| R # |
Poker Room |
All States |
USA Friendly Banking Options |
Bonus $ |
Bonus % |
Ring Game Traffic |
Detailed Room Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Poker Stars | Yes | Instant e-check, CC, Cash Transfer | $50 | 100% | 24,000 | Read Review |
| 2 | Full Tilt | Yes | Instant e-check and Visa Cards | 27% Rakeback | 12,325 | FTP Rakeback | |
| 3 | Cake Poker | Yes | UseMyWallet, CC, eWalletXpress | 33% Rakeback | 1,975 | Cake Rakeback | |
| 4 | Bodog Poker | Yes | eWalletXpress, CC, Cash Transfer | ANY | 10% | 1,950 | Bodog Review |
| 5 | Doyles Room | No | eWalletXpress, CC, Cash Transfer | $550 | 110% | 2,150 | Doyles Review |
| 6 | WSEX Poker | Yes | MyPayCall, CC, Wire, Cash Transfer | 80% Rakeback | 120 | WPEX Review | |
| 7 | Iron Duke | Yes | Pic-Club, eWalletXpress, PinDebit,CC, Fonelinx | 30% Rakeback | 575 | Iron Duke Review | |
| 8 | PitbullPoker | Yes | Visa, Cash Transfer, eWalletXpress, PrimaPin | $10 No Deposit | 75 | Pitbull Poker | |
| 9 | Poker Share | No | UseMyWallet, CC, Bank Transfer | $10,000 | 1,000% | 2,150 | Poker Share |
| 10 | Poker4ever | Yes | High CC Approval Rate | cash out: Wire Transfer | 35% Rakeback | 200 | Poker4ever | |
| 11 | Intertops | No | UseMyWallet, CC, Bank Wire, Cash Transfer | $10,000 | 500% | 2,150 | Intertops Review |
| 12 | Poker Host | No | High CC Approvals; Pic-Club; Cash Transfer | $2,000 | 100% | 2,150 | Poker Host |
| 13 | Poker Time | No | UseMyWallet and Credit Card | $10 No Deposit | 1,500 | Poker Time | |
| 14 | TexasHoldem | Yes | Pic-Club, eWalletXpress, PinDebit,CC, Fonelinx | $500 | 100% | 575 | Full Review |
| 15 | Carbon Poker | Yes | Pic-Club, eWalletXpress, PinDebit,CC, Fonelinx | $500 | 200% | 575 | Carbon Review |
All States Explained: The sites listed as No under the “All States” field only accept players from 47 states. The states restricted from accessing these rooms are Illinois, Louisiana, and Washington.
Ring Game Traffic Explained: This column refers to the estimated simultaneous real money ring games players during peak hours (busiest weekend hours).
Skill Gaming Legal in Most States
There are several skill games offered online which operate entirely legally in the United States. Many of these games resemble poker for example check out our reviews on Duplicate Poker and Rummy Royal, which are two great skill based card games where Americans can deposit with credit card and cash out via check with no concerns over the legality of doing so.
Most skill gaming sites accept players from 38 US States with the 12 restricted being: Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Montana, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Vermont.
Poker Deposit Methods for US Players
Credit Cards:A lot of American players assume their credit cards will not work at online poker rooms, however bank issued debit cards with a Visa or Master Card logo will work as a credit card deposit at most online poker rooms. This is also true of prepaid credit cards you can purchase at shopping malls and conveniance stores. Also some online poker rooms have high approval rates even on standard unsecured cards, don’t assume you’re credit card will not work just because it had been declined in the past.
Instant E-Check: PokerStars allows players to instantly fund their account using their checking account online. This method is also available at Full Tilt but only for players having first made a successful deposit using an altertnate deposit method.
eWalletXpress: This is an American friendly deposit option that is accepted at a few sites.
UsemyWallet: This is a branded version of Quick Tender and is generally considered a safe banking option for Americans to use.
MyPayCall - This method allows players to use their MasterCard to fund their World Poker Exchange account. If you do sign up at WPEX use bonus code WPX80 to get an extra 5% rakeback on top of the 75% they offer standard.
