Online Poker

For anyone living in the United States, is it still possible to play online poker for REAL money? My initial thought would be yes, but you must use a proxy server to even deposit money. The more important question, how would you withdraw your earnings?

I figured some of you BHW masters would know something about this considering how crafty you are. Please let me know if anyone here in America has had any success of late. (Also, which sites are the best?!)

Merge Network "Carbon Poker"

I would suggest anything on the Merge network, there is also Lock,Mint and Bovado. Carbon has fun step sit n goes in which you can win money from free-rolls. If you use my affiliate for rake back I would appreciate it and transfer $5 if you deposit $50+ but in either case you still can qualify for 30% return on rake.

I would stay away. I have extensive experience in this industry and many of these sites are about 50/50 ever seeing your money again.

Or, at least if you're going to play, just label that money as "entertainment" and don't ever expect to see it again.

Lock has a long history of shady sort of practices so I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. Merge is a bit better but I still don't trust them. Bovado (i.e. Bodog) is probably the most reputable of the lot which is pretty sad when you consider they company is run by, IMHO, a bunch of absolute morons who could barely run a Friday night homegame much less an actual poker room. Their only saving grace is they don't want to screw up their cash cow, sports betting.

Look at it this way, when the US went after Stars and Tilt, these guys were the only choice left and yet most of them can't even pull 25% (combined) of the former US players left behind by Stars and Tilt. That's how much the rest of the poker playing public trusts them.

As far as playing via proxies and such . . . I don't hold out a lot of hope for that solution. Unlike most companies who try to geo-locate your IP address, these guys could be facing DOJ indictments for allowing US players to play. They're very, very good at detecting suspicious behaviors. It's not impossible but the penalty for being wrong is they seize your money. They know US players are trying to get around it so they've invested a lot of time and money into detecting it.

For instance, you can't be playing via a proxy in London one minute and switch to Germany two minutes later. Your pattern of IP usage should make some sense. If it shows an unnatural pattern, they'll freeze your account and ask you to explain.

BTW, they also install software to look for this kind of stuff on your PC. The client itself has anti-fraud and anti-bot checks built into the software sitting on your own computer. That means they can gather a LOT more information than just going to a website to play. They know whether you're controlling your mouse or if it's being controlled via remote desktop software. That's the kind of stuff they can detect. I don't know everything they do to block US players but if it were me, I can think of a lot of different checks (i.e. checking the proxy settings of the OS) that could detect most of the simple solutions.

Also, you have to have not just a foreign IP address but you'll need a foreign real address. And foreign bank account details.

Believe me, when Neteller had just pulled out of the US market, I was living overseas and tried to set up a new account with them with my overseas address. Because they already had me pegged as a US citizen, it took me a week of back and forth with them on the phone, faxing over work permits, residency permits, etc just so they would let me open an ewallet account.

I would only play with poker stars, but as mentioned you need to login through a proxy.

Ok guys, this might be out of context, but is there any charge if I want to organize a free roll tournament? Also how do I deposit the prize money?

JMHO - anyone that plays poker online for real money needs their head examined. Sites are full of admins with God accounts that can snoop anyone cards. I will tell you from real experience playing thousands of hours in Casinos (which I regret) that my cardinal rule was if I ever lost a hand with a full house it was time to go home. The down cycle was in effect and no amount of skill was going to turn my session into a winner. Take a break, walk away to play another day was my motto. Professional players know the odds of losing a pot with a full house are very rare. Play any length of time online and you'll find yourself losing hands with a full house routinely.

I was at a friends house and he thought he'd show me his skills playing online at UB. I watched for an hour and told him it's rigged. In the real world cards don't fall like that. Surprise, surprise when UB gets busted for players having admin accounts and reading other players cards.

It's all rigged. If you must play poker which I don't recommend, find a real game. If you think you'll hone your skills online and then go to a Casino you'll find the real world is much different. Nothing you learn playing online will work in a Casino. Another metric that is absent from online playing and very important is to read your opponent's body language and habits.

