Can Poker Players in the USA Play at PokerStars?

PokerStars announced after the FBI seizure that they’ve completely stopped accepting any real money action from poker players in the USA. If you reside in the USA you can no longer play online poker at PokerStars, but thankfully there are some excellent alternatives. Online poker is legal to play in the USA, but PokerStars was charged with illegally accepting payments from US poker players.

PokerStars Alternatives

Thousands of poker players are looking for an alternative to PokerStars right now and we’ve research the best possible solutions based on a range of factors. There aren’t too many poker sites still in the US market, but thankfully there are a few poker sites that have stayed in the market.

Lock Poker has only been in the industry since 2007, but since they’re on the Merge Gaming Network they have a lot of player traffic. Lock Poker is rather unknown, but they have a huge roster of pros that are always playing online in the poker room and thousands of real money players from the USA and abroad. Lock Poker is comparative to PokerStars in game selection, as both poker rooms offer more poker games than your average poker room. When you sign-up for a Lock Poker account you’ll receive a 200% bonus for up to $1200 plus access to nine freeroll tournaments everyday that have $50 prize pools.

Sportsbook.com is apart of the Cake Poker Network and is definitely the best skin on the network right now. Traffic isn’t that big yet, but with plenty of new US players joining the poker room daily it should become a lot busier soon. New players can receive an instant cash bonus of $200 at Sportsbook.com Poker or a 100% match bonus for up to $300. Players can earn up to $1000 in cash and $1000 in bonuses every month from the Sportsbook Poker VIP program, which is another one of the perks of joining Sportsbook.com right now.

The poker industry is going to go through plenty of changes in the next few months, but for now the best PokerStars alternatives are Lock Poker and Sportsbook Poker. Both sites have a great reputation for offering quick deposits for US players and paying out players quickly, which is important in the current state of the online poker industry.

Lock Poker and Sportsbook Poker predominately have a lot of cash game action at various stakes, but both poker rooms have tried adding more MTT’s recently. There aren’t many alternatives to PokerStars right now, as the four biggest US poker sits were shutdown, but if you’re looking to play online poker right now your best options are the two poker sites listed above.

Full Tilt Poker Alternatives

Full Tilt Poker has been the 2nd biggest poker room in the industry for years now, but that’s most likely going to change in the future. Basically everyone in the online poker world has heard by now that the USA DOJ and FBI have seized four of the biggest poker sites. Full Tilt Poker was seized, but they’ve since been given back their domain and everything is running like clockwork for most players.

What Players Were Affected by the Full Tilt Poker Seizure?

Currently the only players that seem to be affected at Full Tilt Poker are those residing in the USA. In a press release, Full Tilt announced that USA poker players won’t be allowed to play for real money in the poker room anymore. Players from other countries are still able to play real money poker like usual, but there have been some issues with deposits/withdrawals due to several Full Tilt banks being seized.

Full Tilt Poker Alternatives

Whether you live in the USA and can no longer play at Full Tilt Poker anymore or you just want to leave Full Tilt for the time being and play elsewhere, we’ve got you covered. Full Tilt Poker had tons of traffic and could offer some very big MTT’s that can’t be matched by any alternatives right now. Thankfully there are a couple poker rooms that are still accepting US players and have great cash game action.

If you’re leaving Full Tilt Poker and need an alternative as a cash game player you can try out Sportsbook Poker on the Cake Poker Network. Sportsbook.com runs a sportsbook and casino on the same portal, so a lot of the poker players are casual and very loose/aggressive. You can make a lot of money playing on the cash game tables at Sportsbook.com Poker. The poker room is lacking in tournaments, but every Sunday they offer a $50K Guaranteed. Make sure you take advantage of the 100% / $300 Sportsbook.com poker bonus on your 1st deposit.

The Merge Gaming Network has seen a steady increase in the amount of real money poker players competing on the network in the past six months. With the recent news that Full Tilt Poker and other big poker sites can no longer accept US players, the Merge Network is primed for a huge spike in real money players. One of the best skins on the network is Lock Poker and right now they’re one of the safest Full Tilt alternatives. Lock Poker boasts lots of small tournaments and plenty of micro stake – low stake cash games. Right now you can earn one of the biggest poker sign-up bonuses in 2011 as well at Lock Poker, as they’re offering a 200% match bonus for up to a maximum value of $1200.

