PA Poker News June Update: Phillies Pitcher Aaron Nola's Charity Event, PokerStars PA Summer Stacks
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Hi! I'm Keith Becker, PokerNews Ambassador and Pennsylvania native, here with a PA poker update for June 2025. 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.
It's gonna be a quick one this week!
We've got the opposite of a perfect storm ... a perfect drizzle? Perfect nap weather? I don't know, but it's because right now, all eyes are on the 2025 World Series of Poker (WSOP), which just kicked off in Las Vegas. PokerNews is THE HUB to visit for everything WSOP this year, as they are the official live reporting partner for the series. And let me tell you, there is some awesome new coverage this year, including a revamped MyPlayer experience where you can follow specific players and get prioritized chip counts and updates for them in series MTTs.
If you're watching this and are gonna be heading to the WSOP, I'll be out there from June 29th to July 12th. Shoot me a DM on socials and let me know if you will be too.
Live Poker in PA
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola hosted a charity poker tournament on May 15 at Citizens Bank Park, supporting Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB)—an organization focused on helping veterans maintain physical and mental wellness. I had the pleasure of attending and playing in the event, which raised $225,000, including funds raised from an auction with high-ticket items like a signed Kobe Bryant jersey and Taylor Swift guitar, both of which garnered about $5K each.
Nola himself had quite the run, surviving multiple all-ins despite trying to bust before the final table. Ultimately, Al Rossi claimed victory, taking home a Team RWB varsity jacket and a signed Phillies helmet. As for me? I busted early after flopping a set into a straight, but I recovered just fine with a cheesesteak, a Yuengling, and a private view of Citizens Bank Park—not a bad way to go out.
Images courtesy of Tom Lehotsky.
Online Poker in PA
Back to PA Poker, the only operator making a little bit of noise this month is PokerStars. And no, unfortunately, it's not because they're merging their player pools. Instead, Stars PA has announced the return of Summer Stacks, a series with affordable buy-ins aimed at recreationals. While the guarantees haven't been announced yet, this year the series features 100 buy-ins at $100 or less, and one standout MTT is the Women's Sunday event, a tournament for the ladies with a $1,200 NAPT Las Vegas package up top.
PokerStars also currently has challenges available for players to unlock new Throwables. The client has had only a few throwables since launch, but up until May 31, players could complete challenges in cash games, tourneys, spin & Gos, and the casino to finally unlock some more.
After launching in New Jersey and Michigan, BetMGM and WSOP are both pretty quiet at the moment, again likely due to the monumental distraction that is the World Series.
And players continue to wait and watch BetRivers Poker, which has also not merged states but has communicated on that front. On multiple occasions, they have indicated that the multi-state rollout is coming very soon, and even recently indicated that when they do launch, it will include Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, and Delaware, with New Jersey to come later as they need to meet some additional requirements in that state. But exactly when will this launch, this multi-state rollout, take place? Well, that's anybody's guess. That said, whenever it does you can count on PokerNews to be there to cover it.
Poker is surging in America, and I'm thrilled to be your ambassador here in Pennsylvania. 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.
*Lead image courtesy of Commonwealth Media Services.
