Are There Any Online Poker Sites For Us Players

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The reputation of the online poker industry has had its share of black eyes. Considering the tournament cheating scandals, charges of fraud and money laundering, and the 'super-user' controversies of years past, concerns about the honesty of Web-based poker games make sense.

Do dishonest poker sites exist? Absolutely – the first names that pop into my head are Ultimate Bet and Absolute Poker. These sister poker sites were embroiled in scandal and legal troubles over the fraudulent practices of what the operators identified as 'high-level consultants.' This is a glaring example of dishonesty – but don't think that the list of dishonest operators is limited to this kind of over-the-top behavior.

Several years ago, the idea of using Bitcoin to play poker online was just a pipe dream, but it is now a reality at many poker sites. The digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin makes things convenient for both players and poker rooms alike because it enables speedy transactions with relative anonymity and low fees. This is especially useful for American poker.

With a number of dishonest poker services still in business, how is a player to know if they're signing up with a legitimate site? If I had to sum up my approach to testing a site's honesty in a single word, it'd be one I used in the very first sentence of this article – 'reputation.'

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I've played poker at a number of different sites and on a variety of networks for more than a decade, and in that time I've seen both good and bad poker sites. I've seen some good services fail, and more than a few dishonest providers succeed. In my experience, the best way to pick out honesty in online poker operations is to check a website's overall reputation.

How I Test a Site's Reputation

Some poker sites have a good reputation for providing above-board service. What makes these providers different from disreputable poker sites? Identifying a site with a good reputation isn't hard. Once you've seen how I do it (and seen examples of both good and bad poker sites), you should be able to tell if a site you're interested in acts with honesty or not after just a few minutes of research.

Online Us Poker Sites Real Money

My first step when researching any gambling site is to search the message boards and forums that I trust for any information from actual players. This kind of data is often more useful than the stuff you find with a generic Web search for a site or network's name. Some rogue sites will make themselves known immediately – if a site appears on Brian Bailey's blacklist at Casinomeister.com, I feel pretty safe assuming that site is dishonest. User reviews of individual poker rooms and networks at PokerScout.com can be pretty illuminating, too.

If I don't find any major red flags from reading user reviews and blacklist pages, I'll move on to investigating a site's past. When I'm researching an online poker site, this step is even more important because of the poker industry's troubled recent past. Of course, depending on how old a bad review or piece of negative coverage is, things may have turned around. It may not be fair to judge a poker site based on something that happened even just a few years ago. Full Tilt Poker is a great example of how a site can be turned around – now owned by the same group that owns PokerStars, Full Tilt was once caught up in a nasty scandal of its own. Since Amaya took over Full Tilt in the summer of 2014, the site's reputation has improved. The lesson here – be careful of judging too quickly without all the information and context you need. Don't skimp on your reading.

Once I'm satisfied by all this research into a site's reputation and past, I'll start looking into the specifics of their services. Do they offer games I like? What kind of mobile applications do they offer? How's customer service? Notice that I don't get to this point until I've looked into their reputation in detail, and from sources I know I can trust.

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Are There Any Online Poker Sites For Us Players 2020

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A Dishonest Poker Site Example

I find that I learn a lot by making comparisons, so I'll start with an example of a dishonest poker service.

A great example of a service that was obviously dishonest in its operations was the Everleaf Gaming network. Everleaf finally had their gaming license revoked in August of 2013, but only after mountains of evidence about their poor business practices had already piled up. For example, after receiving a cease and desist order from the US Department of Justice in 2011, the site continued operating, even though the US government seized thousands of dollars from player accounts in the process. That's not a good sign at all.

Another example – Everleaf pulled out of the US market in 2012 (after months of non-payment to their US customers) and then set ridiculous requirements for former US customers who wanted to withdraw the remaining funds in their account. Essentially, US players would have to leave the United States and use a non-US friendly payment processing method in order to recover their funds. That's also not a good sign.

The evidence against Everleaf poker was daunting . Though the site is shut down for good at the time I write this, there were a few years there where potential customers could have easily found out about some very dishonest practices and saved themselves the trouble of dealing with this rogue operator.