Times are tough right now with most US bankrolls in limbo for the time being. If you’re looking to earn some money right now and don’t know where to play we recommend the two US poker sites above.

Earn FPP Points at PokerStars

Play the cash tables at PokerStars and begin earning your Frequent Player Points. As you accumulate your FPPs, you may utilize them in one of the many daily WSOP Qualifiers at PokerStars. What better way to spend your hard earned FPP points than to try to win your way into the most prestigious poker event in the world?

Daily FPP WSOP Satellite Qualifiers at PokerStars

Several times daily, PokerStars offers WSOP Qualifiers that utilize PokerStars frequent player points designed to give you a shot at a 2009 WSOP seat. Two main levels of FPP buy-in to these WSOP satellite qualifiers allow for entry for 40 FPP, as well as 400 FPP. For every 4000 Frequent Player Points in the prize pool, PokerStars sends one person to the weekly FPP WSOP Satellite. Pay 40 FPP for the opportunity to win one seat for every 100 players, or use 400FPP for a one in ten chance to qualify for the weekly FPP WSOP Satellite at PokerStars.

For those qualifying to win a shot at WSOP glory, the weekly FPP World Series of Poker Main Event Satellite takes place every Saturday at 4pm EDT. This weekly poker tournament will award no fewer than three PokerStars WSOP Main Event Prize packages weekly!

PokerStars WSOP Main Event Prize Package

Winners of the 2009 World Series of Poker prize package from PokerStars receive the following:

• A $10,000 buy-in to the 2009 World Series of Poker Main event.
• $1000 to cover travel expenses incurred on your way to Vegas.
• Eight nights at the Palms, with additional nights allocated in the event you survive longer in the WSOP main event!
• PokerStars prize package.
• A VIP invite to the PokerStars WSOP Player’s Party for you and a guest!
• SuperNova player status on PokerStars.

Use your Frequent Player Points to earn your way to the World Series of Poker in 2009 with PokerStars. In addition to FPP Satellites to the WSOP, PokerStars also offer paths to the WSOP Main Event via daily and weekly satellites for real money. Click here to visit PokerStars and win your way into the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event!  Visit PokerStars now.

Cake Poker Network Rakeback Plus Bonus

Through the Online Poker Circuit, you will be able to receive rakeback plus a generous first time deposit bonus at several of the Cake Poker Network skins. For example, at Cake Poker, you will receive 33% rakeback paid to your Cake Poker online poker account. Additionally, you will receive a first time deposit bonus of 110% up to $600 on your initial deposit. Said another way, you will be paid a third of your rake back plus receive a deposit bonus, just to play poker online!

Additional rakeback deals are available on the Cake Poker Network through the Online Poker Circuit at both PlayersOnly Poker and RedStar Poker – both of which are skins in the Cake Poker Network.

Merge Gaming Network Rakeback plus Bonus

The Online Poker Circuit also offers rakeback plus bonus on skins of the Merge Gaming Network.  The Merge Network of online poker sites are quickly becoming a popular place to play poker on the web with the introduction of their bad beat jackpots, as well as their top notch VIP programs.  The Online Poker Circuit features rakeback plus bonus offers from Merge Poker Network skins Carbon Poker, as well as Aced Poker – the former home to WSOP Main Event winner Jamie Gold.

With the Online Poker Circuit rakeback plus bonus offering at Carbon Poker, you will receive 30% rakeback in addition to the amazing initial deposit bonus of 150% up to $1000.

Get Paid to Play Poker with the Online Poker Circuit

Let the Online Poker Circuit pay you to play poker online now!  Click here to visit the Online Poker Circuit Rakeback Headquarters where you can get paid to play poker now!

Rakeback

The Online Poker Circuit rakeback program offers the opportunity to get paid rake back at many of the best online poker rooms – specifically those from the Merge Gaming Network, as well as from the Cake Poker Network.

