Pennsylvania Poker Players

The Rivers Casino Poker Room Implements No Hoodie Rule

Posted by Jon Stein - 24/11/10 at 10:11 pm

This past week, the Rivers Casino poker room began enforcing their No Hoodie Rule. The no hoodie rule simply is one that a player in the poker room or casino may not have their identity concealed by a hoodie.

The hoodie has been a commonplace and in some respects an iconic part of many poker players attire. Phil Laak, a poker professional from Las Vegas was one of the earliest players to wear a hoodie and sunglasses, practically concealing his entire identity and earning him the nickname ‘Unabomber‘.

Laak’s many appearances on TV shows such as GSN’s High Stakes Poker, Poker After Dark on NBC and the ESPN World Series of Poker (WSOP) inspired many players to adapt the ‘hoodie’ look. Poker players contend, as Laak often demonstrated by covering his entire face in the hoodie, that this will prevent their opponents from getting a ‘poker tell’ on them.

The Rivers casino, on the other hand, is not amused by the attempts of poker players donning the Unabomber look, and began enforcing it’s no hoodie rule. The rule has created contention between players and management at the Rivers poker room, as some players have refused to remove their hoodie in defiance of the rule, and some players have told the papokerplayers.com blog they refuse to play at the Rivers Casino because of this ridiculous rule.

When asked about the rule, floor staff at the Rivers emphatically stated, “It is Pennsylvania State Law”. Which surprised many players, as other PA poker rooms and casinos do not have such a rule.

The Pennsylvania Poker Players blog investigated the truth behind the No Hoodie Rule and learned that there in fact exists no such state law. Upon further questioning, The PaPokerPlayers.com blog was informed by several floor staff at the Rivers Casino, that the rule is actually a house rule and not a state law.

According to management, The Rivers instituted the No Hoodie rule long before table games were permitted.  The Rivers believed it was in the casino’s best interest to not allow hoodies (or any device) to conceal the identity of patrons. The ability of security to positively identify patrons is believed to be the true reason behind the rule, in an attempt to prevent potential theft, identify potential money laundering perpetrators and other criminal elements.

The Poker player community has expressed dissatisfaction and defiance with this rule and in one instance where a patron refused to remove his hoodie, complaining that he was cold, management purchased a tassel cap from the gift shop and presented it to him, demanding he now remove his hoodie.

What is your opinion on the no hoodie rule? Leave your comments below:

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 at 10:53 pm and is filed under Hot Poker News. The entry is tagged under live casino poker, pa poker casino, pa poker room, poker room, texas holdem, The Rivers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.