Pennsylvania betting comes with a lot of options both online and at casinos and now the state has a new poker event.
BetMGM PA casino announced Monday the “March Poker Mania” festival will be in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Michigan from March 20-27. The event will have both in-person and online poker components.
With nearly $1.3 million in total guarantees (GTDs), the festival will run simultaneously in Pennsylvania ($397 GTD), New Jersey ($472k GTD) and Michigan ($397k GTD).
Pennsylvania is one of a few states with legal real money PA online casinos. The same is true for New Jersey, Michigan, Delaware, Connecticut and West Virginia.
The Keystone State also has legal PA online poker, as does New Jersey, Michigan, Nevada, Delaware and West Virginia.
If you have interest in poker and are somewhat new to the game, here is the PennStakes.com guide to online poker.
Pa. Event Will Be Hosted by Berkey
All of the online tournaments will be hosted by three of poker’s most well-known personalities.
In the Keystone State, Matt Berkey, a native of the Pittsburgh area, will stream events starting on March 24 and have online giveaways for the audience. Berkey is a high stakes pro player and content curator. He also will live stream cash games and handicap college hoops during March Madness on the “Solve for Why” YouTube channel.
"We’re thrilled that March Poker Mania will feature three poker titans, offering BetMGM players multiple new touchpoints with our brand,” Luke Staudenmaier, the director of poker for BetMGM, said in a news release. “It’s the first time that we’ve produced an online poker event in multiple states, and with multiple hosts, simultaneously, and we’re excited to further connect our players and our brand with MGM properties across the country.”
While Pa. poker players can interact with Berkey, the ambassador in New Jersey will be Darren Elias and in Michigan it will be Andrew Neeme.
A Look at the Schedule
This is the complete schedule:
March Poker Mania (all times are Eastern; guarantees vary by state)
- March 20, 5 p.m.: Warm-up ($535 buy-in)
- March 20, 6 p.m.: Half-price PKO ($109 buy-in)
- March 20, 7 p.m.: Phase I to Phase II Main Event ($55 buy-in)
- March 20, 8 p.m.: NLH Turbo ($215 buy-in)
- March 21, 7 p.m.: Phase I to Phase II Main Event ($55 buy-in)
- March 21, 8 p.m.: PLO 6-max ($215 buy-in)
- March 22, 7 p.m.: Phase I to Phase II Main Event ($55 buy-in)
- March 22, 8 p.m.: NLH Progressive Knockout 6-max ($535 buy-in)
- March 23, 7 p.m.: Phase I to Phase II Main Event ($55 buy-in)
- March 23, 8 p.m.: NLH 8-max ($320 buy-in)
- March 24, 7 p.m.: Phase I to Phase II Main Event ($55 buy-in)
- March 24, 8 p.m.: NLH PKO 6-max ($320 buy-in)
- March 25, 7 p.m.: Phase I to Phase II Main Event ($55 buy-in)
- March 25, 8 p.m.: PLO 6-max ($215 buy-in)
- March 26, 6 p.m.: Heads-up Bracket Battle 32-max ($1,060 buy-in)
- March 26, 7 p.m.: Phase I to Phase II Main Event ($55 buy-in)
- March 27, 5 p.m.: NLH Main Event 8-max ($1,060 buy-in)
- March 27, 6 p.m.: Phase II: Main Event ($535 buy-in)
- March 27, 7 p.m.: NLH Turbo Second Chance ($215 buy-in)
The festival also features two events new to the BetMGM Poker platform.
The $1k buy-in Heads-up Bracket Battle matches 32 players against each other in a single-elimination, tournament-style format with a commitment to add $10k in value to the prize pool in each state.
There will be multiple opportunities as well for players to win their way into the Phase II Main Event through a continuous $55 buy-in multi-day tournament. A separate game will take place each day and culminate in a $535 buy-in event on the final day of the festival.
To participate in March Poker Mania, players must be physically located in Pennsylvania (BetMGM Poker and Borgata online casino PA Poker). To get more info, visit poker.betmgm.com.
Poker Aplenty Lately
March Poker Mania comes on the heels of other PokerStars events in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Michigan.
PokerStars held its annual "Winter Series Tournament" from Jan. 22-31. The guarantee in Pennsylvania was a cool $1 million.
During December, PokerStars had a special “25 Days of Tournaments” that ran until Dec. 30. Each day had a surprise tournament for players in each state that wasn’t found on the regular tournament schedule.
In the fall, PokerStars offered a tournament called Fall Fest in Pennsylvania and similar events in New Jersey and Michigan. The fall tournaments ran from Nov. 20-29.