Merge Poker Network Rakeback Deals

Get 30% rake back from Carbon Poker through the Online Poker Circuit.  In addition to receiving the 30% rakeback from Carbon Poker, you’ll also be able to take advantage of the Online Poker Circuit’s first time deposit bonus of 150% up to $1000 at Carbon Poker!  This initial deposit bonus is paid in addition to the rakeback offer at Carbon Poker.  Click here to take advantage of the great 30% rakeback plus 150% deposit bonus offer at Carbon Poker.

Cake Poker Network Rakeback Deals

With Cake Poker rakeback through the online poker circuit, you can get a great deal of 33% rakeback plus 110% up to $600 on your initial deposit at Cake Poker.  In addition to the rakeback deal plus deposit bonus, you will be eligible to compete in our monthly Cake Poker Skin Rake Race, where we give away $21,000 in cash prizes through the Cake Poker Rake Race in the month of May.  Furthermore, rake as little as 1 hand as a member of the Online Poker Circuit Rake Race program through Cake Poker, and you will be eligible for the exclusive $3000 freeroll poker tournament at Cake Poker!  Click here to begin getting paid rake back to play at Cake Poker.

Online Poker Circuit Rakeback Deals

Have a glance at the complete list of Online Poker Circuit Rakeback deals.  Through the Online Poker Circuit, you will be able to immediately begin earning rakeback at many of the Online Poker Rooms.  Earn rakeback through many of the Cake Poker Network skins, the skins from the Merge Poker Network, FullTilt Poker, Absolute Poker and many more.  Register to make the Online Poker Circuit your official rakeback headquarters.

Now serving Rakeback

This week, the online poker circuit begins offering rakeback to members and visitors of the Online Poker Circuit.  Through the Online Poker Circuit’s rakeback program, you will be repaid a portion of the money you pay in rake.  Said another way, you’ll get paid by our poker rooms to play poker!  We are offering Rakeback for many of the Online Poker Circuit poker rooms we offer – most notably: Cake Poker, Carbon Poker, Aced Poker, Absolute Poker, FullTilt Poker, and Cellsino Poker.

To view a complete list of our rakeback poker skins, check out our Online Poker Circuit Rakeback page.   You can click here to sign up for a free rakeback account through the Online Poker Circuit.

In the event you have any questions about our rakeback offerings, including questions on receiving rakeback even if you already have  a player account at one of the online poker skins we offer, feel free to either contact me by email, or check out our Rakeback Answers page.

Private RakeRace Freerolls

In addition to offering rakeback, we also are now offering RakeRaces and freerolls for Online Poker Circuit members.  Each month, you’ll have the opportunity to compete in rake races for cash prizes, as well as qualify for monthly rake race freerolls.  Some of the rake race freerolls allow you to qualify by raking as few as 1 hand in a month!  In May alone, we’ll be giving away over $24,000 in cash prizes through our rake races and freerolls.  Be sure to register for rakeback with the Online Poker Circuit to compete in rake races and rake race freerolls!

Forum closed

Due to several various factors, including time and focus issues, I’ve decided to close down the Online Poker Circuit’s forum.  I currently do not have the time available to dedicate myself to the forum’s growth.  Additionally, one of the last things I want on the Online Poker Circuit is a forum that won’t get any attention from me, thus contains outdated posts, threads, and useless “stuff.”  With that in mind, I am throwing my endorsement and support to the newly opened PokerDonk Forum.

Click here  to register for the PokerDonk Forum.  You will find Gerry – the PokerDonk forum owner, very personable.  The forum is merely a week old and is getting a good bit of support.  Gerry will be offering some forum freerolls, coming very soon to his forum members, in addition to the tournaments he already has scheduled.  Additionally, this will be the place to talk poker with the Beer Guy (I’m registered there under the name imjusthere4thebeer).  Hope to see everyone there!

Upcoming Online Poker Circuit Events

In addition to the Rake Race Freerolls, I’m hoping to hold some private WSOP qualifiers via the Online Poker Circuit.  Additionally, we will be offering a working closely with BigBet Poker in the upcoming months on a promotion designed to pay your mortgage or rent for a year!  More details will follow in the upcoming weeks.  In the interim, take advantage of BigBet Poker first time deposit bonus of 100% up to $500!  Take note that this bonus releases $1 in bonus for every $1.20 in rake paid (a real value from a bonus chasing standpoint)!  Click here to visit BigBet Poker via the Online Poker Circuit.