Honest Poker Site Examples

The three poker sites I cover briefly below are by no means the only legitimate poker sites in operation. They're just good examples of honest operations that I would have no problem recommending to other poker players.

PokerStars
Launched in 2001, PokerStars is now the largest and most active online poker service in the world. Part of the reason for their dominance is the recent acquisition of Full Tilt Poker, a former rival. PokerStars has the longevity that I require to consider a site's reputation as 'honest,' and the sheer size of their player base is another generally good indicator. If a site isn't operating above-board, players aren't likely to keep wasting money there.

I want to point out something here to further illustrate a point I already made. PokerStars ran into some legal trouble with the US DoJ after online poker's infamous Black Friday shut-down. The news of the site's imminent demise made for major headlines during what was admittedly a pretty slow news week. But in the years since, PokerStars has settled the civil dispute (and admitted no wrong-doing in the process), and the company is no longer in dutch with the US government. This is why it's important to understand the full context of any wonky stuff you read about in a site's history.

iPoker Network
I suppose I'm cheating a little by including a poker network here rather than an individual site. But I think including a network makes sense – lots of poker players are active on the network's sites, so excluding it just because it's not technically a poker site seems like a miscalculation.

According to the stats at PokerScout.com (on the day I checked), the seven-day average number of active players at poker sites on the iPoker network is around 2,000. That puts the iPoker network in third place in terms of the average number of players active, behind PokerStars and 888poker.

The thing that stands out about iPoker's reputation is the fact that this is a network made up of six different skins, all of which are legitimate providers of online poker. Names like PaddyPower give iPoker some positive reputation points because they have a long history of solid business practices.

PartyPoker
At one time, PartyPoker was the biggest poker site in the world. Then 2006 happened, and the UIGEA forced PartyPoker (and most other above-board poker sites) out of the market unexpectedly. PartyPoker never really recovered from that blow, and is the seventh most-popular poker site as of today according to PokerScout.com stats.

PartyPoker launched in 2001 – around the same time as PokerStars – and quickly grew to one of the busiest gaming services in the world. Right away, I like PartyPoker's record in terms of longevity. They've been in the business since the very earliest days of Web-based poker games. They made it through the dark days of 2006 without any real legal trouble.

I also like the reputation afforded PartyPoker by virtue of their being a publicly-traded company. That requires a level of transparency and responsibility that tends to indicate honest practice. Not all poker sites that aren't publicly-traded are dishonest, but those that are listed on public exchanges are pretty much automatically considered to have an honest reputation.

Take a look at the three examples above and notice what the sites have in common. Those commonalities are the things you should look for when trying to find a new (and honest) poker site to open an account with. Hopefully you have some new tools to help you make a judgment about a site's honest reputation before you deposit. Poker players can save themselves a lot of financial trouble and headaches later by ensuring that they only do business with legitimate sites in the future.

Not all poker rooms currently accept US players, but thankfully there's still a handful of reliable places to choose from…

Best US friendly poker sites.

RoomReviewRatingTrafficCompetitionLicenseVisit
Ignition PokerA+HighWeakNo LicenseVisit
SwC PokerALowWeakNo LicenseVisit
Americas CardroomAHighTrickyCyprus Gaming AuthorityVisit
Nitrogen PokerBAwfulWeakCosta RicaVisit

These are the best real-money US friendly poker roomsthat I've played at. I think they're the most reliable online poker sites for American players as of March 2021 I haven't listed any poker rooms I don't trust, which is why this might be a shorter list than you find at other websites.

Unregulated and regulated states

Due to some states deciding to regulate online poker over recent years, your options for playing poker online vary depending on which state you live in.

Here's a colorful map to help you out:

Unregulated

These states have the most freedom. From here you are free to play at 'unregulated' rooms, which are currently the biggest and most popular destinations for playing poker online.

Unregulated sounds like a negative word, but in this context these rooms have the freedom to accept players from multiple states, and so therefore have much bigger player pools. Basically, if you live in one of the green states, you are in the best position for playing online poker because you have access to the busiest online poker rooms available.

