I suspect we have a few people here who play poker and Texas Holdem games online, due to the popularity of these games.

Where do you play?

There's a site I found that was started up by some old acquaintances of mine. They offer both free and cash games.

Even though I know who started this site up and have known them for 6+ years, I'm still nervous about these sites. So many of them are bogus, at least so I've heard.

I enjoy playing cards in RL, and wouldn't mind giving it a shot online. So I'm curious what sites people play on.

I play somewhat regularly on Ultimate Bet. I deposited money one time, 2 years ago, and have played off my winnings ever since. I have withdrawn money from them several times, and never had a problem with them.

If you chose UB, look for me-- my name in game there is Fribur.

i play at pokerstars.net; the other one that most go to is partypoker.com

i like pokerstars, it is easy to set up and get into. free games, also cash games if you want (not tried the cash games yet). some of the tables are set up for faster play, not giving you as much time to think and act. can get a lot of hands in.

one thing that is crappy about online poker, especially the free games, are those who join a table and then just go all in on every hand. they don't care if they lose, since it is free chips anyways. but it does make for an uninteresting table.

i play about 30-45 minutes daily or so. nothing major, just enough to get my poker fix in. and i have improved a lot by playing so many hands, and it has helped me in my friday night poker playing at friend's house. in the past four weeks, with 12+ players each night, i have finished 1st, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st respectively. i cannot say it is fully because i play online, but i will say that online does help me understand different hands and such.

-cc

online poker is of the devil.

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

I haven't played poker online yet, I do play pinochle in yahoo.

I love the game, and know it well. So its either fun or a bust. No I don't want to cyber with you comes up way to often.

Like above, some people play that don't know how ( like the all in) which can make the time unpleasant, knock on some wood and hope it's a table of people who really want to play- if it is, hours can go by in a flash.

Clarifying my above post:

I play poker (primarily) for fun. This involves socializing with people around the table. This is why when my friends and I go to Tunica, I look for the loud, talkative tables. Not only do I have more money at these tables, I make more money, since these are the players who have fun while they lose their money. I also play at a few private games around Atlanta, ranging from $5 buy-in to $200 buy-in. I've made a decent amount of money at online poker, but since depositing and withdrawing is a pain in the ass, it's really not worth it.

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

I thought Americans couldn't deposit anymore cash into online gambling?

You can, but it's more trouble than it's worth and it's "technically" illegal.

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]

It's technically not illegal, except in states that specifically ban it. The law that was recently snuck into the Port Security Act and passed states that banks must prevent transactions to online gambling sites. Most banks already prevented this, and people use third-party paypal-ish sites to deposit money. This still works the same way. Nothing has changed regarding the legality of the players, just the banks. Still, several publicly traded online gambling companies will no longer accept US players. Most notably among these are PartyPoker and Paradise Poker.

I have an account at UltimateBet, but I mostly play on Pokerstars. My ID on both is Taborcarn.

A great site for dicussion of the legality of online poker and just poker in general is http://www.twoplustwo.com

The legality thing is the other reason I posted this. I thought I heard that online gambling recently became illegal in the US.

The site I'd be playing through is hosted in Scotland however. But I'm here in the states.

I've only ever played poker now and then with the guys. We're anything but hardcore about it. We each throw 5$ in and then whoever wins (gets all the chips at the end) takes the real cash.

I would never play online poker. Just one of those things that I wouldn't find fun outside of a social setting.

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-Rileigh (aka Golliwog)

I'd be wary of putting money into smaller sites. I was very nervous at first about depositing on any site, but by researching the larger sites I was able to find out which ones have a good track record of customer support and that people are able to get their money off of it without a hassle.

Smaller sites have the danger of just closing up shop one day. Also, with the smaller player base and table selection the games might not be as good. I wouldn't worry about the site because it's from Scotland though. None of the sites run out of the US, most are based where the laws are more favorable to them, like the U.K. or Gibraltar.

UB, I should point out, is one of the "bigger" sites, regardless of what a previous poster said were the "big two." Any given hour of the day there are literally thousands of players playing, and just like the other big sites they do feeder tourney's into the WSOP and the various pro tours. They also have several pro players that play on their site, as do the others.

I watched Devilfish play for a while one night online. Being as poor as I am, watching him and a few other people throw around 10-30k a hand was a bit breathtaking, heh.

my bad. ultimate bet is one of the larger sites. i am so used to the partypoker/pokerstars duo that i forget about some of the others.

i have heard of bodog.net, but never tried. i also see some commercial where a woman is on the street in the rain, and she walks onto some desert island in a bikini and sits at a table with 8 other people or so. the camera pans out, and you see a spade on the island in the form of trees iirc. not sure what site that is, but i don't think it is any of the above three.

-cc

Do these legitimate sites run through a browser, or do you download software to make it work?

The site I'm looking at has you download a program, but it appears they've been around for a number of years. I'm usually pretty good about spotting fly by night operations, and this isn't one of them.

I think a few might be able to be played through a browser, but nearly all are a seperate download.


UB is still one of the bigger sites, probably in the top 5. Full Tilt is another. They have the most pro endorsements, but it seems like they're having stability problems from the influx of US players coming from PartyPoker.

Can't speak for the others, but UB uses it's own software.

The only browser based room was PokerRoom.com, but I believe they finally got their own UI prg. Not sure tho.

pokerstars.net


I suck though.

Well it looks like the fallout from last year's legislation is finally taking place. The owners of Neteller were arrested while having a flight stopover in a US airport. Because of this both Neteller and myCitadel have pulled out of the US market, making it very difficult to move money onto and off of any poker sites. There are a few other payment methods still available, but their status is still uncertain.

I guess it's back to strictly gambling in Atlantic City for me.

Bodog does direct debit from checking accounts, but I'm not trusting anyone with my routing and account numbers.

I'll just make monthly trips to either Tunica or Biloxi and play in the Grand's poker room in both cities and collect my rakeback for being a prop.

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World of Warcraft: Kallaystra, Gweila, Steakumn, Tarathia [ Feathermoon/Horde ]