Maryland Live! outside of Baltimore is one of our all-time favorite poker rooms. On the other hand, we were underwhelmed with Live! Casino in Philadelphia. We had no idea what to expect on our visit to Live! Casino Pittsburgh. Our visit to this casino in Western Pennsylvania reinforced the fact that, chain or no chain, every casino has its own story to tell.
Casino Setting
Live! Casino Pittsburgh is not actually in Pittsburgh at all. Rather, it sits in Greensburg Pennsylvania, about an hour to the east of the city. The complex sits nestled among fairly non-descript strip malls and parking lots just off the highway. The casino itself was attached to a pretty basic mall (Macy’s and JC Penny served as anchor stores). Despite the website’s address (pittsburgh.livecasinohotel.com) there is no attached hotel.
Non-Poker Amenities
Live! Casino Pittsburgh is small. The overall footprint is small, the poker room is small, and the ambience is small. The casino boasts a few table games, a number of slots, and a large sportsbook/restaurant (Sports & Social). In fact, the two-floor sportsbook restaurant probably took up as much space as the rest of the casino combined. There was also another bar and a Guy Fieri restaurant. However, as we found when we were ready to leave, there is not a restaurant with a Yelp! rating above a 3.5 within 5 miles of the complex.
This is definitely not a destination casino. However, we came to find that it was comfortable enough.
Live! Casino Pittsburgh Poker Room Comfort
The tiny 7-table poker room at Live! Casino Pittsburgh was quite comfortable. The room was sited upstairs away from the smoke and noise of the casino itself. Playing there almost felt like playing in your neighbor’s den. The walls were wood paneled and the room was brightly lit and well-decorated. The temperature was on the warm side and light came from both the outside and from windows into the sports bar. Bathrooms were accessed by leaving the poker room and slipping into the sports bar next door. Not the most convenient setup, but it worked ok.
The chairs were very comfortable, on wheels, adjustable, and well-padded. The tables were attractive and clean, but quite tight nine-handed (my neighbor bashed into my arm every time she turned her chair) and tightly packed within the room. They did however sport a nice padded rail with drink cups and functioning USB ports.
Poker Room Staff
Live! Casino Pittsburgh staff were highly skilled and efficient. The dealers were accurate, fast, and friendly with the many regulars in the room. Floors were attentive, helpful, and did a good job of keeping tables balanced throughout.
Players at Live! Casino Pittsburgh Poker Room
The Live! Casino Pittsburgh poker room players represented a mix of gender, ethnicity, age, skill, and personality. While the tournament was quite fast, there was still a lot of limping fairly deep into play. There were a lot of regulars playing the day that we visited, and no players showed particular aggression or trickiness.
Tournament Structure
As of this writing, the Live! Casino Pittsburgh poker room hosts tournaments every day but Monday. These range from the $80 bankroll builder that we played on Sunday to a $160 Double Green Chip Bounty on Saturdays. There is even a PLO tournament on Thursdays. Check out Live! Casino’s tournament page for all the details.
We played the Sunday afternoon $80 (plus $5 add on) Bankroll Builder. Players start with 20,000 chips, endure 15 minute blinds, and pay a 26% rake. At 21 S-Points, blinds go up quite fast, and you can feel it.
36 people entered our tournament (including a notable number of rebuys). There were only ever three active tournament tables, and within three and a half hours the tournament was down to just one table (upon my departure). At this point only a handful of players boasted more than three or four blinds, with the rest playing bingo poker.
Cash Game Activity
On this Sunday afternoon, the Live! Casino Pittsburgh poker room was running one active cash table of $1/$3. From our recent tracking of cash games (see our cash game activity update), Live! Casino Pittsburgh rarely garners more than a table or two of $1/$3 cash. Higher games are not regularly played. If you are interested in cash play, Saturday night is your best bet, often seeing up to 4 tables of $1/$3 action.
Overall Assessment of Live! Casino Pittsburgh Poker Room
Live! Casino Pittsburgh hosts a comfortable small poker room with excellent staff in the midst of a small casino centered around its sportsbook. If you have a spouse that loves to shop (or to set up in the sportsbook) this could be the casino for you. Otherwise, there are better options to play cards in the Pittsburgh area.
Comfort
Tournament Structures
Personnel
Summary
Live! Casino Pittsburgh hosts a comfortable small poker room with excellent staff in the midst of a small casino centered around its sports book. If you have a spouse that loves to shop (or to set up in the sportsbook) this could be the casino for you. Otherwise there are better options to play cards in the Pittsburgh area.