The biggest rooms in operation are currently:

Note: All of the US-friendly poker rooms I recommend on this site fall in to the unregulated category. I believe they are the best options for playing poker online if you can get to them. I do not believe regulated sites offer anything better in terms of safety.

Regulated

These states have limited choice. They have regulated online poker, which means they offer poker rooms that only accept players from within the same (or sometimes other regulated) states, and therefore have much lower player traffic.

Regulation sounds like a good thing, but really the primary goal for these states is to be able to profit more directly from the running of online poker. As a result you can only play at the regulated sites (usually), and so you have a much more limited choice in where you can play poker online. For example, these are your options in each of the regulated states:

  • Delaware (since 2012): WSOP/888
  • Nevada (since 2013): WSOP NV
  • New Jersey (since 2013): WSOP/888, PokerStars NJ, Party/Borgata/BetMGM
  • Pennsylvania (since 2017): PokerStars PA
  • West Virginia (since 2019):(none yet)
  • Michigan (since 2019):(none yet)

Ideally it would be good if the whole of the US could pool together at some point, but as it stands the small number of individually regulated states means that you end up playing against a much smaller pool of players than you would otherwise be able to.

Unfortunately the biggest US-friendly online poker rooms tend to avoid accepting players from states with active regulated poker rooms.

Other

These states are in a tricky spot. They do not have regulated online poker rooms yet, but for certain reasons some unregulated sites have chosen not to accept players from these states either.

What Is The Best Online Poker Site For Us Players

This is usually because these states either have strong laws against playing poker online (e.g. Washington), or because there's some significant gambling organization already operating in the state (e.g. several state licensed casinos in Maryland). Either way, some unregulated sites feel these states are too risky to open up to, or don't want to step on anyone's toes.

Nonetheless, there are still some decent online poker rooms that accept players from these states:

These rooms are bitcoin-only and are much smaller than the biggest rooms, but they're still worth playing at.

Is it legal to play online poker in the US?

I'm a better poker player than I am a lawyer. So I wouldn't want you to completely trust everything I say on this topic. However, I've been involved with online poker for years, so I'm just going to give you my opinion on playing poker on the the Internet in the US anyway.

Money

Aside from a few states (see below), it appears to be perfectly legal to play online poker for real money in the US. Thousands of American players play online poker for real money every week. No players have ever been arrested.

If online poker is was illegal, the online poker rooms would not be accepting US players. US-facing rooms are vigilant about staying on top of the law. So unless the poker rooms prevents you from creating an account, you are good to go.

It is safe to play online poker in most US states, which is why we have these US friendly poker rooms. If you would like further reassurance from a legal expert in this area, read this article by I. Nelson Rose.

Here's a reassuring quote for you:

You are not going to go to jail for merely playing poker online. It is not a federal crime to make a bet. Half the states do have ancient laws on the books making it a crime, sometimes, to make a bet. But these are never enforced. I have been unable to find anyone who has been charged, let alone convicted, for playing Internet poker.I. Nelson Rose (Is it safe to play poker online?)

And here's a couple more reassuring quotes from Micheal Bluejay:

No American has ever been arrested, indicted, or prosecuted by the feds for gambling online, because you can't break a non-existent law.Michael Bluejay (Is online gambling legal in the U.S.?)
Even in states where online gambling is illegal, prosecution is rare and penalties are usually slight.Michael Bluejay (Penalties for online gambling, state by state)

The UIGEA (2006)

The UIGEA was passed in September 2006. It stands for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, and it was attached to the SAFE Port Act. Official details can be found between 31 USC § 5361 and 31 USC § 5367. Texas holdem preflop odds chart.

Contrary to what some people believe, this did not make online poker illegal. It simply made it a little more difficult to process transactions to and from online poker rooms and online casinos. It does not make the act of playing poker online for real money illegal, so it's not aimed at you.