I guess this might also be a good time to point out that the Online Poker Circuit is now offering rakeback to poker players desiring rakeback from many of the major online poker sites.  Click for details of the Online Poker Circuit rakeback offering.

Enough with the rakeback commercial, now onto the substance…

Rakeback Talk in the Blogosphere

I first entered the discussion of online poker rakeback when I read Bill Rini’s post regarding the Online Poker Industry’s Love Hate Relationship with Rakeback.  I’m not going to even try to summarize Bill’s take on rake.  He always seems to hit the nail on the head and can (and did) say it better than I could.  Essentually, rakeback is here to stay.

There are many problems with the current business model of rakeback within the poker industry, but the writing is on the wall regarding poker rakeback.  Its not going away, it will become a bigger focal point of business in the online poker industry as more and more players learn about rakeback and thus rightfully demand rakeback.

PAL Discussion on Rakeback

A bit after Bill’s great blog entry on rakeback, a thread popped up on PAL regarding rakeback, where a forum member suggested rakeback in the online poker industry should be regulated.  The member who initiated the thread suggested that rakeback become regulated within the industry to prevent “under the table rakeback deals” granted from operators (online poker skins, poker sites, and poker networks) and affiliates.  It is a well known fact, at least among frequent online poker players and affiliates that we can “secretly” negotiate a rakeback deal of some sort from sites such as FullTilt, Titan, microgaming poker sites, and other skins who do not officially offer rakeback.  Many poker rooms use rakeback as a means by which to retain players.

Current state of rakeback in the online poker world

Currently, if I am an online poker player, and I want rakeback, I have some options.  I can go to many of the websites offering rakeback and sign up to get rakeback.  If you shop around, you see that many rakeback sites offer a percentage of rake back to “their poker players” at a varying rate and throughout a vast number of online poker rooms.

There are many online poker sites and forums that drive a substantial amount of traffic to the poker rooms, which benefits the poker room by getting a huge volume of players.  The rakeback affiliate in turn should be rewarded with a higher cut, of which he can either rightfully pocket, or choose to pass on the pay raise to his players.  Either one is fine with me.  As a smaller site, one who does not have the volume of visitors coming in, I would not be able to compete without a little help…

The proposal in the forum suggested rakeback should be regulated to make sure everyone “can” offer the same thing to everyone – essentially so that no one receives an “unfair advantage.”  I have to disagree with this suggestion.

The Problem

If every poker room can only offer x% – say for arguments sake 30% rakeback is the industry wide cap, we’ve created a glass ceiling.  While one might be inclined to believe at first glance the smaller guys would benefit from a cap on rakeback, this is far from the case.

ABC Poker News site offers rakeback of 30% at all the online poker rooms, which is all he can offer.  Currently, ABC Poker News is the top online poker news site on the net.  They are getting the most visitors to their website driving mad traffic in terms of quality and quantity to all the poker rooms they offer – and of course, they offer them all.  Under the proposal of regulating, making it all a cookie cutter model, the affiliate who is driving revenue doesn’t benefit any further, because his earnings are capped in terms of percentage.  He can’t get a pay raise for his hard work, because we’re all the same.  The online players who have rakeback accounts with ABC won’t benefit either, as they are unable to participate in exclusive player perks – no special rake races, no rakeback freerolls, no bonuses no nothing…  Again, cookie cutter – we are all the same.

If you think as the small up and coming website that you have it any better if everyone is the same, think again…  ABC already has the traffic.  To make matters worse, you – the small guy cannot offer anything above and beyond ABC – so you’ll never get the business!

As a player, you don’t have it so hot either…  ABC can’t offer you anything more and really, there’s no incentive to give their poker players more.  You aren’t leaving their services, you know it and they know it!  They have no vested interest in improving their product.

Online Poker Skins will then begin starving off, because there’s no need to move from one skin to another – there’s no special rakeback deals.  Whoever has the players keeps them – and they need not try very hard to do so either.  With the cookie cutter model, we all lose!

