Poker Road Trip through Western Pennsylvania
Every poker road trip is a unique adventure. A poker road trip through Florida offers large poker venues with some quality beach time. Jump to Texas, and a poker road trip consists of “membership only” poker rooms and lots of great Tex-Mex food. Keep heading west to Las Vegas, and well, a poker trip there provides all the poker options you can dream of along with pretty much every entertainment and dining experience you can imagine. We have already covered our poker adventures in Eastern Pennsylvania, so we turn our attention to a road trip through Western Pennsylvania.
Day 1: Poker in Downtown Pittsburgh
If you plan to stay several days in Western Pennsylvania, you’ll want to base yourself in the Pittsburgh area. That’s not only the only major metropolitan hub in the region, it’s also the center point of the 4 poker rooms nearby. Your closest poker room, Rivers Casino Pittsburgh is, by far, the largest and best poker room in the region. The attractive and spacious 30-table room features a lot of strengths, most importantly excellent staff top to bottom. If you time things right, you can take in one of their well-run weekly tournaments on Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday. Whatever you do, if you are on a poker road trip in Western Pennsylvania, this should be your #1 destination.
We’ll cover some of the other tourist high points in Pittsburgh later. However, note that getting around Pittsburg by car is not a quick process. The footprint of the downtown is fairly small, so everything seems close. However, it is also quite congested, with small, windy main access streets, lots of lights, and dense traffic. Plan accordingly as you try to get around. We had an opportunity for free accommodations across the Monongahela River in the Homestead area. Unfortunately, the location was not ideal for tourism. It was only about six miles to downtown. The GPS would estimate about 15 minutes, but it always seemed to take 20-25 minutes to get anywhere.
Day 2: Live! Casino Pittsburgh
About 35-40 minutes east of Pittsburgh in Greensburg PA is Live! Casino Pittsburgh. The Live! brand has yielded one of the best rooms we have visited in Maryland. The one in Philadelphia? Not so much in the best category. The Pittsburgh version is a small casino overall, attached to the end of a mall. There are a number of slots, a few table games, and a rather large Sportsbook that consumes the casino space.
The 7-table poker room is also modest. It’s a bit cramped between and within tables, but overall clean and nice enough looking – if you like wood paneling. On the positive side, the staff is excellent. They only manage one or two tables of cash most nights but can get up to four on Saturday evenings. They do, however, run tournaments almost every day (except Monday), which is admirable for such a small room. Tournament buy-ins run from $80 to $160.
While not a destination room, you’ll likely enjoy yourself. Especially if you’re looking for a small tournament. Although it did not work out in our schedule, you could loop in a visit to Fallingwater, perhaps architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous individual home. It’s about another 30 minutes past Greensburg, so eminently reachable. It is not cheap to see, but Heather has been before and she recommends it highly.
Day 3: Poker in Wheeling WV and Along the Way in Western Pennsylvania
After venturing east from Pittsburgh on Day 2, we’re now sending you in the opposite direction. Head southwest along Route 79 until it hits Route 70 and take that to Wheeling West Virginia, about an hour from Pittsburgh. This is a nice scenic drive, especially as you approach Wheeling. However, the center of Wheeling gave new meaning to “not a lot going on.” On the Saturday afternoon we visited, there was little human activity. We saw more construction vehicles than cars in the downtown. Even for a small city of about 30,000 people, it was eerily quiet.
The Wheeling Island Casino was also humble, and the poker room did not offer much action. When we arrived, a 2-table tournament was already past late registration. The single table of cash never freed up a seat as we waited. From tracking activity, it looks like Wheeling Island almost always maxes out at one or two $1/$3 cash tables, with maybe three on a Saturday night.
In short, you can skip the road trip to Wheeling if you’re not die hard poker adventurers.
About halfway between Pittsburgh and Wheeling in Washington PA is Hollywood Casino at the Meadows. The casino itself is very nice, with all the traditional elements of a full-service casino (e.g. slots, table games, Sportsbook). It also contains an event center and good dining options, including an upscale food hall. The poker room is reasonably attractive (it actually has a large window, a rare look at the outside in a poker room) and comfortable. The staff are also very good. However, the room does not have a lot of activity. During weekdays it rarely gets more than one $1/$3 table. On Friday and Saturday night it inches up to 2-3 tables. At the time we visited, it held no tournaments. Now, it seems they may offer one or two tournaments per month but no regular weekly events.
If you’re around the Route 79/70 interchange in Western Pennsylvania, and want to stop by for a quick bite to eat and check out if you can grab a cash seat, this is a fine locale. But Hollywood Casino at the Meadows is not a poker must-see.
Days 4 and 5: Non-Poker Activities in Western Pennsylvania
After you get poker out of your system – if that’s possible – there are several interesting activities, particularly in Pittsburgh itself. For starters, there are Pittsburgh’s three major sports teams: the Pirates, Penguins, and the Steelers. In fact, Rivers Casino Pittsburgh is near both Acrisure Stadium (Steelers) and PNC Park (Pirates) where the three rivers meet. If you’re timing of season and team schedules works out you may be able to combine poker and sports in one great day. PPG Paints Arena (Penguins) is on the downtown side of the three rivers, over near Duquesne. But Pittsburgh is fairly compact, so none of these venues are a great distance away from one another.
Pittsburgh also has several museum options, including the Carnegie trio – Natural History, Art, and Science. Actually, there is a fourth that is in the Carnegie Museum holdings, and is perhaps the most unique. The Andy Warhol Museum celebrates the Pittsburgh native’s prodigious career. Even if you’re not a Pop Art fan, the cultural significance of Warhol is worth a couple hours of your time.
For a little outdoor time, there are a number of parks in the Pittsburgh area. You can get a great view of the city by taking the Duquesne Incline to the top of Mount Washington. Point State Park lies where the three rivers merge, and offers a good ground view of the city and rivers. We spent an afternoon walking around Pittsburgh’s largest public green space, Frick Park. Among its 644 acres are endless trails and very nicely kept natural grounds. We highly recommend Frick Park for a break from the urban setting. There are also a number of river walks on all sides of the three river system. Along the one above, on the southern side on the Monongahela, we discovered this meditative labyrinth.
Western Pennsylvania Road Trip Summary
Some of the poker road trips we outline can be more in the 7-10 day range, or even longer. We recommend Western Pennsylvania as more of a three to five day trip. We outlined 5 days above, but as you saw we suggest potentially skipping the jaunt to Wheeling. The Hollywood Casino at the Meadows is certainly optional as well. In fact, the Rivers Casino Pittsburgh is the only poker priority, with Live! Pittsburgh a fine road trip but not a must. So with a poker room or two, a couple of museums, maybe a professional game if available, some walking/hiking, and some quality meals, you can certainly make much of Western Pennsylvania in three days.
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Summary
With a poker room or two, a couple of museums, maybe a professional game if available, some walking/hiking, and some quality meals, you can certainly do much in Western Pennsylvania in 3 days.
