online $ poker in the USA?

[Dabamf]

I'm looking to get back into playing holdem online for money again, but since congress banned that months ago, I was wondering if there is any way to still do it? I know some/many companies are overseas so I presume sending a money order or something will allow me to still play, but I heard ISPs are banning IP addresses from poker sites.

Basically is there any way I can still play online for money in the USA? And is there any risk of trouble if I do?

I searched and found a couple poker threads but they were mostly unrelated so I just made a new one.

[Kiroy]

We were talking about this in one thread or another a week or so ago, and I think came to the conclusion that it may not be worth it now adays. /shrug

[Soriak]

I think most European gambling sites are filtering US IP addresses and definitely US credit cards, since they can get in trouble for accepting bets. (maybe not according to international law, but they'd still get arrested in the US if one of the owners/operators ever entered the country)

And of course for you there's the risk of a huge fine/jail.

I'd say it's not worth it...

[Burkex]

Yea I am in the US and I play on Full Tilt Poker for real Money. You can also Play on Ultimate Bet.com and a bunch of others like partypoker. You can just start up your bank roll with a credit card.

I read about that congress ban thing but it hasn't effected the online poker games at all imo. Last night there were over 300,000 people logged onto full tilt poker.

BTW, all the poker professionals play on and advertise the sites too so I don't see how it is illegal. If it was they would not jeopardize their careers. You can even watch people like Phil Ivey or Allen Cunningham play on Full tilt poker.

Also, If you can't decide which one to play on, I have played on about 5 different sites and full tilt is by far the best.

If you sign up to full tilt poker yyou sould put me as your refferral. lol think I get some bonus or something.

[Burkex]

I have had checks mailed to my house from my tourney winnings, and free t-shirts from bounty rewards by beating pros, and of course my original credit card buy in, so if congress wanted to bust me I would have been busted by now.

I don't see any risk in it.

If there was risk there would not be 100 poker commercials during any televised poker event. Watch one Poker After Dark on NBC there are like 20 full tilt commercials in an Hour, if it was illegal they would make the commercials in America illegal too. And amercian professionals would not advertise the sites.

[Dabamf]

burk pm me your name in full tilt and i'll refer you

[Burkex]

Here is the UIGEA Law you are referring to:
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act 2006 - Safe Port Act

It doesn't make it illegal btw it just: "prohibits the transfer of funds from a financial institution to an Internet gambling site, with the notable exceptions of "fantasy" sports, online lotteries, and horse/harness racing."

So you can still use a credit card. You can not use your Bank to submit your funds to a poker site, that is it. It is still legal.


Also:
Mass Rep. Barney Frank will introduce anti UIGEA bill Thursday Wed, 25 Apr 2007

Rep. Barney Frank said he will introduce a bill to reverse the UIGEA legislation this Thursday. Representative Frank currently chairs the House Financial Services Committee.

"Why anyone thinks it is any of my business why some adult wants to gamble is absolutely beyond me," Frank stated in a speech before the Independent Community Bankers of America.

Frank will hold a press conference at the Rayburn House Office Building on Thursday, April 26, 2007 at 10:00am to discuss the introduction of the new bill, the Internet Gambling Regulation & Enforcement Act of 2007.

The UIGEA was passed by Congress in October last year and effectively makes internet gambling illegal by preventing US banks to process transactions associated with offshore internet gambling companies.
Details of the new anti UIGEA bill are not available at this time

[Burkex]

Originally Posted by Dabamf

burk pm me your name in full tilt and i'll refer you

Done. Thanks bro much appreciated.

Full Tilt is great you will love it.

[Burkex]

BTW, on Full Tilt there is a cool tourney that is pretty cheap every night at 1:30 AM EST called The Fergueson after Chris "Jesus" Fergueson of course. Just click special and you can see all the special tourneys. It is only $1 to enter and usually there are 1000-3500 players in it. Minimum top prize is like $100 and it can be over $500. Not bad for a $1 entry. If anything it is good practice for a very cheap buy in. 5 nights a week it is no limit hold em and 1 night it is Horse and 1 night it is Razz, I only play no limit hold em so I don't know how the Razz/horse is.

Timewise it is a long tourney tho. I have made it to the final table many times and that was like at 6:30 am, so making it to the end takes awhile, so if you have work the next day be prepaired to get 0 hours of sleep. Also, the blinds and ante at the final table are so crazy high that it is anyones game at that point, so a little luck helps here because you really need to get some good cards at that point.




They have a real good new 50-50 Tourney too:

The New Fifty-Fifty Guarantee where you can play for your share of at least $50K in guaranteed prize money for just $50 + $5.

Look for this exciting nightly event at 21:30ET and compete for first-place prize money worth at least $9,500. Also, be sure to check out all of our other daily Guarantee tournaments with a combined weekly prize pool of more than $4 million.

For an investment of just $50 + $5 – and with satellites starting for as little as $2 + $.25 – it’s a 50-50 shot worth taking.


I usually play the Satellites to get into these tourneys, just be careful in the rebuy tourneys people go all in like crazy on just about any hand in the beginning.

[Malakriss]

Most sites enable you to withdraw money via check (takes week or two to arrive) that your banks will cash. As to whether they allow you to deposit directly or through your credit card is hit or miss depending on the bank and the site.

The WTO is giving the US a big hassle over the ban, because it makes certain exceptions for in-country gambling like horse racing. Also the Gaming Association and a couple Congressmen started raising awareness in an effort to overturn it recently.

