Play poker tournaments and cash games at our three recommended cardrooms in WV. Visit West Virginia poker rooms with the hottest action today.
Live poker in West Virginia is available at three casinos. Cardrooms are open every day and offer a mix of cash games and tourneys, but not always both. Check timetables and apps like Bravo Poker before you make the journey.
Hollywood Casino’s poker room offers action throughout the week, mostly targeted at cash game players. However, bounty tournaments have been introduced to mix things up a little. With 15 tables, it’s the largest cardroom in West Virginia.
Hold’em and Omaha are the main cash games in town. You can choose between Limit and No Limit Hold’em, as well as PLO and PLO8. Stakes start at a friendly $1/$2. It’s worth noting that this West Virginia poker room is shut on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The main tournament at Hollywood Casino is a $225 Bounty (with $50 of the buy-in going toward the bounty). You start with a 20k stack but you can get a further 10k with an additional “$10 Dealer Appreciation”. The prizepool is guaranteed at $5,000.
Promotions are another aspect of the Hollywood Casino’s poker room that stands out. The casino offers a Royal Flush bonus, a special reward for those lucky enough to hit the highest hand in poker.
The Full Stack Pay Back promotion is another unique feature. This allows players who lose with a full stack of chips to receive a portion of their loss back, softening the blow of a tough defeat.
Let’s also mention the PENN Cash reward scheme. As part of the Penn National Gaming brand, Hollywood Casino offers you the chance to earn loyalty points every time you play games for money.
Accumulated points can be redeemed for various services at the casino. Simply present your player’s card at the point of transaction, whether at dining outlets, hotel stays, or for free slot play.
Wheeling Island is another of West Virginia’s massive racinos that combines race betting and slots with traditional poker games. The cardroom is smaller than Hollywood Casino’s, with just 9 tables, but there’s enough interest from locals to fill the Limit Hold’em and No Limit Hold’em games.
This West Virginia poker room has limited opening hours. Like Hollywood Casino, the cardroom is shut on Monday and Tuesday. You can sit down and play cash games from 5 p.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and from 10 a.m. on a Saturday.
As for cash games, the range at Wheeling Island caters to all tastes. There’s Limit and No Limit Hold’em from $1/$2, as well as $2/$5 PLO and 7-Card Stud.
Looking for tourney action in West Virginia? Poker tournaments run every Saturday. Like Hollywood Casino, they are purely bounty tournaments where you win a prize for everyone you knock out. The bounties are priced at $125, which includes $85 toward the pool and $25 for each bounty.
Wheeling Island has a loyalty program that lets you claim points for every hour of poker you play. The rate is 0.25 points for each hour you spend at the poker tables. That’s a quarter of the rate for casino games like slots and roulette.
Next, you simply redeem loyalty points for freeplay tokens or free bets. Alternatively, use your points for meals or free hotel stays. The choice is yours.
The poker room at the Mardi Gras Casino only takes a small portion of the 65,000-square-foot gaming floor. However, hit the casino on a weekend and you can play at one of 10 tables spreading Limit and No Limit games.
Cash games start at $1/$2, but there’s room for increased stakes if there’s demand for it. Also note that the room only opens up 4–5 tables midweek, then expands to 9–10 tables on the weekends. The poker room is open until 2 a.m. every day (closed Mondays and Tuesdays).
The Lucky North Club is the in-house reward program at Mardi Gras Casino. You earn points as soon as you start taking down poker hands.
There are five reward tiers in total, each one featuring a range of different bonus offers. For all levels, you can redeem points to spend on free drinks, meals, and hotel rooms.
As you reach the highest Diamond tier, you get bonus entries for prize drawings, birthday offers, and exclusive email promotions. The scheme is open to poker players too, making it worth exploring.
