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A long overdue revamp for this page, I have spent the best part of a week playing, investigating and comparing the sites and networks which are still open for our US readers! I’ll keep this page updated from now on, and make this the main place for news and updates on the US scene. There are two main parts to the information here, on the left you will see a list of rooms with their current status + links to the detailed reviews. Below are some links to comparison articles – each for a specific format covering tournaments, cash games, SNGs (of course) and satellite qualifiers. Deposits and withdrawals are still an issue of course. Sites are still accepting credit and bank cards with some success – though many do get rejected. I read in a few different places that Cake Poker are currently the best bet for successful deposits - though being outside the US I have not been able to verify personally. Money transfer services and wire-transfers also seem to be holding up ok. Paper checks are the most popular cash-out methods, there are some minimums in place for this. I’m recommending caution for all readers, if you do start to build your bankroll then there is no need to keep too much of it online at any one time. Having said that, there is no reason why you should not enjoy the poker games – 10000s of US players are doing just that right now on a decent (if smaller than in the past) selection of sites. In addition to the short status messages, I'll keep track of the latest news below. If there is any big announcement this will get covered in my blog. Most of the news at the moment is pretty small, with network changes and smaller sites coming and going. I'm keeping an eye on a couple of these including the Hero Network - did not think they were worth including just yet, though it is early days. Of course any big news about legal real money poker in the US wil take priority, I'll sing from the treetops as soon as I hear a thing! I am in the process of putting together some comparison articles for different forms of poker. With Merge poised to return (at least that is what they are saying) these will need a re-vamp very soon. Make sure you bookmark this page today - I'll also link it from around the site. US Poker Sites - Comparison Articles For Cash, SNGs, Tournaments And SatellitesBest US Site For Tournaments: Well, the Sunday Million has gone, though this does not mean no tournament action at all. There are plenty of smaller buy-in < $22 games still available and some of them have decent guaranteed prize pools. This article shows you what is available for tournament fans at the remaining US-friendly sites. Best US Site For Online Poker Tournaments Best US Sites For Cash Games: There are actually a lot of smaller stakes games available. For those playing lower to mid-stakes you’ll need to search a little harder, if you are used to multi-tabling then this can still be done – depending on your stake level you might need to combine a couple of sites. This article compares what is still on offer for cash game players. Best US Site For Poker Cash Games Best US Sites For Sit N Goes: I could not leave these out of a site named SNG Planet! Same story again, there are a lot of smaller stakes Sit n Goes in various formats (including the popular double or nothing and turbo games). As you get above the $11 level then the games get sparse outside of peak times. Again it is possible to multi-table still if you play the lower stakes or combine sites in the evenings. Best US Poker Site For Sit N Goes Best US Site For Satellite Qualifiers: Grabbing that seat in a live tournament is still possible. Here I look at the satellites running at the sites still welcoming US Players. Best US Site For Poker Satellites (coming soon!)
US Poker Sites- News Updates7th May 2012: News coming through that Lock Poker have bought the Cake Poker network. Lock are currently on Merge (the same network as Carbon Poker). My initial feeling is that this will be good news for Cake, who are starting to fall behind a little in the US traffic rankings. Lock did focus their marketing on the more experienced players (using online and live poker pros) which could well lead to the 'better' players leaving Merge... Early days yet - though this certainly looks like a positive development. 26th April 2012: Thought I had better add an entry for the amazing Full Tilt / Pokerstars news this week, which could affect US readers in 2 ways. Firstly those waiting for repayment of their Full Tilt balances have reason to be optimistic if the rumors that Stars are to buy Full Tilt are true. More important for the longer-term health of US poker is that the negotiation is about a 'settlement' with the DoJ - which could eventually clear the way for Pokerstars to return to the US once the market gets regulated - all speculation at the moment, albeit with some good reasons to be optimistic. 