Black Friday (2011)

On Friday 15th April 2011, the FBI seized the domains of the top 4 US-facing online poker rooms. This is known in the industry as Black Friday. The 4 main affected sites were:

  • UB Poker & Absolute Poker

These poker rooms were indicted for apparent bank fraud offenses, although it definitely appeared to just be an attempt to reduce the number of online poker sites that could cater to US citizens. You can't let that kind of money go untaxed, so best to slow the issue down until the Government can think of a solution for getting a slice of the action.

This did nothing to change the legality of online poker -- it simply resulted in these poker rooms no longer accepting or offering real money play to US poker players. This was the biggest change in online poker for US players since the UIGEA came in to effect in September 2006.

The major US poker sites were kicked out, leaving behind a handful of smaller US-facing rooms to soak up the remaining poker players.

US online poker law by state.

Poker Sites For Us Players

Each state has its own laws when it comes to gambling online. Here's a quick overview on playing online poker in the US by state.

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States that have big problems with online poker.

  • Washington

These states have explicitly stated that online poker is a felony. Some online poker rooms that accept US players have restricted access to players in these states.

States that have issues with online poker.

  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Missouri
  • New York
  • Oregon
  • South Dakota
  • Utah
  • Wisconsin

These states have issues with online poker and online gambling, but it's a bit of a grey area. It may be the case that there are some sort of laws in place, but they are not heavily enforced. I'm sure that there are many people in these states playing online poker on a regular basis, but there must be some element of risk.

As you may have spotted, I'm not a lawyer, so it's definitely in your best interest to do a bit of research for these particular states. This state by state gambling law summary has a lot of helpful information, so check that out.

States that have regulated online poker.

  • Delaware
  • Nevada
  • New Jersey
  • Pennsylvania
  • West Virginia
  • Michigan

These states are beginning to allow regulated online poker through online gambling companies that have acquired permits.

It's early days though, so it's nothing to get excited about. Expect it to be a while before this regulated state-by-state poker situation gains traction and is a worth getting involved in as a serious poker player.

States that seem okay.

  • All the rest

As far as I'm aware, the states in white do not seem to have any problems or issues with online poker. You'd obviously want to do a bit of checking around first to be sure, but unless you find anything blindingly obvious on the Internet you're probably fine.

For even more information on the current laws in each individual state (and general thoughts on the risks in each one), have a look at my friend's site: pokerlaws.org/united-states/. He writes more about it than I do, and is also a lot more American than I am.

Why aren't all poker rooms US friendly?

In short, it's easier for some rooms to operate by not accepting any US players at all. The UIGEA has made processing deposits and withdrawals trickier, so some rooms prefer to stick with non-US players to make their life easier.

Poker companies have limited resources, so some have decided to focus on developing their product and servicing players rather than constantly dealing with difficult payment processing. Other's are happy to put up with the effort. Different poker rooms, different plans and ideas.

How to add money to bitcoin wallet. There are a lot of poker players outside the US, so some have just decided to focus their attention on other markets.

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Poker sites for us players
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A Dishonest Poker Site Example

I find that I learn a lot by making comparisons, so I'll start with an example of a dishonest poker service.

A great example of a service that was obviously dishonest in its operations was the Everleaf Gaming network. Everleaf finally had their gaming license revoked in August of 2013, but only after mountains of evidence about their poor business practices had already piled up. For example, after receiving a cease and desist order from the US Department of Justice in 2011, the site continued operating, even though the US government seized thousands of dollars from player accounts in the process. That's not a good sign at all.

Another example – Everleaf pulled out of the US market in 2012 (after months of non-payment to their US customers) and then set ridiculous requirements for former US customers who wanted to withdraw the remaining funds in their account. Essentially, US players would have to leave the United States and use a non-US friendly payment processing method in order to recover their funds. That's also not a good sign.

The evidence against Everleaf poker was daunting . Though the site is shut down for good at the time I write this, there were a few years there where potential customers could have easily found out about some very dishonest practices and saved themselves the trouble of dealing with this rogue operator.

Honest Poker Site Examples

The three poker sites I cover briefly below are by no means the only legitimate poker sites in operation. They're just good examples of honest operations that I would have no problem recommending to other poker players.

