Poker Designed for You

All Events are Open to the Public.
 Must be 18+ to play at our events.

Upcoming Events

Moose Lodge

Carpentersville

309 Lake Marian Road

Carpentersville, IL 60101

1:00PM - 2:00AM

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Joliet American Legion

Joliet

2625 Ingalls Avenue

Joliet, IL 60435

1:00PM - 2:00AM

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Cantigny Post VFW
Joliet

826 Horseshoe Drive

Joliet, IL 60435

1:00PM - 2:00AM

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Cash Table Promotion Jackpot

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PPC 2024 Player of the Year

Will you be Crowned the Player of the Year?


The top 100 players on the point list will be invited to our 2024 Play Poker Chicago Player of the Year Tournament to be held in December 2024 at Cantigny Post VFW in Joliet. Win cash, prizes and have a PPC Table named after you.


You can earn points by making the final table at any of our 2024 events. Do you have what it takes to be the Player of the Year?


Player of the Year Standings

WHY PLAY WITH PPC

Built by Players for Players
Play Poker Chicago has been built with you, the player, in mind. Our goal is to be the best place to play poker in the Chicagoland area. 




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STRUCTURE SHEETS

The Best  Structures in Town
Our team at Play Poker Chicago along with our hosting charities pride ourselves on having the best tournament structures in town.

We offer better starting stacks, longer levels and a really player friendly progression of levels. 
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THE Club

Your Play Poker Chicago Player Card
We are the ONLY charity room in Chicago to offer a players card. The CLUB card will get you quicker check-in, rewards and much much more. 

The card is free, register today. 


Get Your Card Today

WINTER SERIES OF POKER

January - March 2024
3 Months, 25 Events and 1 Champion!
The Play Poker Chicago Winter Series of Poker will test your poker skills over several different games. Each event you play in you'll earn Bonus Chips and a discount for the Main Event on March 30th at the Joliet Moose Lodge.

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RAISING MONEY

Together we Help 501c's
Every time you play with us you are supporting local 501C's earn money for projects.   

If you know of an Illinois based 501C reach out to us and we will get them set up to host events.

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All-In with Play Poker Chicago

By Kevin La Van 17 Mar, 2024

We had a situation in the room this week where there was a miscount or a miscommunication between a player and the dealer regarding an all-in bet and call.


What transpired:

Player in the 3 seat raised, player in the 7 seat declares All-In. The player in the 3 seat asked for a count or how much more and was given the wrong number after the dealer counted out the chips. Player in 3 announces CALL and the cards were flipped. As the dealer prepared to pull in the pot he announced the total all-in and the Player in the 3 seat said that that was not what was given to him and the floor was called.

What I saw when I approached the Table:

when I looked at the table I saw the Player in the 3 seat had a stack of chips out in front of him and the Player in the 7 Seat had a all-in button in front of him and his chips neatly counted out (In the traditional stacks - this will come into play later) and both players cards were tabled.


My Ruling:

Player in the 3 seat could have forfeited the chips he put into the pot and not matched the correct amount (This was based off of TDA Rule 1 which states “Best interest of the game and fairness”) or the player in the 3 seat could if he wanted to see the board run out would have to match the actual chip count from Player in the 7 seat.


This is based off of TDA Rule 49, which states:  

POKER IS A GAME OF ALERT, CONTINUOUS OBSERVATION. IT IS THE CALLERS RESPONSIBILITY TO DETERMINE THE CORRECT AMOUNT OF AN OPPONENT’S BET BEFORE CALLING, REGARDLESS OF WHAT IS STATED BY OTHERS. IF A CALLER REQUESTS A COUNT BUT RECEIVES INCORRECT INFORMATION FROM A DEALER OR PLAYER, THEN PUSHES OUT THAT AMOUNT OR DECLARES CALL, THE CALLER HAS ACCEPTED THE FULL CORRECT ACTION AND IS SUBJECT TO THE CORRECT WAGER OR ALL-IN MOUNT.


