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online casinos accepting US players

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Waiting For Cassius

According to the message boards, Pokerstars has started processing cashouts for U.S. players.  I put in my request yesterday and will update when received.  Most people are choosing direct bank transfer and it seems to be taking 2-3 days.  

Full Tilt hasn't said anything yet but has said they'll be making an announcement next week.  Let's hope they get their act together sufficiently to start doing the same thing.  Tilt is - unfairly imo - being pretty well roasted on the message boards for the delay.  We'll see if they can deliver.

In other news, the Bodog client still sucks.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Making The Best Of It

It's now been a week since the U.S. government effectively pulled the plug on Full Tilt and PokerStars.

Has it been any different?  I would say yes.  

As regular readers (lol) of the blog know, my level of play tailed off significantly after the passage of the UIGEA.  It simply wasn't worth the hassle to figure out how to move money to bonus whore, the offers were fewer and far between and the games got somewhat tougher.

Over the last year my play has varied wildly.  I played a lot early in 2010 when I finished a hot streak that saw my bankroll more than triple - followed by a downswing that wiped out all those wins and a bit more.  I took a few months off and started playing a bit more in the fall.  Most recently I had completed the Full Tilt "Take 2" promotion - playing 9 days in a row - right before the shutdown.  I was even up about four buyins over that stretch.

During the past week I haven't played any poker at all.  Having kept track, there were two days where I would have played, including a couple hour stretch last night.  I would have played Rush Poker on Full Tilt, which is very much my game of choice despite the largely unfavorable opposition.

Instead, I did nothing.  I watched a repeat of 'Wipeout' on ABC (which was dumb), reread a chapter in a book I've read many times before and was generally bored.  I've wasted a tremendous amount of time reading the message boards over the last week - I'm amused by the stupid - but was pretty well caught up on that.  I was definitely conscious of the fact that I would have rather been online playing for cheeseburgers.

I felt little more than a mild annoyance that I wasn't able to play poker, but I certainly feel for those for whom poker is a way of earning a living.  Having your world turned upside down isn't much fun.

I'm not going to analyze what's happening.  There are plenty of people doing that and well.  I don't know what's going to happen.  I can't see the future.  I do think that U.S. player deposits will be refunded - I have a lot of confidence in Stars and Tilt, they to my mind have always treated players well and fairly.  I think both sites will continue operations more or less as is, just without a chunk of their player base.  More money and more prestige will attach to overseas tournaments - via sponsorships and by some U.S. pros heading offshore.  Poker will continue, just without a lot of people who have lost convenient access.

I do hope this gets resolved in a way that fully restores the ability of U.S. players to play internet poker.  I can't say that I have any confidence in our elected officials to do the right thing, but the hope is always there.  Until something happens, I will be trying to make the best of it ... and spending more time on the golf course.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Bring On Don McLean

It may well end up that April 15 was the day that the Department of Justice finished the job that Senator Jon Kyl and his merry men kicked off back in 2006:  The killing of online poker in the United States.

There will be a million words written about this subject over the weekend and most of them will be better and more informed than mine.  Go read them.

I am a little surprised that Full Tilt and Stars are suspending service to U.S. customers.  I would have thought that they would continue to hold to their position that poker is not unlawful gaming, ultimately having a day in court on that issue.  Perhaps they have decided that there is no point in serving a market where the customers cannot cash out - or perhaps like many others they've simply caved in response to threats of prison.

It's a sad indictment of our increasingly broken political system that a small number of people - most of whom are bureaucrats, not elected officials - can exert such power by making what feels like an end run around the law.  You think internet poker is gambling?  Fine, go get legislation that says that.

I would go hunt up message board posts from people who encouraged votes for this administration but it's not worth the bother.  Both parties are corrupt as hell and give little more than lip service to personal liberty. 

It's late.  I'm not drunk although I kind of wish that I was.  Bye.

Saturday, April 09, 2011

Spring Fever

I has it.

Nothing much going on in my poker world.  I got a nice bonus offer from Full Tilt but haven't even worked off the first twenty bucks.  I'm hoping to do that before it expires this week.

Full Tilt is also running their Take 2 promotion.  Play 2 tables or Rush Poker and earn at least 5 points a day and you get cash.  Check the site for details.  It's not a ton of money ($25 max) but it's easy pickings.

I did a little searching on Stars and I think that SCOOP is still a month away.  Looking forward to donking it up tournament style.