9th April 2012: A Big announcement by Americas Cardroom, this smaller site (they were previously known as Doyles Room) are on the Yatahay Network and are planning a big MTT with a $250k prize pool to mark the anniversary of black friday. I will be playing on ACR this week and bring you a review - in the meantime you can find a summary in the entries of my Fish-o-Meter widget, or check out Americas Card Room for yourself here. 13th March 2012: The State of Nevada look like they will have their own intrastate online poker operational by the fall. While this is not particularly interesting for most players (even in Nevada there will not be enough players to build the critical mass for great games). It is looking more and more like a starting point for wider legislation - the question seems to have shifted to 'will it be states or federal legislation first?' rather than 'will we see legal poker' - great to have some good news! 28th Feb 2012: Well the news does not get better, another indictment - this time of Calvin Ayre and Bodog. This site already switched branding in the US and was operating under the name 'Bovada', this continues to welcome US players under their .lv domain. Meanwhile the non-US old Bodog brand is fully operational under the bodog.eu domain. 9th Feb 2012: Everleaf Network leave the US Market. Another casualty of frozen funds from payment processors and Federal indictments. Everleaf have been forced out of the US. While their own stats claim only 20% of the total players were US-based, this is still a significant blow to some of the sites which focused their marketing there. 6th Jan 2012: Some on-site news, I have been working hard on updating and upgrading my reviews of the leading sites. Both Cake and Carbon are included. You can see the new look Carbon Poker 2012 Review here (link to SNG review around half way down). 27th December: Interesting news from the DoJ just before Christmas, with the Wire Act clarified as only applying to betting on sporting events. This seems to clear the way for the individual states to pool together players should they choose to allow online poker - and with the current economic situation there are many states who could do with the money! We will have to wait and see how fast things move, and whether this opportunity at the State level triggers some of the 'vested interests' to move faster with federal legislation efforts. 4th December: Another update of an older guide now includes my top US pick in addition to the worldwide players choices. Check out the Best Site for Heads-Up Sit N Goes Here. 21st November: US players looking escape the winter can now qualify for the Aussie Millions (Jan 22nd to 28th, Melbourne, Australia) at Carbon Poker. Check out this article for more on how you can bag that $12,500 package! 17th November: Two new items. First I put together a detailed new article pitching Carbon Poker and Cake Poker head-to-head on cash games, tournaments / SNGs, software and the all important financial incentives. You can find out who won in here! Secondly, the state of Nevada have announced they are to license Intrastate real money poker from next year. This will be for Nevada residents to play other Nevada residents and is being seen as an opportunity for a new bunch of operators to gain some experience ahead of wider legislation. Again - watch this space! 9th November 2011: Some new tournaments from Carbon Poker to report on. Friday's now see the 'Fat Stack' games, which start with 1 million chips - and the 'Slim Stack' tournaments which start with just 10 chips! These innovations are currently fee-free. I am looking forward to the Fat Stack games which should see final table stacks measured in the 100's of millions. While there is also some good news coming out about Full Tilt cashouts, I will wait until something is confirmed on this before publishing. Keep and eye on my blog for the latest news. 12th October 2011: Carbon Poker have re-opened to US players from most states - this site have been closed for a while for new US signups, so this is a very welcome development... I rate Carbon highly and expect to make them my top choice for all poker formats. There are currently restrictions on the following states: New York, Kentucky, Washington DC, Maryland, Washington, Missouri and Louisiana. If you are outside of these states then you can check out my Carbon Review + special reader offer via this link. 11th October 2011: The Doyle's Room Brand is about to disappear. This will be transitioned into the (dormant) site 'America's Card Room' which is on the same network known as both Yatahay and True Poker. This should be smooth for existing players, who will apparently keep their same deals and bonuses. More as soon as I get the details! 3rd October 2011: General Full Tilt Update: Faint hopes of getting our bankrolls back have come around, thanks to news that Group Bernard Tapie are exploring a buyout. There are so many 'ifs' and 'buts' (especially where the DoJ are concerned) that this is more of a wait and see than a real sale... the hope is welcome though and statements have been issues with Feb 2012 as a target date. 21st September 2011: Full Tilt owners and pros have been named in a new civil suit by the Feds. Allegations cover the disappearence of money from what should have been segregated player funds into the pockets of Howard Lederer, Ray Bitar and Chris 'Jesus' Ferguson (and others). Looks like a bleak day for all of us with funds frozen on Full Tilt. I'll post more as the situation develops. 13th September 2011: Poker View announce they are to join the Merge Network: PokerView are a webcam poker site and apparently intend to integrate this with the Merge software moving forward. At the moment the Merge Network is used by many US players, however they temporarily stopped new US signups while they restructure their back office operations to deal with the increased player volumes. I personally love Merge, and believe this will be the best choice for US players once they re-open. Read my review of Carbon Poker here. Don't forget to bookmark this page now - I'll update on the US scene as soon as any news comes in. |