My thought process:

First I hate making rulings like this because it’s a lose lose situation for me. Someone is always going to be upset. The ruling was pretty easy based on the information I received and the context of rule 49, and I remember a situation just like this in the WSOP a few years ago that stuck in my mind. The dealer having the all-in players neatly counted out in the proper way also helped a lot. The chips were visible and easily counted by any player at the table. The miscommunication was unfortunate and we never like to see a player upset but that was the ruling by the floor.


By Kevin La Van 02 Jan, 2024
All Hail the Player of the Year! Kyle Chmielewski. He outlasted our largest field ever to win the Play Poker Chicago Player of the Year for 2023. 

Kyle went into the tournament ranked 42nd with most of his cashes coming in our DoorBuster tournaments. He outlasted a great stacked field to take down the honor and the Player of the Year Trophy. As part of his prize package he will be cruising on the Ante Up Poker Cruise in October with his Main Event included.

The 2024 Player of the Year is starting..... Don't miss your chance to join Kyle as a PPC Champion.

The Play Poker Chicago Player of there Year Final Table consisted of:

Casey Rose - Ranked 2nd, Finished 7th
Cris Montes - Ranked 17th, Finished 4th
Kimberly Bandura - Ranked 4th, Finished 6th
Amy Bylon - Ranked 16th - Finished 10th
Neal Albavera - Ranked 99th - Finished 5th
Karen Richer - Ranked 8th - Finished 8th
Roger Gill - Ranked 95th - Finished 9th
Tom Miller - Ranked 6th - Finished 3rd
Kyle Chmielewski - Ranked 42nd - Winner
Brian Riley - Ranked 30th - Runner-Up

The Play Poker Chicago team would like to congratulate the entire final table for their accomplishment for making it through a tough field and making the final table. We also want to THANK all the players that have come out this year and made us what we are. Without your support we would not be where we are.
By Kevin La Van 18 Dec, 2023

As a player, there is something to be said for having a massive pile of chips in front of you…. It makes you feel good about yourself. You can use them to intimidate other players, to build a massive wall to hide your cards from nosy neighbors or practice your architectural skills and build a cool castle. But……..

As a floor person I HATE BIG PILES OF CHIPS!!!!! Every time we come around to color up chips, it’s a battle with someone, “Please don’t color these up…… I like a big stack” There are several reasons we color up chips, the main one, is it makes it easier on the dealers. I just saw a story about the WSOP (World Series Of Poker not OUR Winter Series Of Poker ;-) Paradise event where poker pro Daniel Neilson lost 10,000,000 in chips because of a dealer counting error. This may have cost him a lot of real money. 

Counting mistakes are one of the main reason we like less chips on the table. Believe it or not dealers are human and make mistakes (I know shocking) but, in reality it's easy to make a counting mistake when you have six people trying to do your job and shouting out random numbers at you. The fewer chips on the table the better the chance to get the counts right. Also, remember, per the TDA rules if the dealer makes an error and you “Call” a all-in and the error is discovered before the chips are pushed you have to call the correct amount, even if you were told a different number by the dealer - The player has a responsibility to observe the counting and to make sure it is correct.

Less chips on the table also speeds up the game. Hands per hour increases with less chips on the table and that’s good for the players. There are less delays after you scoop a big pot and are first to act - you know the cards sit there until you finish stacking. It’s the worst feeling to be sitting on a short stack, watching the blind timer tick away and have delays because of having so may chips on the table. Less chips equals more hands.

In closing I know players want a stack to the ceiling…. but a lot of chips on the table is one of the things I hate about poker.




By Kevin La Van 30 Aug, 2023

What is charity poker? I get this question a lot. First, YES you can win REAL CASH!

At its simplest a charity poker room is a real poker room like you’ve played in at casinos. We have great dealers, we have floor staff to make sure the game is fair and we a great player friendly atmosphere for players of all levels. But, I think it’s really more than that. Our charity partners and Play Poker Chicago have several tournaments running during each event. We want to have something for everyone from larger tournaments to our smaller ones and everything in between. Your rake goes to great causes, we support veterans organizations, animal rescues and everything in between.   But, let’s break down what a Charity Poker Room is and is not:

1 - Show me the Money!

