other PA Online News
Over on the BetMGM client, satellites are loaded for the Borgata Poker Open, which runs from September 3-17 at the Borgata in Atlantic City, New Jersey. While the series itself is not in Pennsylvania, PA players can directly register to, or qualify for these events through a variety of standard and step satellite options.
And of course, the big story for WSOP online came earlier this month with the acquisition of the World Series of Poker by GGPoker for $500 million. When it comes to Pennsylvania, it seems like nothing will change in the short term, but players are curious what this could mean for the future of online poker in Pennsylvania, including perhaps the adoption of GGPoker software at some point, or the added weight of GGPoker’s large assets and lobbying power in the fight for PA and other states to join the multi-state compact.
Speaking of which, a bit of regression on the Pennsylvania online poker front as the state is on pace to finish the year with LESS total revenue from online poker than New Jersey. This has happened only one before, which is a bit of an asterisk because it was back during the pandemic. I know that big things are going on in politics right now, but I’ve also heard that Governor Shapiro is extremely competitive. Governor, New Jersey is beating us. Sign us into the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement. It’ll mean big tax revenue for the state!
Live Poker Update
Back in the live poker arena, Parx Big Stax hosted the return of their fan-favorite Big Stax tournament, which concluded on August 12th. Despite a lop-sided heads-up match in the $1,500 event, the two players agreed to an ICM chop, with the winner Kevin Grabel taking home $132,000, notching his first six-figure live tournament score and becoming the only player to have won a Big Stax $300, $500, and $1,500 buy-in. Quite an achievement, congratulations Kevin!
And as for me, when I come back from my travel this weekend, I’ll be firing up some of Bounty Series VI on Global Poker. This series is PACKED with PKOs and Mystery Bounties, and the trophies and avatars that you can win look amazing. Come check out my streams anytime at twitch.tv/accidentalgrenade.
Poker is surging in America, and I’m thrilled to be your ambassador here in PA. For more information, check out our PokerNews Pennsylvania page here, and be sure to follow me on socials to stay in the know. I’ll be back next month with another update!
Keith Becker is an American poker player based out of Pennsylvania. A former member of PokerStars Team Pro Online, Becker is now a PokerNews Ambassador and Streamer. Becker has been streaming poker on Twitch since Day 1 of regulated poker in Pennsylvania and has led a grassroots movement for PA to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement.
