I noticed that the money games were illegal now (just got back into online) and it seems like full tilt poker, where I used to play is impossible to get into.

 

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Haven't played in a while, didn't know the money games were illegal.

 

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You have to open a bank account in Canada osomethin.

Say... why not have an Outpost poker night on a free table? I'd school all y'all and make you put up icons of My Little Pony.

 

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fairly sure there is still some that use bitcoin too

 

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I play every once in a while on facebook through Zygna. I'm not much good but it's a good distraction.

 

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Very rare, I only play for small sums.
It's not illegal through the services available in Europe generally though.

Why is it illegal in the US?

 

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not exactly sure. I had heard it had something to do with the cheating that was going on, (one person would use 6 accounts, get them all on the same table and play all 6 against the one or two people who came in against them) but it might just be that the US doesnt like online gambling.

 

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They didn't actually make it illegal.

What they did was make the bank transfers to/from the websites illegal which had the same net effect. It was tacked on as a rider to another bill and passed with no notice and wiped out most of the online gambling over night.

Full Tilt and another big site kept processing American money by disingenuous methods (saying it was for other purposes besides gambling), but eventually they got caught and have gone bankrupt because of it. Millions of dollars in accounts are frozen and probably lost.

Bush 43 pushed it through at the behest of the US-based casinos who gave him and other politicians money.

Democracy in action

 

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This is correct. There was a huge cheating scandal at Ultimate Bet involving Russ Hamilton, a former WSOP Main Event champion, but that wasn't the reason the sites were shut down.

I still have money tied up in FT. I got every penny back from Pokerstars though.

You can still play online in the US at several sites:

Merge: Carbon, BlackChip Poker, Lock, RPM

highest traffic out of all sites still accepting US players
different bonuses/rakeback for each skin
Slow withdrawals, ~1-2 months via check
doesn't accept some states


Yatahay: America's Cardroom, TruePoker

Medium traffic
27% rakeback
Fast cashouts (visa check WU)


Cake: Cake, Intertops

Medium traffic
33% rakeback
Slow withdrawals, ~1-3 months via check
certain affilliates can help speed up cashouts
intertops uses seperate cashier which is faster


Everleaf: Minted, Luvin

Low traffic
Fast withdrawals, ~1 week via WU
40% rakeback
$1 max rake on usd tables until 2012
amazing support
fishy italians
limits player profits against said italians to $750 a week
software freezes up sometimes


Bovada (formerly Bodog)

Medium traffic
No rakeback
Fast cashouts via check
Completely anonymous tables - notes useless after session

Obviously the DOJ could go after these sites at any moment so deposit at your own risk.

 

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