Although you'll hear about professionals boasting how much they play online, realize they're paid to say that BS. Online playing is for fools.

You can make a living playing live, online you can get rich or broke for that matter. You're pessimistic and a winning gambler never has this kind of mentality. In a live setting you get 35-50 hands an hour for as online you can plat 100"s there's going to be variance it's logical math.

I think you can still make private play money games on stars and 100% real money private games on Carbon.

Record show that Tilt & Stars were busted for tax evasion money laundering never deceiving customers away from there money and I'm sure this had to to due with the countries dwindling economic status? Steal from Paul to pay Peter +1

kvmcable said:

JMHO - anyone that plays poker online for real money needs their head examined. Sites are full of admins with God accounts that can snoop anyone cards.

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Been playing on PS for about 7 years and PKR (the 3d site) for about 5
STT ($22 sit down) or max of $1/$0.50 cash tables.
Lost quite a bit in my first two years - now make about $250 per month, last month I ended up down was November 2010.
Nothing major, never seen any of the phenom you speak of. Losing with a full house with a two pairs on the table is as common as muck with one pair on the table (after the river) it's still a decent chance (other player has a pocket pair with the set card on the table)

If you are at a six seater or higher with someone you have observed for 2-3 hours and they are still in the pot with a pair or better on the table (and they AREN'T a novice or a known bluffer) then there's a very good chance they have a percentile hand. I play maybe 200 hands a night on a solid night and during the course of a week I'll beat a full house a couple of times a week normally with a better full house though sometimes with quads.

I see people get giddy all the time with a full house when they don't have the nuts. Same as I see people do it all the time with a flush when the chances of an overcard is likely and a known solid player is sitting in the hand with them.
End of the day, if you get your full house early - or at the point when you have two pairs or a set - you want to win the hand THERE with an overbet not piss about letting people catch a break on turn or river.
Likewise if you have the nuts full house you want to hold players in the pot. TO many though a FH is just an FH - and they make basic odds errors and end up losing.

I use stat software (PokerOffice) and know from the 100,000+ hands recorded in it that the cards I've been dealt are statistically completely legit over this very large sample

Full house is something I rarely see played properly. Along with the low flush..the two hands that break people. And if you play enough poker you see it a lot.

Scritty

You are wrong.... So wrong I would bet I have won more playing on merge or bodog then you have ever in IM. K thanks Payouts take forever now so that is killing me

NB4IAMSUPERUSER.......

Just google poker forums before you put on your tin foil hat!

kvmcable said:

JMHO - anyone that plays poker online for real money needs their head examined. Sites are full of admins with God accounts that can snoop anyone cards. I will tell you from real experience playing thousands of hours in Casinos (which I regret) that my cardinal rule was if I ever lost a hand with a full house it was time to go home. The down cycle was in effect and no amount of skill was going to turn my session into a winner. Take a break, walk away to play another day was my motto. Professional players know the odds of losing a pot with a full house are very rare. Play any length of time online and you'll find yourself losing hands with a full house routinely.

I was at a friends house and he thought he'd show me his skills playing online at UB. I watched for an hour and told him it's rigged. In the real world cards don't fall like that. Surprise, surprise when UB gets busted for players having admin accounts and reading other players cards.

It's all rigged. If you must play poker which I don't recommend, find a real game. If you think you'll hone your skills online and then go to a Casino you'll find the real world is much different. Nothing you learn playing online will work in a Casino. Another metric that is absent from online playing and very important is to read your opponent's body language and habits.

Although you'll hear about professionals boasting how much they play online, realize they're paid to say that BS. Online playing is for fools.

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You guys enjoy yourselves and your fantasy illusions. My friend, well really an ex-friend, is addicted to online poker, he quit his $60,000 a year job and plays full time. How does he makes money? Easy he either self colludes or group colludes with his buddies. You sit at one of his tables and you're paying against the group. Good luck playing against a guy that is controlling all the hands at a table. I assure you if you fall on one of this tables or they group to one of yours you can throw your 100,000 hand statistics right out the window.

