Headaches for U.S. Poker Players

Yesterday was a sad day for US poker players. Owners of three of the largest online poker rooms, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and PokerStars have all been charged with violating the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) and bank fraud.

All of this brought back memories of 2006 when I was telling anyone that would listen that the government was going to make funding online poker games illegal. I recall how so many folk at some of the poker forums thought I was talking a bunch of nonsense and made comments that the US government could never do such a thing. How wrong they were...

The UIGEA was signed into law by the Bush administration in October of 2006, and soon after many of the poker rooms dropped American players so fast that you would have thought we were sitting at a live table and had the clap or something. However, we still had Full Tilt and PokerStars  to play at and they both had a large number of players so all was not lost.

But now what do Americans who want to play for real money do? A rat by the name of Daniel Tzvetkoff has quite possibly the changed online poker world as we know it. Personally I don't think we'll be seeing Full Tilt Poker, Absolute Poker and PokerStars back as an option for Americans ever again and my bet is any funds left on there are now gone. I attempted to withdraw mine and am unable to do so now...The 3 sites might could beat the UIGEA rap, but I don't think they will be able to beat the bank fraud charges. They, and most players know they were willingly doing what they could to fool the banks and other processors to keep online funds flowing, and now the law has caught up to them.

I don't think that is an end to all online play though. There are still some very good poker rooms available for US citizens that have not had any charges brought against them. And as far as I know they are not frauding the banks or laundering funds. Four of the sites that I would recommend would be Lock Poker which has great software and some unusual promotions. Another is one of my long time favorites, Carbon Poker and is on the same network. One that has been around for quite somtime,  BoDog Poker has a huge range of buy–ins and types of games so you can always find the right level of competition. And don't forget about Doyles Room. Doyles Room offers plenty of promotions, including the sign-up bonuses, and an attractive rewards program.

I find this whole mess to be a disgusting thing for the US. This is supposed to be a free country, yet adults are not allowed to play real poker online. These laws need to be changed and all players should be letting their politicians know that. Lets all unite and get the UIGEA repealed once and for all! Readers can also join the Poker Players Alliance and have their voice heard by clicking here.