PokerStars
Launched in 2001, PokerStars is now the largest and most active online poker service in the world. Part of the reason for their dominance is the recent acquisition of Full Tilt Poker, a former rival. PokerStars has the longevity that I require to consider a site's reputation as 'honest,' and the sheer size of their player base is another generally good indicator. If a site isn't operating above-board, players aren't likely to keep wasting money there.

I want to point out something here to further illustrate a point I already made. PokerStars ran into some legal trouble with the US DoJ after online poker's infamous Black Friday shut-down. The news of the site's imminent demise made for major headlines during what was admittedly a pretty slow news week. But in the years since, PokerStars has settled the civil dispute (and admitted no wrong-doing in the process), and the company is no longer in dutch with the US government. This is why it's important to understand the full context of any wonky stuff you read about in a site's history.

iPoker Network
I suppose I'm cheating a little by including a poker network here rather than an individual site. But I think including a network makes sense – lots of poker players are active on the network's sites, so excluding it just because it's not technically a poker site seems like a miscalculation.

According to the stats at PokerScout.com (on the day I checked), the seven-day average number of active players at poker sites on the iPoker network is around 2,000. That puts the iPoker network in third place in terms of the average number of players active, behind PokerStars and 888poker.

The thing that stands out about iPoker's reputation is the fact that this is a network made up of six different skins, all of which are legitimate providers of online poker. Names like PaddyPower give iPoker some positive reputation points because they have a long history of solid business practices.

PartyPoker
At one time, PartyPoker was the biggest poker site in the world. Then 2006 happened, and the UIGEA forced PartyPoker (and most other above-board poker sites) out of the market unexpectedly. PartyPoker never really recovered from that blow, and is the seventh most-popular poker site as of today according to PokerScout.com stats.

PartyPoker launched in 2001 – around the same time as PokerStars – and quickly grew to one of the busiest gaming services in the world. Right away, I like PartyPoker's record in terms of longevity. They've been in the business since the very earliest days of Web-based poker games. They made it through the dark days of 2006 without any real legal trouble.

I also like the reputation afforded PartyPoker by virtue of their being a publicly-traded company. That requires a level of transparency and responsibility that tends to indicate honest practice. Not all poker sites that aren't publicly-traded are dishonest, but those that are listed on public exchanges are pretty much automatically considered to have an honest reputation.

Take a look at the three examples above and notice what the sites have in common. Those commonalities are the things you should look for when trying to find a new (and honest) poker site to open an account with. Hopefully you have some new tools to help you make a judgment about a site's honest reputation before you deposit. Poker players can save themselves a lot of financial trouble and headaches later by ensuring that they only do business with legitimate sites in the future.

Not all poker rooms currently accept US players, but thankfully there's still a handful of reliable places to choose from…

Best US friendly poker sites.

RoomReviewRatingTrafficCompetitionLicenseVisit
Ignition PokerA+HighWeakNo LicenseVisit
SwC PokerALowWeakNo LicenseVisit
Americas CardroomAHighTrickyCyprus Gaming AuthorityVisit
Nitrogen PokerBAwfulWeakCosta RicaVisit

These are the best real-money US friendly poker roomsthat I've played at. I think they're the most reliable online poker sites for American players as of March 2021 I haven't listed any poker rooms I don't trust, which is why this might be a shorter list than you find at other websites.

Unregulated and regulated states

Due to some states deciding to regulate online poker over recent years, your options for playing poker online vary depending on which state you live in.

Here's a colorful map to help you out:

Unregulated

These states have the most freedom. From here you are free to play at 'unregulated' rooms, which are currently the biggest and most popular destinations for playing poker online.

Unregulated sounds like a negative word, but in this context these rooms have the freedom to accept players from multiple states, and so therefore have much bigger player pools. Basically, if you live in one of the green states, you are in the best position for playing online poker because you have access to the busiest online poker rooms available.

The biggest rooms in operation are currently:

Note: All of the US-friendly poker rooms I recommend on this site fall in to the unregulated category. I believe they are the best options for playing poker online if you can get to them. I do not believe regulated sites offer anything better in terms of safety.