Here is a list of all casinos in WV that operate cardrooms. You must be 21 or over to play poker in a West Virginia cardroom.
| Cardroom Name | Address | City | Phone Number |
| Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races | 750 Hollywood Dr, Charles Town, WV 25414 | Charles Town | 1-800-795-7001 |
| Mardi Gras Casino | 1 Greyhound Dr, Cross Lanes, WV 25313 | Cross Lanes | 1-304-776-1000 |
| Wheeling Island Casino | 1 S Stone St, Wheeling, WV 26003 | Wheeling | 1-304-232-5050 |
Each West Virginia poker room carries cash games and tournaments with buy-ins to suit all budgets. You can also jump into monthly events with larger prizepools.
| Cardroom Name | Games Offered | Number of Tables | Major Events |
| Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races | Texas Hold’em, Omaha, PLO8, Royal Flush bonus, Full Stack Pay Back | 15+ | 10K Mini, Hollywood Poker Open |
| Mardi Gras Casino | Limit Hold’em, No Limit Hold’em | 10 | |
| Wheeling Island Casino | Limit/No Limit Hold’em, 7-Card Stud, Omaha | 9 | n/a |
All of West Virginia’s commercial casinos have small hotels on-site.
| Casino Name | Number of Rooms |
| Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races | 18 (The Inn at Hollywood Casino) |
| Mardi Gras Casini | 150+ |
| Wheeling Island Casino | 150+ |
West Virginia poker rooms have been legal in the state since the early 1990s. All casinos with poker are licensed and regulated by the WV Lottery.
Cardrooms are located at state-licensed racinos that combine horse racing and casino gaming alongside poker. You can find out more in our guide to US state gaming laws.
After UIGEA was introduced in 2006, West Virginia took a dim view of online poker. For many years, unregulated poker sites were the only option for West Virginians wanting to play online.
With a new approach from the DOJ on the Wire Act, West Virginia started moving toward legalizing the game. The state legalized online poker in 2019. However, none of the regulated poker sites from states like New Jersey and Nevada have launched in The Mountain State.
That said, you can still access some excellent poker sites based offshore. Online poker rooms licensed in places like Curacao accept WV players and offer welcome bonuses, cash games, and tournaments.
Other forms of legal gambling in West Virginia:
The gambling laws in WV have been changing rapidly over recent years. Many forms of gaming are now permitted online, including poker. While there are no poker sites licensed in West Virginia (for now), there are several live poker options available.
All racinos and cardrooms are regulated and encourage you to gamble responsibly. Your first port of call for problem gambling is the Problem Gambling Help Network of WV. They offer a free phone line (1-800-GAMBLER) in addition to prevention programs and workshops.
You can play Limit or No Limit Texas Hold’em at all West Virginia poker rooms. It’s the easiest poker game to learn as well. You receive two cards face down and must make the best poker hand from two hole cards and five community cards.
Omaha is the fun variant of Hold’em where you receive four hole cards instead of just two. It’s the ideal option for cash game players as fortunes can change on every card.
Nearly every West Virginia poker room runs Pot Limit Omaha and Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo cash games. In PLO Hi-Lo, you may split the pot between the highest hand and the best low hand.
7-Card Stud is available at Wheeling Island. It’s a classic poker variant where you are dealt seven cards, five of which you use to make the best hand. The Limit betting structure makes 7-Stud ideal for cash game players.
The range of poker formats is fairly limited at WV casinos. Cash games are the main thing to play, in addition to the odd tournament during the week.
The main live poker options in West Virginia are cash games. You can play Hold’em from $1/$2 and up. PLO is available up to $5/$5, depending on demand. Some casinos expand their cardrooms for the weekends when more cash players are in town.
Only Hollywood Casino runs a special tournament, a $10,000-GTD event that runs at irregular times throughout the year. It’s also played host to a leg on the Hollywood Poker Open in recent years.
The main tournaments at West Virginia poker rooms are run as bounties. Part of your entry goes toward the main prizepool, with another portion contributing to the bounty. You win a bounty for every player you eliminate.
