USA Poker Online
Tip #12 – Playing online poker in the United States
All my tips in the past have been about how you should be playing poking against your opponent. In this case, the opponent is going to be played by the role of the ambiguous federal laws in the United States against “Internet Gambling”
This is not to say that online poker is legal where you live. This article is my resource to my faithful followers in the United States that like playing online poker and would like to continue playing poker online for real money.
The Federal Government considers internet gambling to be any wager or bet placed on a “game of chance”. For years, online poker websites that allowed poker players from the United States considered online poker a “game of skill” and therefore it didn’t pertain to the 2006 UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act) law.
However, the shutdown of PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker were not due to USA customers playing poker online. These companies were hit hard because of the way that these companies went about getting player deposits into their accounts. By intentionally mislabeling the transactions, the US Department of Justice was able to seek bank fraud and money laundering charges on the higher-ups at these companies.
Where is it Not OK to Play Poker in the USA?
Here are a list of States in America that have an issue with their citizens gambling online (online poker is included): Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington State, Wisconsin.
Of the states that I just listed above, most of these do not have specific laws punishing players that choose to wager. Here are some exceptions to that rule:
Illinois – The act of gambling online is a misdemeanor offense. You may or may not be allowed to sign up and play at a given gambling site.
Kentucky – Has made numerous attempts to ban the IP address of online gambling sites. There is a very strong possibility that a Kentucky resident will not be able to play at any online gambling site.
Louisiana – Louisiana has a law in place stating that it is a felony to gamble online.
Missouri – Heavily against any form of online gambling but currently not a crime.
Washington State – Washington has a law that states it is a felony to play online poker for real money in the US.
Then, there are the cases where the state already allows and regulates casinos and has a conflict of interest against the online gambling sites that operate outside of the United States. This would include Nevada (Las Vegas), New Jersey (Atlantic City) as well as some of the other states on the list.
Where can I still Play Poker Online?
With all of the confusion after the events on “Black Friday”, a lot of the online poker rooms are sparsely populated. The more popular poker networks may only have 1000 real money players or less. Some of the sites listed below have only had a couple hundred players online.
If you used to play at either PokerStars or Full Tilt Poker, there are still a few options left for playing poker online. One of the places that still accepts players from the US is PlayersOnly, which uses the PlayAces software. You can read more about PlayersOnly here.
One of the most popular online poker sites in the wake of Friday’s events is Carbon Poker. Carbon Poker offers a $600 sign up bonus and still accepts poker players from the United States. You can read more about Carbon Poker here.
Another site that is still open for business is Cake Poker. Read this review of Cake Poker for more information about this site.
One more option to consider is Bodog Poker. I also did a review on Bodog’s poker room which you can read here.
You can also take a look at Doyle’s Room. They are part of the Yatahay Poker Network and the site is named after poker great Doyle Brunson. I have a poker review about Doyle’s Room here.
