Online Poker in the USA. Online poker in the United States could give you a bit of a headache – or so used to be the case. These days, however, US players are enjoying a fairly vibrant community around America, and many online poker sites have arrived to offer a viable alternative to offshore card rooms.
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- Online poker and interactive casinos saw a record 106.7% growth year-over-year in October in New JerseyThe Garden State posted a combined revenue of $93.5 million for online casinos and card rooms in OctoberGlobal poker is expected to keep going up owing to a traditionally busier end-of-year period and new lockdowns Online poker and gaming seem.
- 888 Poker is one of the big players in the online poker world. They have been around for almost 20 years which gives them a stellar trust in my book. 888 Poker is especially suitable for new and amateur players. Firstly, because they offer a no deposit bonus of up to $88 – this is unmatched in the industry.
- Legal New Poker Sites USA. New legal poker US sites are appearing in greater number in 2020. Whether they are opening in the newly regulated states like Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware, or available to players across the country, there's never been a better time to enjoy the latest rooms online.
New poker sites can be worth looking out for. Not only will you find innovative software, games and promotions – new sites often have a big marketing budget too. Players can enjoy bigger bonuses than are available at established sites. There is often a period of time before ‘regulars’ get established at the tables where new poker sites offer noticeably softer games too.
This page covers some of the best new poker sites, both for US players and those worldwide. Underneath the recommendations of the newest sites below, you’ll find pros and cons of choosing these sites compared to their longer-running rivals.
- Location: Canada
- Established: 2015
- Code:n/a - use links
- Traffic: 7,438 Players
- Mac Friendly: No
Ignition Poker are not only the newest US friendly poker site, they are also the biggest by a long way. These facts seem contradictory. What happened was that Ignition Casino took over the poker room which was run by Bovada. That room has been around for many years (it was originally known as Bodog Poker) and was the most popular US site. Ignition have breathed new life into this poker room – though the software and schedule will be familiar to many players.
The main reasons to play at the new Ignition Poker are the bonuses and the ‘recreational player model’. Their policy is to ensure that the games are entertaining for recreational players – and not swamped by ‘pro grinders’ as is the case with many other sites. This is achieved by keeping the games anonymous, restricting 3rd party software and capping the number of simultaneous games at 4. Ignition Poker also offer a wide range of deposit options for US players, including Bitcoin as well as credit cards and money transfer services.
Ignition Poker
- Location: Canada
- Established: 2020
- Ref. Code:n/a
- Traffic: 5,236 Players
- Mac Friendly: Yes
#2 - New US / International Poker Site – BetOnline Poker
A relative newcomer to the US friendly poker sites list is BetOnline Poker. The brand itself is anything but new. BetOnline have been offering sports betting via phone and online for many years from their offshore base in Panama. In 2011 they joined the Chico Poker Network, a group of sites which share a common poker software client and the same games.
BetOnline are the biggest site on the Chico Network – and they provide a lot of the new players. You will find that the games are soft, thanks to a lot of sports betting traffic crossing over into the poker room. There are plenty of cash games, and the tournament selection at this site is starting to grow too. With regular reload bonuses and player promotions, this network look set to grow.
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The new poker sites listed above are the best choices for a player looking for an up to date poker room in 2020 . We recommend picking any of the three sites above and signing up today.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Choosing New Poker Sites
There are two main reasons to choose the newest poker sites. These are to get better bonuses, and to find the softest games.
When a new site starts up, the owners will usually have a budget to attract players. You can take advantage of these offers, which are often substantially better than those at the older sites. Examples might include 200% sign-up bonus offers, or big money promotions to encourage regular play. Remember to check the terms and conditions before you deposit, as some bonus offers are easier to ‘clear’ than others.
Older sites, especially the bigger ones, have a lot of ‘regulars’. These are established and experienced players that specialize in certain formats. While these players are often mechanical in their play (and can be beaten), they do take money from the tables. Newer sites will have fewer of this type of opponent – you will often find the games feature a changing line-up, and are noticeably softer than their equivalents at the bigger sites.
Choosing newer poker sites does have some drawbacks. The biggest of these is that sites will not have had time to build the same trusted track record that the older sites enjoy. As long as you check for a license, game fairness certification and a clean track record (to date) in payment processing, this should not be a major problem.
The other drawback is that new sites are smaller than the older established ones. This means that their tournament guarantees, high stakes action and overall choice of tables is smaller too.
For many players, the soft games and bigger welcome bonus offers more than make up for this. Check out some of the newest poker sites for yourself soon – you’ll see the difference!
Advantages of New Poker Sites
New poker sites may not have as many players as old poker sites, but they offer several key advantages that make them worth a try. Most importantly, new poker sites are hungry for your business. These new poker sites are 100% focused on attracting new players and are willing to offer much larger deposit bonuses than other sites. Our list of the best new poker sites offer nearly $2,000 in combined welcome bonuses.
