Although delayed, PA online poker is coming soon. With it will come a boost to the regulated US online poker market. As has happened in other states, new players will emerge into the spotlight, especially right here on PocketFives, where the top online poker players in the world are ranked. One of the players with the potential to make waves in Pennsylvania is Tom Parkes, and he’s as enthusiastic as anyone for legal online poker to launch in his home state.

“I was excited when I first heard that online poker would come back,” Parkes said. “I turned 21 after Black Friday occurred, so I didn’t experience the Full Tilt days that other players have experienced with the games on that site and many others. I have played on Bovada/Ignition when I went back to school but felt uneasy at some of the money-transfer processes they had. I’m glad to see a regulated, reliable entity come to the state of PA, which has one of the larger player pools in the States, relatively, and I think it will help the growth of online poker in the rest of the country in the future.”

Parkes is 28 and soon to be 29. He has a regular job but has done well for himself with the poker he plays on the side. Like many poker players his age, Parkes was first exposed to the game via its booming presence in the early-to-mid 2000s, when the image of Chris Moneymaker winning the 2003 WSOP Main Event was everywhere. Parkes recently experienced a deep WSOP Main Event run of his own, which gave him added confidence and a chunk of money to add to his bankroll. He finished 59th from the field of 8,569 entries for $142,215.

“My whole experience in the Main Event was truly a life-changing one,” Parkes said. “That tournament is filled with so many highs and lows over the 70-80 hours that I spent playing in a week, which makes it difficult to pinpoint very specific moments. Throughout the six days, I played with many past, present, and future crushers in the game and in this particular tournament, including Sam Greenwood, JC Tran, Cliff Josephy, Jackie Glazier, John Racener, Joseph Cheong, and many more as the days went on. After ESPN coverage ended on Day 5, former NFL star Richard Seymour broke to my table where he eventually busted. This tournament also proved that I’m skilled enough to hang with those people mentioned and many others. The support I had from people back home was immense as well, as my phone wouldn’t stop going off when the people following the reports saw that we went on break or stopped play for the day. This was only my second Main Event, and I’m truly grateful that I just had the opportunity to play in the ‘Super Bowl’ of the game along with getting a big score. My original goal was to cash in the event, and I certainly exceeded that this summer.”

Parkes’ WSOP Main Event run wasn’t the only big live tournament score he hit in 2019. On the Pennsylvania poker live scene, Parkes manoeuvred his way to the final table of the Parx Big Stax 1100 event in October. He eventually finished in third place and picked up another $37,154 in prize money.

“This year is the first whole year that I have started putting in significant time studying the game off the table through the myriad of content that is available to go over,” Parkes said. “I’ve spent more hours studying than playing for sure this year, which is typically the opposite of your general player. I played my first WSOP Main Event in 2018 and busted on Day 2 after entering the day with about 20 big blinds. 2018 was an eye-opener for me regarding I figured out a potential path for success in not only the WSOP but other events as well. This most recent score at Parx proved to me that I didn’t just run well and get lucky for my score at the Main Event in Vegas. It proved that the game plan I have for entering these events is a good framework to build on and improve in the future. This was also the first event out about 10-15 tournaments that I’ve played at Parx since May 2018 that I made a Day 2, let alone cash, so it felt good to get that ‘curse’ off my back, so to speak.”

With nearly $180,000 in earnings from the two scores and an appetite to improve, Parkes is very much ready for legal online poker sites in Pennsylvania to open their virtual doors. Not only is it incredibly convenient to play from home, but Parkes is also a fan of how online poker can be great testing grounds for those looking to advance their games.

“The sheer convenience of being to play a tournament from your home without having to drive to a casino and wait for a seat to open along with the other time constraints that come with live poker,” Parkes said when asked why he’s looking forward to online poker being available in Pennsylvania. “Online poker is also a great means to test new strategies to add to your game, and the amount of practice and volume that can be achieved is incomparable to the live setting. I also know these sites such as PokerStars, for example, will have Platinum Pass events for Barcelona like they had for the Bahamas in the beginning of this year, or other similar prizes, which would be another great experience if I happen to win a pass.”

When online poker does eventually launch in Pennsylvania, which could be any day now, Parkes will be ready to go. He’s ready to play and he’s ready to continue to learn. Ultimately, Parkes wants to win a WSOP gold bracelet and he feels having regulated online poker available to him in Pennsylvania can help him achieve that goal sooner. It can also help him become a better all-around player, he said.

“Security for these sites is of utmost importance, in my opinion,” Parkes said. “The sites that have partnered with PA casinos have a very good track record for security over potential bots and seamless money transfers on their site, so I don’t see that being a large issue, hence the length of time that is being taken to get the sites rolled out and ready to go. I feel that I can use the volume of online to learn other games to become more versatile in mixed games as well. My next goal is to win a bracelet in any event that I play for the WSOP in the future, and mixed games or becoming more versatile in general might lead to an easier route to getting a bracelet rather than playing NLHE tournaments like the Monster Stack or the Colossus, which get thousands of entries ever year they run. I hope the player pool will include some mixed game players so the games can run most of the time on the sites.”