But I have played more then 30k sit n goes in my life. Who do you think knows more?

I am truly sorry for your friend tho. I feel bad for people like that. But if I sold duty free cigs I am not gonna moan over the obituaries everyday!

I assure you if you fall on one of this tables or they group to one of yours you can throw your 100,000 hand statistics right out the window. - true but why not just get up? It is honestly easy to spot collusion because most people are very bad at it.

100,000 hand statistics -I am glad you agree online poker is a math game and is beatable.

MermaidMurder said:

You are wrong.... So wrong I would bet I have won more playing on merge or bodog then you have ever in IM. K thanks Payouts take forever now so that is killing me

NB4IAMSUPERUSER.......

Just google poker forums before you put on your tin foil hat!

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Naw I don't need to associate with a bunch of people going down a dead end road. I've been there and done that. The life of a professional gambler (really an oxymoron) is nothing I want to revisit. Enjoy yourselves but don't convince or encourage others with your pipe-dreams.

As far as money good for you if you've think you've made more money paying poker than I've made doing IM. I'm not sure what you base that on because I never disclose my earnings. You sound like a gambler in denial frankly. Again I've been there.

I'd rather be broke and free than a rich and a gambler.

kvmcable said:

JMHO - anyone that plays poker online for real money needs their head examined. Sites are full of admins with God accounts that can snoop anyone cards. I will tell you from real experience playing thousands of hours in Casinos (which I regret) that my cardinal rule was if I ever lost a hand with a full house it was time to go home. The down cycle was in effect and no amount of skill was going to turn my session into a winner. Take a break, walk away to play another day was my motto. Professional players know the odds of losing a pot with a full house are very rare. Play any length of time online and you'll find yourself losing hands with a full house routinely.

I was at a friends house and he thought he'd show me his skills playing online at UB. I watched for an hour and told him it's rigged. In the real world cards don't fall like that. Surprise, surprise when UB gets busted for players having admin accounts and reading other players cards.

It's all rigged. If you must play poker which I don't recommend, find a real game. If you think you'll hone your skills online and then go to a Casino you'll find the real world is much different. Nothing you learn playing online will work in a Casino. Another metric that is absent from online playing and very important is to read your opponent's body language and habits.

Although you'll hear about professionals boasting how much they play online, realize they're paid to say that BS. Online playing is for fools.

Click to expand...

I was an online professional poker player for 5 years 2003-2008. I assure you, you're an idiot.

Poker is a zero sum game bra bra

KVMCable I have a wso to sell you also if you need it. Seem like that type

kvmcable said:

You guys enjoy yourselves and your fantasy illusions. My friend, well really an ex-friend, is addicted to online poker, he quit his $60,000 a year job and plays full time. How does he makes money? Easy he either self colludes or group colludes with his buddies. You sit at one of his tables and you're paying against the group. Good luck playing against a guy that is controlling all the hands at a table. I assure you if you fall on one of this tables or they group to one of yours you can throw your 100,000 hand statistics right out the window.

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I have 2 million hands in my database (played more but meh). Have I had people collude against me, yeah. I even played again Russ Hamilton when he was a superuser over on UB and Absolute. But here's the key. The math will set you free. You can't hide from the math. That's how we caught the Russ in the first place.

If I was you I would just wait until Pokerstars is allowed to come back. From what I hear it might be sometime next year . Except to pay taxes on your winning but at least you know they are not going to rip you off. In my eyes Pokerstars is the only legit place to play. Or if your that serious you can do what other serious players do go to Canada or something.

I like this guy

Roland32 said:

I have 2 million hands in my database (played more but meh). Have I had people collude against me, yeah. I even played again Russ Hamilton when he was a superuser over on UB and Absolute. But here's the key. The math will set you free. You can't hide from the math. That's how we caught the Russ in the first place.

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