- For those who enjoy traditional poker, playing head to head against other players, Parx has the #1 poker room in Pennsylvania on site, with 80 tables, a full service bar and menu, and lots of both cash games and daily tournaments. This is one of the best poker rooms around period.
- 117 Parx Casino reviews. A free inside look at company reviews and salaries posted anonymously by employees.
About a week and a half ago, while on my month-long vacation in the U.S., I had the good fortune to visit the Parx Poker Room in eastern Pennsylvania. While looking forward to my day there, one of the exciting thoughts going through my head was “wow, I’ve written so much marketing copy for sites that offer online poker reviews and bonuses (as part of my full-time job here in Israel); what a rare privilege it is to visit a live casino in person and write up a review for my own site!” I spent about 15 hours at the Parx and, though I ended up down overall for my session, I had a great time in this fantastic poker room. Without further ado, here’s my Parx poker room review:
Getting to Parx
I left the New York City area super early in order to avoid rush hour traffic and arrived at the Parx approximately 2.5 hours later (thank you Google Maps!). The first thing that hit me was the massive size of the complex. It took another full minute and a half of driving upon entering the general Parx area until I reached the parking spots in front of the two main buildings. The larger of the two buildings houses the casino, the site’s centerpiece. The poker room is located on the third floor of the smaller building.
About a week and a half ago, while on my month-long vacation in the U.S., I had the good fortune to visit the Parx Poker Room in eastern Pennsylvania. While looking forward to my day there, one of the exciting thoughts going through my head was “wow, I’ve written so much marketing copy for sites that offer online poker reviews and bonuses (as part of my full-time job here in Israel); what. If you think of live poker in Pennsylvania, most will think of Parx Casino. The venue is located just 20 minutes north of the city center of Philadelphia. Parx Casino features several dining options, bars, a race track, sportsbook and of course slot machines, along with 188 live table games.
General Impressions
The numbers don’t lie: at 60+ poker tables the Parx truly feels immense and there’s plenty of room to walk around among all the tables and soak in the atmosphere. From the moment I got off the escalator to approach the room, I felt as though the place had rolled out the red carpet for me. Every single floorperson, security staffer, and casino employee was genuinely friendly and eager to assist, without being the slightest bit intrusive. It’s possible that they all took notice of my Lakers hat and (correctly) assumed I was from out of town, but it honestly seemed as though everyone working at the Parx was just doing their best to help me out and provide me with a warm welcome.
That friendliness certainly extended to the dealers at and away from the tables as well. Without exception, every single dealer I encountered while playing was cordial, happy to chat it up, and ran the game efficiently, quickly, and professionally. Away from the tables, I spoke to a few dealers who were on break and they were more than happy to answer my questions about the room, their own careers as dealers, and generally talk poker.
Grading the Poker
I visited Parx on a Tuesday and poker was certainly in session throughout the day. Even in the morning hours a solid eight tables were running. By the time evening rolled around and the $120 buy-in tournament began, there were 50+ tables running across the room (including both cash and tournament play).
I was pleased to see plenty of non-Hold’em poker games being spread, though mostly at higher limits like $15/$30 and $30/$60.
Interestingly, unique to Parx among all other poker rooms I’ve ever visited, it seemed like everybody knew everybody! Every time a new dealer came to the table, he/she greeted and was greeted by at least four or five players by name. This proved true both in cash games and in tournament play among players across all ages. That local flavor definitely gives the room a good amount of charm, which I’ve never really experienced before.
Anything Missing?
Surprisingly yes – the room lacked two things:
1) low limit games
2) outlets to charge mobile devices at or near the tables (though they did offer free Wi-Fi)
With regard to item 1, I was quite surprised that no $2/$4 limit Hold’em was being spread, as I’ve always seen it being played at every poker room I’ve ever visited. Also, there were just a couple $1/$2 no limit Hold’em tables going, while all other action at the Parx was for higher stakes, both in fixed limit and no limit play.
When asking a floorperson why this was the case, they gave a pretty simple answer: low limit poker players simply aren’t their target audience, as Parx prefers to leave that crowd to patronize the other poker rooms in the area. Fair enough.
Regarding item 2, however, I honestly expected more from Pennsylvania’s leading poker room. With such a high percentage of players bringing mobile devices with them to the tables (for poker note-taking purposes and otherwise), it would behoove the room to be outfitted appropriately with charging stations. Many poker rooms in Las Vegas have installed power strips underneath or even directly into the tables themselves. To their credit, they did offer to take my phone and charge it for me at the poker room’s front desk area but, especially considering how many phones I saw also plugged in there, it was not an optimal solution.
(Ed. note, March 7, 2016: One of our readers has advised me that Parx has since installed charging stations at all tables. Great improvement!)
Overall
The Parx poker room gets a solid A in my book. With the lone exception of the missing outlets or charging stations, everything about playing at the Parx was phenomenal. I hope I get the chance to go and visit the room again.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention that I got to meet the Parx poker room ambassador himself, Matt Glantz! That’ll be the subject of my next post :-).
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Not too long ago, the 6 million residents of the metro Philadelphia area needed to travel to Atlantic City to satisfy their casino gambling cravings, but nowadays they need travel no further than to Bensalem, just a few miles outside the city proper, to visit and play at the largest casino in Pennsylvania and one of the largest in the world.
