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Following Black Friday in 2011, PokerStars, Full Tilt and Absolute poker were prosecuted under US law. They were forced to shut their US operations down.
Gambling in the United States
Currently, US players have far fewer options than most of the world when it comes to online poker sites. The reason behind this is that it is illegal in the US for banks and financial institutions to process money transfers for online gambling providers (which is why US poker actors progressively turn to Bitcoins).
Legal Status of Online Poker and Where to Play
However, playing poker online in the USA isn’t illegal in itself. The situation is even easier for three american states in particular. Indeed, Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey have full legal rights to host and provide poker sites.
As a result, several solid choices remain open for American players, with the the 2 largest US poker sites being Ignition Casino (Formerly Bovada) and Americas Cards Room (Winning poker Network).
Additionnally, even though offshore poker sites can sometimes restrict their access to US players, some appear to be more tolerant. As such, websites licenced in Costa Rica and under Curaçao eGaming often accept US players. Find below a list of our recommended US poker sites.
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Our selection of Poker Sites in the U.S
- Overall Rating 90%
- Software 95%
- Games 90%
- Offers 70%
- Home Games Experience
- Multi Tabling
- Exclusive Deal
- Online support by Somuchpoker
- PC version only through Emulation and no MAC version
- No HUD available
In Short:
PokerBros is a new application granting you, just like PPPoker and Upoker, access to Online Home Games!
If you have never tried it, make sure to contact us to discover this brand new online poker experience! Somuchpoker will ease every step to your PokerBros Experience:
- Overall Rating 90%
- Software 95%
- Games 90%
- Offers 70%
- Payments 80%
- Very likely the softest US site
- 100% First Deposit Bonus up to $1,000
- Fast payouts (< 2 weeks for checks, <5 days for bitcoin)
- Highest player traffic of US sites
- Texas Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha Cash Games from low to high stakes
- Great action in Limit Hold’em and Omaha Hi-Lo
- Fast Fold “Zoom” poker games from Microstakes to NL100
- 100k Sunday Major @ 150k prize pool
- 4 tables max. at the same time
- No P2P transfers
- No New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada
- Anonymous tables: users are labeled by numbers
- Notes taken erase once player leaves
- Hand histories available for 7 days
- Poker Tracker and Hold’em Manager are not allowed and not compatible
- Only “legal” HUD available is Hold’em Indicator which is offering stats per session only
In Short:
On August 9, 2016, Ignition Casino has acquired full ownership and proprietary rights of the Bovada poker business.
Payment options :
- Overall Rating 90%
- Software 95%
- Games 90%
- Offers 70%
- Payments 80%
- Excellent software
- Great first deposit package
- Multiple withdrawal options
- The largest tournament guarantees
- Compatible with all trackers including Hold’em Manager and Poker Tracker
- Arguably one of the tougher US-friendly networks
- Withdrawals / Deposits fees
- Bots operating on the network?
- Support is slow to address questions related to games integrity
In Short:
Americas Cardroom is one of the larger online poker rooms servicing the poker needs of the US Market. It offers the largest tournament guarantees to American poker players.
Payment options :
- Overall Rating 90%
- Software 95%
- Games 90%
- Offers 70%
- Payments 80%
- Big 100% First Deposit Bonus Up To $1000
- Software available on PC, Mac and Mobiles
- Sit ‘n Go and MTT Leaderboard Challenges
- $10,000 New Depositor Freeroll
- Not the best available software (although software has recently been approved)
- Not that wide of a choice in tournaments comparing to its competitors
- Smaller Tournament Gtds
In Short:
Betonline is another online poker room available to American players with good traffic as well as a wide variety of soft games.