PinDebit - A method available at Carbon Poker, Iron Duke, Texas Holdem and other skins on the Merge Network. Basically with this method you verify your checking account, takes couple days, and then can load your PinDebit account via E-Check and deposit those funds in to either poker room.
FoneLinx - This is a method for US players to deposit at Carbon Poker or Iron Duke using their credit card.
Pic-Club - Pic-Club can be funded with Visa, MC, Discover, AMEX, Diners Club, JBC, E-Gold, Online Bank Transfer and Direct Cash Transfers. Once You’re Pic-Club account is funded you can use it to deposit funds at various online poker rooms such as Iron Duke and Poker Host.
Prima Pin - This is a phone card that can be purchased with a credit card. You can also change your phone cards cash balance in as a deposit to Pitbull Poker or other online poker rooms accepting Prima Pin as a deposit method.
Cash Transfer - This involves taking cash to your local grocery store, filling out a forum and within 30 minutes or so the Poker Room will have this cash and credit your account.
USA Online Poker Updates
May 26, 2008: I just noticed today that this Friday my wire transfer cash out test from Poker4ever for low $XXXX to an American bank account was successful. It took 7 days for wire to reach our bank account. For those not familiar with Poker4ever this is a small site (couple hundred simultaneous players during peak hours) with unique software. I’m a big fan of the software, as well as the fact that they do not deduct bonuses from rakeback. You can read more about them on our Poker4ever rakeback page.
May 23, 2008: Cake Poker announced today the addition of eWalletXpress to their American friendly banking options.
May 22, 2008: PokerStars is still riding strong as the preferred option to US players, but also they’ve been expanding through out the worlds. Their website and support is now available in more languages then any other online poker room, having past Everest Poker. Today they opened a brick and mortar poker room in Macau which is a Chinese State that is considered Las Vegas of the Far East. More on PokerStars Macau
May 15, 2008: A lot of online poker rooms are having trouble with e-check payouts to American players. This includes both PokerStars and Full Tilt and for both rooms we recommend at this time depositing through e-check and cashing out through paper check or other methods.
May 1, 2008: I received a check from Bodog today 6 days after having requested it. Impressed seeing the turn around time on these had approved I decided to test my US issued credit card on their site and the deposit went through no problem. A lot of these sites are not pushing credit card but I find credit cards do work at most sites.
April 23, 2008 Cake Poker has added quick tender as a US banking friendly banking method. This works similar to the way Epassporte worked except the fees to withdrawal to bank account are $30, but at least the transfers happen timely. It cost nothing to load an account via online bank deposit, but cost 5% to load via credit card.
April 12, 2008: It’s official Epassporte has abandon the US market. PokerStars and Full Tilt are now offering e-check deposit and withdrawal options, and Cake Poker has sent players and email saying new banking options are around the corner.
April 11, 2008 - Epassporte is currently down as a deposit option to all gambling related websites. There is currently rumors that they’ve left the American market. For details read this news release. We will keep you informed as more details become available.
April 8, 2008 - To kick off their new Sit and Go Leader Boards Poker Stars is offering players a 20% up to $120 reload bonus. Reload bonuses are rare at PokerStars so this is something most players will surely want to take advantage of. The offer expires April 16, full details are available on the PokerStars website.
April 6, 2008 - RedStar Poker is no longer offering rakeback to players in US or Canada. We’ve removed them from our recommended list as Cake Poker is on the same network and offers 33% rakeback, for details see our Cake Poker Review.
April 3, 2008 - The online poker room Pharoah’s Poker Palace has closed. They were a small online poker room never listed or linked to anywhere on our website.
March 5, 2008 - We’ve added the online poker room TexasHoldem.com to our list of top 20 poker rooms for US players. They are an established brand and portal who has entered the real money online poker scene just recently but are backed by the Merge Gaming Network (Carbon, Iron Duke etc).
March 4, 2008 - We’re not sure when this happened, but we just noticed today the sign up bonus at Doyles Room has been increased to a whopping 110% initial deposit match up to $500 free. Doyles room has lots of great banking options for Americans and is one of the few American friendly sites on the Microgaming network that accepts Epassporte. For more details on the bonus visit the Doyles Room website.