The Parx dates back to 1974 when it opened as the Keystone Racetrack. This was long before casino gambling came to Pennsylvania of course and it just offered thoroughbred horse racing back then. 10 years later it was sold and renamed to Philadelphia Park, and started to take wagers over the phone in addition to in person at the track.
As wagering on horse racing evolved, the track kept up with improvements in technology and started offering full card simulcasts of its racing in 1989, as well as off track betting locations. So in 2007 when the State of Pennsylvania began issuing casino licenses, Philadelphia Park was at the head of the line, and started being allowed to offer a limited amount of slot machines in addition to horse race betting.
The name of the venue was then changed to Parx Casino and Racing, and while this was already one of the foremost horse racing tracks in the area, offering casino gambling vaulted it to an entirely new level in terms of revenue, and the horse racing took a back seat, although it continues to flourish in full force.
Bally’s was hired to operate their new casino, and by 2009 a new casino building needed to be built to house the now massive amount of slot machines they had on hand, a total of 3,300, making it one of the world’s largest slot machine parlors.
The next year, in 2010, table games became permitted, and this was a hit here as well. The current count is 3,500 gaming machines, 130 table games, and a 80 table poker room, in addition to their regular schedule of thoroughbred racing, making it one of the largest casinos overall in the country.
Parx Casino and Racing is owned by a local company, Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment, whose holdings are limited to just the Parx, but the Parx is a pretty impressive holding indeed.
The Features of Parx Casino and Racing
Being the biggest player in a market as large as the Philadelphia one, there’s no need for a hotel, unlike a lot of casinos who rely on tourists to visit the area to gamble. The players already live here and one of the great things about having a large casino in a major metropolitan area is that your players can come back again and again, as often as they wish, instead of just during the occasional vacation.
This also serves to ensure that the gaming at this type of casino remains at the forefront of competitiveness, and the Parx does have several competitors in the area, and if you don’t offer people a better experience they will just go elsewhere. This is much less of a big deal at a resort casino where the appeal of the place generally is a big deal as well, here it’s all casino, and they need to get that part right or else, and they certainly do here.
The sheer popularity of the Parx does say a lot about how well they have been able to pull this off over the last few years, and the people get to vote in this sense, and the Parx does get a lot more votes than the other casinos here.
Parx Casino and Raceway does still attract quite a few horse racing fans in addition to casino players, although casino gaming does have a broader appeal and is the bigger of the two gambling operations now, as is the case generally with race track casinos.
So there are daily races here starting at 12:55 PM, Saturday through Tuesday, which does add some additional excitement should you visit here during this period. They still take phone bets on these races as well so you don’t have to be there to get in on this action.
There are 6 restaurants on hand here to cater to your dining pleasure. Parxgrill is an award winning upscale dining experience, specializing in beef and veal dishes as well as seafood. Bambu Noodle House offers fine Asian cuisine. Chickie’s and Pete’s has been voted America’s #1 sports bar.
Foodie’s offers the finest and freshest ingredients prepared for you 24 hours a day. Earl of Sandwich promises the world’s best hot sandwiches, all prepared on artisan bread. Xlounge boasts a high end food menu along with superior cocktails and a large selection of craft beer.
Club 360 is billed as the area’s best live music venue, and also features an LED dance floor that pulses in tune with the music. Jax is another sports bar that also features plenty of video poker machines and is also loaded with big screens to watch sports action on.
The Casino at Parx Casino and Racing
The Parx isn’t just the biggest casino in Pennsylvania, it’s also been voted the best, although the two often go hand in hand, but not always. In Las Vegas, the smaller locals casinos which cater to the residents of the city are regarded by many as the best, due to having to not only capture but keep the interest of their players over time, but the Parx is a locals casino as well, on a bigger scale actually, and therefore they need to do the exact same thing, and second rate just won’t fly.
Players here are treated to a free membership in Parx’ rewards club, Xclub, with 3 levels, and they offer not only comps and discounts at Parx, but at several local merchants as well. So playing here saves you money in many ways.
With over 3,500 gaming machines, including all of the hottest slots, as well as an extensive selection of video poker and electronic table games, even the hardest core casino players can immerse themselves in all the fun and excitement they can handle, 24 hours a day.
Parx Poker Room Review
The slot area here alone takes up 150,000 square feet of space, and all manners of slots are available to be played, and there are also 100 different electronic blackjack, single roulette, and 3 card poker machines on hand.
If you are in the mood for the more classical variety of table games, with real tables and live dealers, Parx has plenty of that as well, featuring a total of 130 tables. Try your hand at the popular games of Blackjack, Roulette, Craps, 3 Card Poker, 4 Card Poker, and Baccarat. They also have hybrid games that are a cross between traditional and electronic tables, with live dealers but faster action and lower betting limits.
For those who enjoy traditional poker, playing head to head against other players, Parx has the #1 poker room in Pennsylvania on site, with 80 tables, a full service bar and menu, and lots of both cash games and daily tournaments. This is one of the best poker rooms around period.
Parx Poker Reopen
It really doesn’t get much better than the gambling at Parx Casino and Racing, and this is really like a neighborhood casino, in a neighborhood of 6 million people. You will find everything here, and in abundance.