You can earn free cash and comps when you play live poker in West Virginia. Casinos in The Mountain State offer reward programs that let you accumulate points every time you sit down at the cash tables. It’s possible to exchange points for free-play tokens or cash. You can also put your points toward discounted room stays.
The laws on playing home games in West Virginia are vague at best. The State Code outlaws table games outside approved and licensed casinos. However, there doesn’t seem to be a specific rule on running non-profit games at home.
Charitable gaming in WV only includes bingo and raffles, for which you must apply for a license to run. Charity poker games do not fall under these rules, so we assume they are against the law.
In West Virginia, cash games and tournaments aren’t restricted to live poker rooms. Online gambling is most legal in The Mountain State. Find out more with our guides.
Jason Koon is the most famous poker pro from WV. He heads a long list of successful poker players who call West Virginia home.
The rules on paying tax on poker winnings in West Virginia are clear. You are liable to pay 6.5% on any poker tournament cash over $5,000. That’s in line with the required federal tax of 24%. Therefore, if you pay federal tax on poker winnings, you’ll pay state income tax too.
The West Virginia Tax Division also states that you must declare winnings from “unlawful gambling” too. That can include anything won at poker sites based offshore.
We have detailed information on paying tax for online gambling. Read more on this with our guide to online gaming taxes.
Yes. You can play cash games and some tournaments at a West Virginia poker room. The largest cardroom is Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races with 15 tables. You have a choice of Hold’em and Omaha games at stakes to suit all budgets.
There are three West Virginia poker room options for players. All three cardrooms are based on state-licensed racinos that also offer horse race betting, table games, and slots.
The WV Lottery is responsible for regulating live poker in West Virginia. You can only play games legally at casinos and racinos that carry the required license. You will find information on the WV Lottery in our US Gambling Commission Directory.
Yes. Online poker was legalized in 2019, but no regulated sites have opened yet. You can also play games at offshore poker sites that accept residents of West Virginia. These poker websites run freerolls and guarantees, in addition to cash games.
The legal gambling age in West Virginia is 18 for lottery and pari-mutuel betting, and 21+ for casino games and poker. You must present a valid form of identification at the casino or cardroom if requested to do so.
There are no strict dress codes at West Virginia casinos. However, you may have to wear smart clothes if you plan to visit certain race days at the track. Casual skirts, pants, and shirts are acceptable in any West Virginia poker room.
No. All cardrooms in West Virginia are shut for 1–2 days during the week. Plus, poker rooms close at around 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. on weekends. You can track open cash games and tournaments through apps like Bravo Poker.
No. The WSOP Circuit doesn’t come to West Virginia. However, you can play in Circuit events in states like Mississippi or North Carolina regularly. Check the World Series of Poker for a current timetable.
No. West Virginia poker rooms restrict cash games to Texas Hold’em and Omaha only. You can play Limit or No Limit Hold’em in addition to Pot Limit Omaha games. Minimum stakes are $1/$2 for NLHE cash games.
Yes. You are liable for state and federal tax if your tournament winnings exceed $5,000. Ensure you complete a Form W-2G whenever you win big at the cardroom. You must also declare all wins and losses on your annual tax return.
Yes. The Problem Gambling Help Network of WV (1-800-GAMBLER) offers practical help and guidance to poker players in The Mountain State. You can call for free to receive assurance, advice, and help with recovery programs.
Yes. Jason Koon is easily the top poker pro from WV. He has amassed career earnings worth over $50m, including major cashes on the World Poker Tour and in the World Series of Poker.
No. In general, freerolls are only available online at poker sites. Freerolls are restricted to new sign-ups who want to test online poker without risking their own money.
Of course. Casinos in West Virginia run loyalty programs that award player points for every hour you spend at the poker tables. You amass more points the more you play. You may redeem player points for discounts on hotel rooms and other perks.
No. There are no plans to open any new cardrooms in West Virginia. For now, you must play poker at one of the three racinos in The Mountain State or travel to neighboring states to find games.
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