March 1, 2008 - Many clients are reporting fast pay out times using Bodogs new banking option called rapid pay. This is a payout through the leading money transfer provider M.G. as opposed to W.U.
February 27, 2008 - Royal Card Club and Arctic Poker, formerly on our recommended list, have been shut down by Microgaming along with 26 other skins (including Battlefield and Red Nines) as a result of the license provider facing solvency issues. To learn more about this story see our news article or this 2+2 thread.
February 13, 2008 Bodog was the most recent victim of a check processing company they were using deciding they no longer wanted the risk of dealing with a gambling company. Their former processor had put a stop payment on numerous checks they had issued to clients on behalf of Bodog. Bodog has secured a new payment processors and is rush shipping new check to all those who were effected. We see no reason for concern as Bodog has always been a top notch and reliable company, this was at the worst just a huge inconvenience. Bodog remains A- rated on all of our websites despite the recent challenges.
January 20, 2008 Duplicate Poker is not longer accepting American Express for US players. American MasterCard and Visa transactions continue to be accepted as usual.
December 22, 2007 Bodog is now offering a 110% sign up bonus up to $550 free. Full Details Here
February 21, 2008 Red Star Poker has been added to our list of top 20 poker sites for American players. Their poker room shares software and player bases with a number of sites including Cake Poker and Sportsbook.com. We have a special deal available where players who sign up using Sign up Code: CASHBACK will recieve 33% rakeback paid to their account on a monthly basis (More Details).
February 13, 2008 Bodog was the most recent victim of a check processing company they were using deciding they no longer wanted the risk of dealing with a gambling company. Their former processor had put a stop payment on numerous checks they had issued to clients on behalf of Bodog. Bodog has secured a new payment processors and is rush shipping new check to all those who were effected. We see no reason for concern as Bodog has always been a top notch and reliable company, this was at the worst just a huge inconvenience. Bodog remains A- rated on all of our websites despite the recent challenges.
January 20, 2008 Duplicate Poker is not longer accepting American Express for US players. American MasterCard and Visa transactions continue to be accepted as usual.
December 22, 2007 Bodog is now offering a 110% sign up bonus up to $550 free. Full Details Here
December 20, 2007 Compatible Poker is reporting that Full Tilt Poker is beta-testing e-check deposits and that they have plans to introduce this as a banking method in the future.
December 12, 2007 PokerStars is now available in a full download Macintosh version.
December 7, 2007 PokerStars will stop offering True Pay withdrawals on December 10th and will stop taking TruPay deposits on December 14.
November 6, 2007 Absolute Poker, Vegas 24/7 and Ultimate Bet have been removed from our top 20 list due to their ownerships posible involvement in the recent high stakes cheating scandal.
November 2, 2007 Bodog has released a new and improved version of thier online poker software.
October 25, 2007: Iron Duke has been re-added to our update coverage. They currently have a large number of American friendly deposit options available including way to easily deposit with a credit card through unique deposit options they offer.
October 19, 2007: Doyles Room has retuned to the US Market. They operate on the Microgaming network and are available to players in 39 states.
October 15, 2007: PokerStars is offering E-Check deposits on a limit player base. Players can log into their account to see if this option is available to them.
September 20, 2007: Carbon Poker no longer accepts Epassporte as a banking option. Apparently they lost their account as offering casino games is against Epassporte policy (this is an unconfirmed reason).
August 24, 2007: ECO Card no longer accepting deposits from US players.
August 20, 2007: Poker Stars has added E-Check deposit options on a limited basis.
August 15, 2007: We’ve been using PinDebit regularly and it has turned out to be a great banking method (Update note: This option is available at Iron Duke where we offer 30% rakeback).
July 30, 2007: ECO Card emailed US players today to inform them that on August 24, 2007 they will be leaving the US market.
June 20, 2007: Bodog is now offering players 1 free check withdrawal per month. Players should use the check by courier option and expect as 2-3 week for delivery. Bodog has always been a top rated company with us as they have a great track record. Players should not confuse the slow payout times for financial insecurity one bit. Bodog is just playing on the side of caution as they plan to remain a world leading sportsbook for many years to come.