Regulated

These states have limited choice. They have regulated online poker, which means they offer poker rooms that only accept players from within the same (or sometimes other regulated) states, and therefore have much lower player traffic.

Regulation sounds like a good thing, but really the primary goal for these states is to be able to profit more directly from the running of online poker. As a result you can only play at the regulated sites (usually), and so you have a much more limited choice in where you can play poker online. For example, these are your options in each of the regulated states:

  • Delaware (since 2012): WSOP/888
  • Nevada (since 2013): WSOP NV
  • New Jersey (since 2013): WSOP/888, PokerStars NJ, Party/Borgata/BetMGM
  • Pennsylvania (since 2017): PokerStars PA
  • West Virginia (since 2019):(none yet)
  • Michigan (since 2019):(none yet)

Ideally it would be good if the whole of the US could pool together at some point, but as it stands the small number of individually regulated states means that you end up playing against a much smaller pool of players than you would otherwise be able to.

Unfortunately the biggest US-friendly online poker rooms tend to avoid accepting players from states with active regulated poker rooms.

Other

These states are in a tricky spot. They do not have regulated online poker rooms yet, but for certain reasons some unregulated sites have chosen not to accept players from these states either.

What Is The Best Online Poker Site For Us Players

This is usually because these states either have strong laws against playing poker online (e.g. Washington), or because there's some significant gambling organization already operating in the state (e.g. several state licensed casinos in Maryland). Either way, some unregulated sites feel these states are too risky to open up to, or don't want to step on anyone's toes.

Nonetheless, there are still some decent online poker rooms that accept players from these states:

These rooms are bitcoin-only and are much smaller than the biggest rooms, but they're still worth playing at.

Is it legal to play online poker in the US?

I'm a better poker player than I am a lawyer. So I wouldn't want you to completely trust everything I say on this topic. However, I've been involved with online poker for years, so I'm just going to give you my opinion on playing poker on the the Internet in the US anyway.

Aside from a few states (see below), it appears to be perfectly legal to play online poker for real money in the US. Thousands of American players play online poker for real money every week. No players have ever been arrested.

If online poker is was illegal, the online poker rooms would not be accepting US players. US-facing rooms are vigilant about staying on top of the law. So unless the poker rooms prevents you from creating an account, you are good to go.

It is safe to play online poker in most US states, which is why we have these US friendly poker rooms. If you would like further reassurance from a legal expert in this area, read this article by I. Nelson Rose.

Here's a reassuring quote for you:

You are not going to go to jail for merely playing poker online. It is not a federal crime to make a bet. Half the states do have ancient laws on the books making it a crime, sometimes, to make a bet. But these are never enforced. I have been unable to find anyone who has been charged, let alone convicted, for playing Internet poker.I. Nelson Rose (Is it safe to play poker online?)

And here's a couple more reassuring quotes from Micheal Bluejay:

No American has ever been arrested, indicted, or prosecuted by the feds for gambling online, because you can't break a non-existent law.Michael Bluejay (Is online gambling legal in the U.S.?)
Even in states where online gambling is illegal, prosecution is rare and penalties are usually slight.Michael Bluejay (Penalties for online gambling, state by state)

The UIGEA (2006)

The UIGEA was passed in September 2006. It stands for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, and it was attached to the SAFE Port Act. Official details can be found between 31 USC § 5361 and 31 USC § 5367. Texas holdem preflop odds chart.

Contrary to what some people believe, this did not make online poker illegal. It simply made it a little more difficult to process transactions to and from online poker rooms and online casinos. It does not make the act of playing poker online for real money illegal, so it's not aimed at you.

Black Friday (2011)

On Friday 15th April 2011, the FBI seized the domains of the top 4 US-facing online poker rooms. This is known in the industry as Black Friday. The 4 main affected sites were:

  • UB Poker & Absolute Poker

These poker rooms were indicted for apparent bank fraud offenses, although it definitely appeared to just be an attempt to reduce the number of online poker sites that could cater to US citizens. You can't let that kind of money go untaxed, so best to slow the issue down until the Government can think of a solution for getting a slice of the action.