The second advantage of new poker sites is that they offer new software and features that the older sites haven’t yet implemented. Aced Poker, for example, is one of only a few poker sites that gives two all-in players the option to deal the turn and river cards twice – just like the live pros in Vegas. And with PKR, you’ll get cutting edge software that no other poker site has even come close to matching.
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On top of all that, new poker sites often have overlays on their guaranteed tournaments. What that means is that if the poker site guarantees a certain amount of money in its tournament but not enough players participate, the poker site ends up injecting extra money straight into the prize pool to meet the guarantee. This results in tournaments with large prize pools and limited competition.
Avoid Brand New Poker Sites
When we say “new poker sites,” we mean poker sites that are relatively new but not brand-spanking new. New poker sites pop up all the time but many of them are started by unknown companies that have yet to prove themselves. It’s best to avoid poker sites that are so new that they haven’t yet built a reputation among online poker players.
Poker sites that are about 2-4 years old are prime for the picking. These poker sites have been around long enough to be develop solid reputations but they haven’t been around so long that they take their players for granted. Once you find that perfect balance, you’ll find out just how well new poker sites treat their players.
The US online poker landscape consists of one dominant leader (Bovada) and several smaller poker networks competing for the second position. While the selection of US-friendly sites is significantly smaller than it was, say, a decade ago, you still have a few solid options to choose from – here’s what you need to know about them. Here will see the Best US Poker Sites and their networks.
All of our recommended sites have a proven track record and enough player traffic to keep you busy. It’s worth noting that those physically located in Delaware, Nevada or New Jersey are able to play on licensed sites that are 100% legal and regulated. The sites below are popular in the US but operate from offshore locations. They continue to accept US customers but have no licenses to operate in the US. They’re also the only options for those living outside of Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey.
Our Top Ranked USA Online Poker Sites
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Winning Poker Network
America’s Cardroom and True Poker are two of the biggest US poker sites in the Winning Poker network. They’ve been around for a long time and even though they’re relatively unknown compared to all-in-one US gambling sites like Bovada and BetOnline, they’ve got a strong reputation for being reliable and on-time with cashouts.
All sites in the Winning Poker Network prohibit customers from Louisiana, Nevada, Missouri, New Jersey, New York and Washington DC. And winning Poker is only compatible with Windows.
VIP Programs and Rake on the Winning Poker Network
Winning Poker network’s poker rooms offer their customers either 27% rakeback for all the rake they’ve generated (you get 27% of what the poker room has taken as rake back to your account) or a chance to participate in the VIP program which was made according to PokerStars’ model (a good idea, considering how PokerStars has the most successful VIP program ever). In fact, the VIP program does exactly what it’s supposed to (encourage you to play more) and makes sense for more active players. New players will also receive a 100% first deposit bonus up to $1000.
Both America’s Cardroom and True Poker are known for processing check withdrawals fast relative to competition – I can’t confirm if the rest of the sites on the network do the same, but then again I recommend signing-up at the better-known sites anyway. Winning Poker also accepts bitcoin deposits and withdrawals. Player-to-player transfers are allowed as well, making Winning Poker’s money transactions relatively flexible in the US.
What are the reasons NOT to sign-up at one of the websites on Winning Poker’s network?
Bovada is the #1 option due to highest player traffic, fastest cashouts and best software. In other words, Winning Poker network has less traffic (1/4 of Bovada’s traffic), slightly slower processing of withdrawals (although only by a couple of days) and its software still showcases buggy behavior here and there (more-so than Bovada). Furthermore, Winning Poker is unavailable for iOS and its mobile client only runs Jackpot sit and go tournaments.
Overall, Winning Poker is a fine network, and its flagship sites Americas Cardroom and True Poker have treated their customers well throughout the years. There are better options out there – such as Bovada – but if you’re looking to sign-up at a few site to catch the best games, it would make sense to be able to play on this network as well.
Chico Poker Network
Best US Poker Sites for the Chico Poker network are the flagship poker rooms BetOnline and SportsBetting, both of which accept customers from all the states (as the only sites doing so). Chico Poker also has TigerGaming and PayNoRake poker rooms but they only accept customers from outside of the US.
One of the clear advantages of playing on this network is its recreational-friendly customer base, as BetOnline and SportsBetting both are better-known for their sports book and even casino games which you can participate in with the same player account, so there’s a constant stream of traffic stemming from other parts of the site which are more prone to recreational players / gamblers than poker rooms in general.
New customers at BetOnline get a 200% deposit bonus up to $1000 on their first deposit while SportsBetting offers a 200% up to $2500.
BetOnline draws a decent amount of multi-table tournament players due to their MTT Leaderboard Challenge and (sometimes) huge tournament overlays (meaning the guaranteed prize pool is much bigger than what players have paid in entrance fees). For beginners, there are real-money freerolls every hour.
What about the downsides of playing at Chico Poker network?
It has the third highest traffic in the US, meaning you’ll find more opponents at Bovada and Winning Poker. The software is not that easy on the eye and slightly buggy, unlike Bovada’s software which is the best in the US market.
- Withdrawal-processing is an important thing for US customers as a check withdrawal is usually the only way to go. Relative to competition, Chico Poker still has work to do.