Constitution Challenge to Online Gaming Ban
15th June 2007

[Jhentar_AN|Trib]

The only sites I know of atm that still allow US and Turkish players are FullTilt, PokerStars and UltimateBet.

You can't use Neteller on them any more since they now bar US, Canadian and Turkish players from using their service but you should be able to still use ePassport and MoneyBookers to deposit if you need to.

[Sabolin]

They can advertise in the US because they are advertising for the (usually) .net site in the commercials, which is the same site as the .com but it doesn't reference real money gaming and I'm pretty sure the client you download is gimped to only allow you to play fake money games, at least this seems typical anyway.

[Jhentar_AN|Trib]

Originally Posted by Burkex

I usually play the Satellites to get into these tourneys, just be careful in the rebuy tourneys people go all in like crazy on just about any hand in the beginning.

That's mainly because there used to be a strategy that was considered +EV to just push any edge during the rebuy period to accumulate chips and play more as a cash game than as a tournie.

That has now started to be seen as -EV in the long term and a lot of players in rebuys are starting to play them as a regular tournie but a lot of mouth-breathers still haven't got the memo.

Best strat still seems to be wait for AA/KK (though KK is still hard because people are pushing things like Axs so you still have to dodge the A or flush, etc) and hammer them preflop to get your money in good and hopefully triple+ up or see cheap flops where you can with sc's or Axs and hope to hit the flop hard and let them bluff into you before dropping the hammer.

I still think that "tight is right" works best for the early levels but you do still need to get chips where you can and this works well because during the rebuy people are willing to get their money in as big dogs hoping to suck out so feel free to push 60/40 edge etc but dont get caught up in all the action and push like 52/48 edge.

The other issue with satelites that a lot of people don't get is the bubble play....you don't have to try to win, you just need to get into whatever number of seats are available. For example if there are 5 seats up for grabs, you are down to 7 players and hold KK, there is an all-in and call ahead of you, just muck your cards...you don't need the chips as much as you need one of those two players eliminated or crippled.

[Burkex]

Originally Posted by Jhentar_AN|Trib

That's mainly because there used to be a strategy that was considered +EV to just push any edge during the rebuy period to accumulate chips and play more as a cash game than as a tournie.

That has now started to be seen as -EV in the long term and a lot of players in rebuys are starting to play them as a regular tournie but a lot of mouth-breathers still haven't got the memo.

Best strat still seems to be wait for AA/KK (though KK is still hard because people are pushing things like Axs so you still have to dodge the A or flush, etc) and hammer them preflop to get your money in good and hopefully triple+ up or see cheap flops where you can with sc's or Axs and hope to hit the flop hard and let them bluff into you before dropping the hammer.

I still think that "tight is right" works best for the early levels but you do still need to get chips where you can and this works well because during the rebuy people are willing to get their money in as big dogs hoping to suck out so feel free to push 60/40 edge etc but dont get caught up in all the action and push like 52/48 edge.

The other issue with satelites that a lot of people don't get is the bubble play....you don't have to try to win, you just need to get into whatever number of seats are available. For example if there are 5 seats up for grabs, you are down to 7 players and hold KK, there is an all-in and call ahead of you, just muck your cards...you don't need the chips as much as you need one of those two players eliminated or crippled.

Yea "tight is right" how I play the beginning of all tourneys. For me in any tourney I am in it is important to be patient early. In the beginning a ton of donkeys go all in why A any card, any 2 suited cards, any connectors, any 2 face cards, etc. You can have pocket AA and they go all in and sure you are a huge favorite preflop but who knows what cards will come. You are basically gambling your tournament life on a race. I have seen donkeys go all in preflop with 56 of clubs and beat a call of KK. Getting involved in a huge pot early is extremely risky unless you have the nuts. If it is still very early in the tourney and the blinds are very low it is too early to push in imo if you don't have the nuts. Be patient and know when to pick your spots. Don't go all in with 1500 chips if there is only 75 total chips in the pot. These donkeys like to go all in before the flop because after the flop they make so many mistakes and get out played. So I try to avoid the race, there will be better times for me to get all my chips all in. Evantually these donkeys will give you all their chips just pick a better spot. Rebuys are a bit different tho because if you do go all in you can rebuy and are still in the tourney.

For pure comedy play a free roll sat. I played a few to get into Poker After Dark which was the grand prize (120k not bad). I have never seen so many all in's in my entire life in the first 5 minutes of a tourney. I just sat back and let all the donkeys do their thing then I played some serious poker when 1/2 the field was gone after 5 minutes of play. Now you just gotta out play the donkeys that actually won their all in's. Piece of cake. This way I was able to win it all many times and get to the next round (In a free rolls only the top or top two finishers advance).

Internet play is a lot different than live play.

[Jhentar_AN|Trib]

Yep, FullTilt is pretty weird there at times though haven't worried bout the freerolls (think the last one I played was in 2005 at Absolute which got my br started) but if you want to see really bad players just play cash games at Party or Paradise :/

And yeah, I hear what you are saying about the all-ins and in a situation where there is 75 chips in blinds, some donk goes ai for 1500 more there then I would consider laying down KK but AA I'd be willing to race with since I am at worst 50/50 with them and getting the right odds really and if they suck out on me then I can rebuy and take note of what they played.

TBH, in the main event this year I'd still be willing to get into a race for all my chips with AA in the first hand...if I'm not willing to push that edge preflop then I shouldn't be playing. The stakes of the game shouldn't matter, only if you are getting your money in good or not.