This did nothing to change the legality of online poker -- it simply resulted in these poker rooms no longer accepting or offering real money play to US poker players. This was the biggest change in online poker for US players since the UIGEA came in to effect in September 2006.

The major US poker sites were kicked out, leaving behind a handful of smaller US-facing rooms to soak up the remaining poker players.

US online poker law by state.

Poker Sites For Us Players

Each state has its own laws when it comes to gambling online. Here's a quick overview on playing online poker in the US by state.

Buy poker set online australia. Choose from our leading range of complete poker featuring poker cases, poker chips, plastic playing cards and dealer button. Huge range of options available including 200, 300, 500 and 1000 chip bundles.

States that have big problems with online poker.

  • Washington

These states have explicitly stated that online poker is a felony. Some online poker rooms that accept US players have restricted access to players in these states.

States that have issues with online poker.

  • Illinois
  • Indiana
  • Kentucky
  • Louisiana
  • Missouri
  • New York
  • Oregon
  • South Dakota
  • Utah
  • Wisconsin

These states have issues with online poker and online gambling, but it's a bit of a grey area. It may be the case that there are some sort of laws in place, but they are not heavily enforced. I'm sure that there are many people in these states playing online poker on a regular basis, but there must be some element of risk.

As you may have spotted, I'm not a lawyer, so it's definitely in your best interest to do a bit of research for these particular states. This state by state gambling law summary has a lot of helpful information, so check that out.

States that have regulated online poker.

  • Delaware
  • Nevada
  • New Jersey
  • Pennsylvania
  • West Virginia
  • Michigan

These states are beginning to allow regulated online poker through online gambling companies that have acquired permits.

It's early days though, so it's nothing to get excited about. Expect it to be a while before this regulated state-by-state poker situation gains traction and is a worth getting involved in as a serious poker player.

States that seem okay.

  • All the rest

As far as I'm aware, the states in white do not seem to have any problems or issues with online poker. You'd obviously want to do a bit of checking around first to be sure, but unless you find anything blindingly obvious on the Internet you're probably fine.

For even more information on the current laws in each individual state (and general thoughts on the risks in each one), have a look at my friend's site: pokerlaws.org/united-states/. He writes more about it than I do, and is also a lot more American than I am.

Why aren't all poker rooms US friendly?

In short, it's easier for some rooms to operate by not accepting any US players at all. The UIGEA has made processing deposits and withdrawals trickier, so some rooms prefer to stick with non-US players to make their life easier.

Poker companies have limited resources, so some have decided to focus on developing their product and servicing players rather than constantly dealing with difficult payment processing. Other's are happy to put up with the effort. Different poker rooms, different plans and ideas.

How to add money to bitcoin wallet. There are a lot of poker players outside the US, so some have just decided to focus their attention on other markets.

Best US poker deposit methods.

Although deposit and withdrawal options are slightly limited for US players, it is still easy to add funds and withdraw money from your online poker account. Some of the more popular deposit options for US players include:

  1. Bitcoin - This is the most utterly restriction-free way to send money across the Internet. You just have to be prepared to put up with the volatility of a fledgling currency. Having said that, I think it's amazing.
  2. Credit Card - The success rate of this method varies greatly from room to room. It's hit and miss, but worth a shot. VISA cards have the highest success rate.

Different poker rooms will have different deposit and withdrawal methods on offer for you, so don't expect to find the exact same methods everywhere. The poker room will let you know your options in the cashier, so your best bet is to just sign up and see what they've got. They'll usually highlight options for US players.

Note: Don't be surprised to have to pay fees for these methods, and higher ones than players outside of the US might be paying. They're not terribly large, but they're noticeable. If you make a deposit/withdrawal without paying a fee, consider it a bonus.

Other useful links.

How To Play Online Poker In Us

As I say, I'm not a lawyer (not yet anyway), so I don't have all the answers. Here are a few helpful pages with more in-depth information:

Poker Sites For Usa Players

Go back to the Texas Hold'em rooms.





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