New member / online poker questions??

Hello all,

I have played poker for years with friends and at casinos, but have just this week started playing a little online. I started playing at full tilt after checking a couple of the main sites out. So far I have just played with play money but I have some questions for you experts out there.

I heard it is officially illegal to play for real money inside America. It seems that I can make a deposit and play at full tilt even with my California address. Is this legit? If I cannot deposit money from my credit card, is the Moneygram deposit safe? They offer a service where I would moneygram a minimum of $250 to Niquragua (sp).

Does anyone have experience with this?

If it is ok to play for real money, what are your suggestions for deposit?

Also, what are your suggestions for poker sites? I have had fun at full tilt. Are there better sites for no limit holdem and what makes them better. I like the interface and speed of full tilt so far.

Thanks in advance for any answers you may be able to help me with.

Dday_0612

It is NOT ILLEGAL to play online poker in most states. It is a gray area as to whether it is legal to gamble online. The recent 'ACT', signed about 10 months ago, only made electronic transfers of money to gambling sites a problem.

That 'ACT' drove most of the poker sites out of the US.

There are not a lot of sites left catering to the US market. FullTilt, PokerStars, UltimateBet, Absolute, and bodog would probably be the main ones. PokerNordica has a nice interface, and is an up and coming site. There are others as well.

I agree with you and prefer FullTilt. Most of the time it is fast and feels light on its feet. PokerStars is a bit slower, the interface is OK but their main attraction is that they are the biggest, with the most everything. Bodog is sparse by comparison but might be the fastest site. Absolute has made some nice changes lately, and its sister site UltimateBet is still as clunky as ever.

Many folks here will tell you each sites population is different, more fish here, more pros there. I don't believe it.

Should you decide to try any of those others please link to them through this site. You will loose nothing, but this site might get a rake back sort of benefit from your downloading via this page;

Poker
Bonuses

And welcome to Cardschat.

Everything dj said plus...
I'd be shocked if you could use your credit card. 99.99% of US based credit cards will be declined for deposit. This is not new, it has been this way for many years now and has just been getting tighter (not related to the ACT).

Yes, it is perfectly safe as is the Western Union option. But I've not used either.

Personally, if you're going to play at either PokerStars or Full Tilt (and only depositing between $25-$250), I'd say use the http://www.allaccessgift.com pre-paid card. It does work at both of those sites (and most likely other sites as well). Use their site to find a retailer and buy the non-reloadable card for just $4.95 and no other fees at all for anything.

if you have a choice between moneygram and western union pick moneygram, its a lot cheaper.

Thanks a ton for all your help. Any other suggestions or input is appreciated.

Thanks

Thanks. How do you cash out from the poker sites? Epassporte?