- BetOnline processes cashouts are reasonably fast (a little over two weeks) but still slower than Bovada or Winning Poker. The minimum limit for BetOnline withdrawals is $100 and fees are $40 per withdrawal at minimum.
- SportsBetting offers a 2-day (business days) withdrawal option where they take a 8-10% cut of the withdrawal amount. There are no player-to-player transfers at Chico Poker.
Equity Poker Network
Full Flush Poker is the flagship site in the Equity Poker network, which has been operating since 2013. Equity has done well considering how new it is and is now the fourth highest-trafficked US-friendly poker room.
Equity offers a few appealing reasons to sign-up:
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- They constantly have attractive multi-table tournament overlays, which means they guarantee a bigger prizepool than what participating players have paid in entry fees. For multi-table players, Equity Poker offers an interesting chance to play profitably. Equity is Mac-compatible, unlike Winning Poker and Chico Poker. Players from all over the US are accepted except for New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada.
- What some tournament players dislike is their low buy-in tournament selection. For smaller buy-ins – as mentioned – they offer good opportunities for profitable play, but the selection is rather limited for bigger buy-ins (this goes for both multi-table tournaments and sit-n-go tournaments).
- Equity Poker has reasonable check withdrawal times: a little over two weeks. Interestingly, bitcoin transfers are available only to customers outside of the US. There are no player-to-player transfers allowed.
Merge Gaming Network
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Carbon Poker and Sportsbook.ag are the sites representing Merge Gaming network. Merge is on the crisp of being a decade in the business and has steadily grown throughout that time. It had a strong position in the US poker market by having the second-highest traffic numbers, however, it has recently had payout issues due to which the network fell into the fourth position traffic-wise.
Aside from the payout issues, Merge Gaming’s traffic suffers due to prohibiting customers from 11 states: Delaware, Utah, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Washington, Nevada, New Jersey and Washington DC.
Merge Gaming poker rooms offer a seemingly attractive 200% up to $5000 first-time deposit bonus. However, even though size-wise it seems like a good deal, the bonus is relatively harder to clear than what Merge’s US competitors offer.
All-in-all, especially considering the recent payout issues and the decrease in traffic, the options mentioned above currently offer US players much better value for their money.
Questions and Answers
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The following are some common question that any person could have at any moment regarding several important topic for US players. If you believe there is a question that should be solved or that you have a specific question in mind not solved here please contact us.
Why Are There Sites Specifically for the US?
Not all sites are willing to accept customers from the US due to legal reasons. Due to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), gambling operators are prohibited from knowingly accepting payments related to unlawful gambling. And since, from our point-of-view (and, apparently, plenty of gambling operators agree), online poker is illegal in most states, the majority of online poker operators have decided to target other legally safer markets. The same is true, although to a smaller degree, in the U.S. online casino market.
Due to the UIGEA, it’s also harder for internet poker operators to find reliable payment processors. This adds greatly to the difficulty level of operating an online poker site and contributes to the willingness of sites to stay away from the USA market.
How Can US Players Deposit Money to the Best US Poker Sites?
There are still ways to deposit money to United States online poker rooms, and our guess is that pretty much everyone can do it if they want to. Still, US citizens will experience more hurdles when depositing money to internet poker rooms than those outside of the US, excluding those physically located in Delaware, Nevada or New Jersey.
Here are the common deposit methods:
- Credit, Debit and Gift Cards:
All of the Best US Poker Sites we’ve seen accept Visa card deposits (with the exception of Bitcoin-only sites). Mastercard is available at some of them while American Express is a rare sight. Card deposits are known for not going through every time (this goes for credit, debit and gift cards). The only way to find out if a card works is to try to deposit and see what happens.
It’s likely (if not certain) that you have to withdraw your poker winnings as a check if you made the deposit with a credit card. This is the case at all the US-friendly sites we can think of.
- Money Transfer Services:
Most sites accept Western Union. I recommend paying attention to whether you can both deposit and withdraw the money via a money transfer service (in some cases, a USA poker site only allows you to deposit). If money transfer cashouts are unavailable, you’ll have to order a check withdrawal.
- Electronic Cheques:
This option is no longer available at any of our trusted US-eligible online poker sites.
Is It Legal to Play Online Poker in the United States?
Since there’s no federal law that either legalizes or prohibits online poker in the US, you have to look at state laws. And in most cases, it’s likely (“likely” because we’re not lawyers and have never studied law) that online poker is illegal in most parts of the US. Many state laws target poker on the internet indirectly by making all forms of gambling that haven’t been specifically legalized, well, illegal.
Three states have legalized, regulated and licensed internet poker and those are Delaware, Nevada and New Jersey. They’re the only states in which you can be 100% legally safe when playing poker on the internet.
Why are so many still playing online if it’s illegal to do so in most parts of the United States? Laws against playing poker online for real money haven’t been enforced – yet, at least. So far, only the ones operating gambling businesses or acting as payment processors between players and gambling businesses have been in trouble with the law.
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