US Players - Are you playing online?

I keep getting emails from poker sites that are open to US players. After the major US sites were closed by the government I stopped playing online and even after reading many sites am not sure if it's even legal to do so. I've asked a lot of players at a local card room and didn't find anyone still playing online. I want to poll a broader audience and also hear any thoughts. I am concerned about lack of regulation as well.

If you are a US player that still plays online please let me know where you play, if you trust the site and how has it been when you cash out?

Playing poker online is not and never was illegal.

For US players, however, deposits and withdrawals are difficult.

These are sites that accept US players that are recommended by CC:

https://www.cardschat.com/poker-site-reviews.php

Sure, a ton of us play online. Merge and Revolution (Cake) networks still accept US players.

It is not illegal to play online poker in the US, unless you happen to be from one of the states that specifically outlaw it. Never has been. The UIGEA relates to financial institutions that do business with illegal gambling businesses, but there has never been criminalization of players at the federal level.

Merge and Revolution are trustworthy networks, pick any skin (I recommend BlackChip on Merge and Lock on Revolution/Cake). Cashing out is hit & miss from any of them serving the US for what should be obvious reasons -- you *will* get your money, but it may take 3-4 weeks or 3-4 months depending on how much trouble they run into with their payment processors. Lock now offers WU at a 10% fee, the first of which every month is refunded.

Been playing on Merge sites, and had no problems so far.

I've played at Carbon with no relative problems.

I belong to a group of poker buddies and we all still play online. Some as myself never stopped for a second. BF came and we just downloaded more and when doyles room and minted (everleaf gaming) were shut down we just kept moving.

As it is said above "playing" online poker is legal and always has been. Receiving money from a poker site is legal. The only law they use against a site revolves around how you deposit your funds and wire transfers.

As for cashing out I haven't been that blessed yet but have a friend who is. He's made @ $20k so far in 3 months on blackchip (merge network) and was doing quite well on cake before that. Again, as stated above this initial cashout will take what seems to be forever but once approved the sequential cashouts are smooth and easy as he has had at least 5 cashouts so far in 6-7 months.

Where we play. I personally stay with cake and blackchip but any skin on either revolution or merge networks are fine. many from my group also play at intertops and hog wild.

The point of it (at least to me) is to keep our skills up and as any good American stubbornly snub my nose at the DOJ and continue to enjoy an activity that brings no harm to those around me and is a part of American heritage.

:evil:

To be fair I don't think the poll itself will give you useful results since you are asking people who are part of an online poker forum whether they play poker online.

I'm not saying EVERYBODY at CC plays poker online, but it has to be the vast majority.

Scourrge said:

To be fair I don't think the poll itself will give you useful results since you are asking people who are part of an online poker forum whether they play poker online.

I'm not saying EVERYBODY at CC plays poker online, but it has to be the vast majority.

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Add to that the title of the post - if they are not playing online they are probably going to skip this thread as something not relevant to them. So yeah, this poll will be skewed.

Merge Network/Carbon

Scourrge said:

To be fair I don't think the poll itself will give you useful results since you are asking people who are part of an online poker forum whether they play poker online.

I'm not saying EVERYBODY at CC plays poker online, but it has to be the vast majority.

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yep, BF definitely pushed most U.S. players out but a few have moved to other sites.
i don't put in nearly as much volume online post BF though. perhaps it's because i can't seem to win online anymore. it took me years to get comfortable at stars so probably take nearly as long to get use to merge.

I barely play and haven't deposited since black friday. Might deposit for poker maximus coming up, but the deposit methods and withdrawal times concern me. I'm looking forward to online poker getting regulated in the US. That's when I'll be back and playing a lot again like I did during the days of pokerstars and ftp

I play on merge and have had no problems, just longer cashout times. But it's either put up with that or don't play, so i don't mind. I certainly don't keep nearly as much of my roll on the sites though as i did before

I play on Merge. I miss Pokerstars terribly though. Definitely not as much fun anymore

Online poker playing is yes, currently most of my play is at intertops. also ive noticed a few posts commenting on poker stars. i have to admit i miss poker stars too..

currently on merge, cake, americas card room, and soon to be pokerstars again once delaware starts it

Yes I am... On black chip poker and carbon poker... I also have cake, not played there yet but I have it when the time presents itself

It’s not death itself that breaks my heart but loss of potential to do great things... that is good... you know who said that?

I'm playing on Carbon and black chip. I really want PokerStars/FtP back though.. :-/

Hi everyone. I'm in the us and have gotten money back. It might take a few weeks but it does come. I play in cake poker and black chip. Just passing on the info.

dantheman91 said:

/FtP back though.. :-/

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really now??....

merge is a joke

software is shoddy and the withdrawal max is hilarious.

cake has screwed players

i do play online though

re

I have been playing on a few networks, but lately mainly just the carbon and Aced. Have no problems yet, I did on bodog. Think bodog is gone, for US players anyways. Guess those votes "No" are those Bodog players, lol.

Bowman said:

I have been playing on a few networks, but lately mainly just the carbon and Aced. Have no problems yet, I did on bodog. Think bodog is gone, for US players anyways. Guess those votes "No" are those Bodog players, lol.

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Bodog became Bovada for US players. Sucks even worse than Bodog IMO compared to the competition though, and I uninstalled it completely after the switch.

I played on Skillbet, which is a duplicate poker kind of game.

There's a free $10 challenge if you want to try it out. I'll put the challenge link on my profile if that's okay with the mods.

I am a little surprised that anyone in the online poker would think that online poker in USA is illegal. Except under a couple of state laws, it is not.

Financial institutions affiliated with the Federal Reserve are prohibited from transacting with those EVIL online dens of iniquity.

If your favorite online site puts a layer of non-FederalReserve transaction between you and them---voila! not illegal. This might be why it takes longer to cash out these days.

The united states government is ONLY interested in a hefty chunk of the revenue stream, as always.

I just came back a few weeks ago and started playing again. I knew it was legal to "play" online but since I was afraid that any funds I deposited could end up in limbo for years or even disappear all at once I gave the game a break.

Recently I decided to come back and build my bankroll from only freerolls. I did have some help as I had some points left on bovada from when I used to play on bodog that I traded for tickets and was able to get small roll started on sit n go's.

I wish I hadn't took so much time off as I feel rusty but I'm enjoying myself and I don't foresee myself quitting again anytime soon.

Every online poker site serving US players IS breaking federal law. Whether they are more like Stars and segregate accounts and will be able to pay out any fees/go bankrupt and not steal player money, or be like FTP/UB and not be able to pay out players if fined by the US government is the question. That said I currently play Merge and Lock. You can buy both at somewhere around 90c on the dollar though so I just keep a mega-short roll and if I get too low can just reload. If you don't mind waiting forever/you play small enough stakes the withdrawal limits don't harm you just cash out yourself at 100%-fee or you can sell your BR for the ~90c for cashouts. I'm still hesitant though and if I had a casino close to me you can bet I'd never play online. But playing live is boring/long trip for me so I play online. I've already made and cashed out more than my balance so guess it was a good decision to do it so far, hopefully I can keep playing though until federal regulation is passed.