Payment options :
ADDITIONAL OPTIONS
The following networks are accepting American players and can be considered as safe but are only offering a limited action (small traffic):
- Network: Horizon (Revolution)
- Skin: Intertops Poker
- Website: intertops.eu/poker
- License: Curacao, Netherland Antilles & Cyprus
- Deposit Bonus: 200% up to $1000
- Rakeback: Get a private deal
- Network: Grand Poker Network
- Skin: Vietbet
- Website: vietbet.eu
- License: Costa Rica
- Rakeback: Get a private deal
MUST AVOID !
The following websites have closed while still owning large amount of money to players, or became unreliable.
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Carbon poker (Merge Gaming Network) is currently experiencing a decrease in traffic, and cashout issues. We recommend you to avoid this poker site.
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FullFlush Poker (Equity Network)
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Lock Poker
U.S Poker Site FAQs
Is it legal to play online poker as an American?
Federally speaking, American citizens playing online poker in the USA is NOT illegal, except in two states – Washington and Louisiana where it is explicitly illegal to be caught playing online (though there has been no known incident where individuals were indicted or prosecuted in any US jurisdiction).
However, if you’re an American looking to play online poker in the USA, you should understand that online gaming lies in a legal gray area in many states.
Regulated US Poker websites Vs unregulated US Poker websites
Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey
Beginning 2013, Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey have legalized and have regulated online poker with each having sites exclusively for in-state play. Because of this, the biggest names of the industry have re-entered the market (888poker / PokerStars) but major issues have arisen especially in terms of player liquidity. Since these sites have the limitation of being in-state, the player pool has been greatly diminished, the low numbers of which fail to attract more people resulting in low profits for players as well as low revenues for the online platform.
Recent developments this year are pointing out that Pennsylvania will launch online poker in Q1 of 2019, however, the US Department of Justice issued an opinion on January 24 that might cause a delay to that time frame.
Rest of the US
Several sites decided to keep operating in the US after Black Friday despite stringent legislations on online gambling. The appetite of Americans for online poker did not abate even after Black Friday. Full Tilt and PokerStars enthusiast migrated to less known networks which enjoyed an impressive growth these past 5 years.
Thousands of US players play on these sites daily currently making them the flagship platforms for the US. Formerly less known, they now rank among the world’s largest online poker clients.
The 3 largest US poker sites are currently:
– Ignition Casino (Formerly Bovada)
– Americas Cards Room (Winning poker Network)
– Betonline (Chico Network)
Players also have the option to join private clubs via PPPoker application as well as several smaller sites.
Are non regulated US online poker sites safe?
US laws about online poker create a less than hospitable environment for both players and operators. Poker enthusiasts who play on US sites cannot claim any consumer protection from the US government.
This doesn’t mean that these sites are operating without any regulation. All of these platforms are licensed outside of the US and these licenses grant players several guarantees in terms of game integrity and smooth payment processing.
Nonetheless, players need to remain selective of which poker room to patronize and they should favor the largest and most trustworthy rooms.
What are the best US poker sites?
Players are looking for different experiences. Some will favor great software over softer games. Cash Games players and tournaments players also have different needs.
Moreover, in order to be able to maximize all promotions offered by the different sites, players must be willing to open an account on several clients.
For all of these reasons recommending only one site would be a mistake. We prefer to list the pros and cons of each option currently available to US players in this article.
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Do you need help to deposit?
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Latest poker news about USA
Other Poker & Gambling News in the USA
- 2021/08/31 – PokerStars USA Network is paralyzed for 24 hours After two days of technical difficulties causing the USA Network for PokerStars to disrupt online gaming and gambling in several states, the sites got back to working.
- 2021/08/05 – Two casinos in Boston have not brought back poker yet – deputy director of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau has been receiving complaints about the lack of poker at two casinos. Poker tables are limited to 4 players and the casinos have deemed it wasn’t profitable to re-open them.
- 2021/08/05 – The WSOP Pennsylvania was launched in July 2021 and is offering Main Events seats for the Main WSOP – The Main Event of the WSOP will take place in November and players at the WSOP PA get a chance to enter every Sunday. The WSOP could add gold bracelets events, after New Jersey and Nevada.