Tournaments pay out cash as do the cash tables. You don’t have to give the charity any of your winnings, as the tournament/cash rake is given to the charity running the event. There are special rules we need to adhere to per the Illinois law, but in most cases they don’t come into play for most of our tournaments.  

2 - Multiple Tournaments

If you play poker at a casino, most days they have one tournament. We cater to tournament players by having several tournaments per event. We usually kick off the day with a DeepStack with a buy-in anywhere between $100. and $200. Most will have 20 minute blind levels and a great player friendly structure.  

Our second tournament is our DoorBuster. This is a series of smaller buy-in tournaments with buy-ins between $25. and $40. One of our cornerstone features is we never want to have Shovefest blind levels or structures. So our small tournaments, unlike our competition. will feature 15 minute levels, good starting stacks and playable blind levels.

We have added a 6:00PM Road Runner Sit-n-Go with a $50. Buy-in, 10 person max table with no add-on so players have something to do after the early tournaments and before the evening ones. With the success of the Summer Series and it’s mixed games don’t be surprised if we toss a few Road Runner Mixed Games into the mix for the players that love them.

We finish off the day with a evening tournament, which will range from $50. to $100. buy-ins. This one is usually a mix of tournaments from DeepStacks, to winner takes all to other fun tournaments usually these will feature 15 - 20 minute levels and again our signature player friendly structures and good starting stacks.  

3 - Cash Tables

Just like at a casino, again you sit down with your chips and leave when you want and cash in your winnings. we offer, in conjunction, with our charity partners offer several different cash table options.  

1/2/3 This is our bigger game and the most popular. Buy-in is uncapped and the table features a 3 blind format is is played 8 handed.

1/2 This is our smaller game. This table will cater to newer cash players, looking to get their feet wet at a cash table and players looking to play cash on a smaller budget. Table Buy-in ranges from as low as $50 to maximum of $250. This is a firm limit that cannot be changed regardless of time of day. The table has a maximum $5.00 straddle and has a firm no bomb pot rule. This table is for players looking to play lower stakes and have fun doing it.  

In the fall we will begin offering a PLO game to our players, and we will always spread any game based on demand.

4 - We got the look!

I and the management team of Play Poker Chicago has played in other charity rooms. We wanted something better. So when we started we wanted to be the best - designed by players for players. So we ordered great tables and had them customized with our logo. We made sure to get quality chips and we replace cards when needed - new decks are ordered every two or three months. We have played in dirty charity rooms and we didn’t like the feel, so we made a commitment to always keep things fresh and clean.

5 - Fair Play

Before we started Play Poker Chicago, I was playing in a charity room on a day after a holiday and a friend of mine made the cash in a rather large field tournament — and the money didn’t add up based on the number of players in the tournament. This is a big problem, there are some ethical issues out there. We at Play Poker Chicago make sure that not only our charity partners get what’s coming to them but, we make sure the players do as well. Our clocks and room management system tracks the players registered and the re-buys in real time so you can see the prize pool growing on the monitors and you know we have nothing up our sleeves.  

6 - Why pick us

There are 4 charity rooms in the Chicagoland area - Play Poker Chicago is the puppy of the group. We have innovations others don’t, we offer you our THE Club Player Card - this speeds up check-in and offerers additional perks. We have a professional Poker Room Management system, this is great for tracking buy-ins, and has great features to help us manage the room so you have a great place to play. We offer tournament pre-pay on our website so you can guarantee a seat, get bonus chips and use a card to pay for your seat. Most importantly we want and value you playing with us, we will never take you for granted. Everything we do in the room is with you in mind.

7 - A Safe Place to Play.

Everyone has a license issued by the state of Illinois. The Charities host are licensed, the venue is licensed and the equipment supplier is licensed. This means you have a safe room to play in and you will never not get paid what you earn at the tables.  

So in closing if you are not playing poker in a charity room….. Get out to out events this weekend!! We have everything you want in a poker room and more. For up-to-date event information visit our website at playpokerchicago.com we hope to see you on the felt soon.



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