Rakeback industry solutions

I could go on and on about potential rakeback solutions in the scope of this post.  However, I am making a blog post, not writing an e-book.  I’ll follow up over the weekend with a list of solutions or suggestions on the topic of rakeback – should it be regulated or organized, or should the marketplace dictate policy?

Like its name suggests, the WPS Monster Stack series features a deep, monstrous starting chip stack without the monstrous cost.  The Monster Stack series is a great way to play a large, live poker event without requiring a huge investment.

The schedule for the WPS Monster Stack Poker Showdown is as follows:

• 8/7. Fri. 12 p.m No Limit Texas Holdem - 12,500 starting chips,  $340 buy-in
• 8/8. Sat. 12 p.m No Limit Texas Hold’em 15,000 starting chips $550
• 8/9. Sun. 12 p.m No Limit Texas Hold em 15,000 starting chips $550
• 8/10. Mon. 12 p.m No-Limit Texas Hold’em 12,500 starting chips $340
• 8/11.Tues. 12 p.m No-Limit Texas Holdem 12,500 starting chips $340
• 8/12. Wed. 12 p.m No-Limit Texas Hold em 12,500 starting chips $340
• 8/13. Thurs. 12 p.m No-Limit Hold’em 15,000 starting chips $550
• 8/14. Fri. 12 p.m No-Limit Hold em 15,000 starting chips $550
• 8/15. Sat. 12 p.m No-Limit Holdem 15,000 starting chips $550
• 8/16. Sun. 12 p.m No Limit Hold’em 20,000 starting chips $1070
• 8/17. Mon. 12 p.m No Limit Holdem 12,500 starting chips $340
• 8/18. Tues. 12 p.m No Limit Hold em 12,500 starting chips $340
• 8/19. Wed. 12 p.m NoLimit Hold’em 15,000 starting chips $550
• 8/20. Thurs. 12 p.m NoLimit Hold em 15,000 starting chips $550
• 8/20. Thurs. 2 p.m Pot Limit Omaha 20,000 starting chips $1070
• 8/21. Fri. Super Satellites 12 pm, 4 pm, 8 pm 6,000 starting chips $290
• 8/22. Sat. 12 p.m WPS/ CPT Championship Day 1 50,000 starting chips $2650
  8/23. Sun. 12 p.m WPS/CPT Championship Day 2
  8/24. Mon. 12 p.m WPS/CPT Championship Day 3
  8/25.Tues. 12 p.m *WPS/CPT Championship Day 4
• 8/23. Sun. 2 p.m NoLimit Hold em 15,000 starting chips $550
• 8/24. Mon. 2 p.m No-Limit Texas Hold’em 12,500 starting chips $340

Additionally, the World Poker Showdown will return to Casino Jazz in Jaco Beach, Costa Rica from Nov 6-15 for the WPS Annual Casino Jazz Deep Stack Poker Showdown- Jaco Beach, Costa Rica.

Rounding out the WPS schedule:

Today *Sunday*

8pm EDT – Noble Poker – CheckRayz $3+.30 10K Guaranteed MTQ, with rebuy and addons first hour. 2 seats are added, despite what the prize pool shows. I suspect the network they play on is not set up in such a manner to show the added chips, thus they’ll be awarded manually (beer guy – poker pub guarantee).

8.30pm EDT – 32 Red Poker – $1000 Freeroll.

10pm EDT – New Poker Room – Jungle Poker – $500 Freeroll heads up poker tournament! 128 peeps allowed for this one, so register early! Download Jungle Poker here.

Monday 5/8

12pm EDT – 32 Red Poker – $1000 Freeroll poker tournament.

Tuesday 5/9

2pm EDT – $500 Freeroll poker tournament. Jungle Poker.

6pm EDT – $400 Freeroll Omaha Tournament. once again, Jungle Poker.

6pm EDT $12K Guaranteed NL Texas Holdem Tournament. 32 Red Poker.

9.05pm EDT CheckRayz Private $100 Freeroll at Poker4Ever.

Weds 5/10

3.45pm EDT – WSOP Ladies Super Satellite. $15.20+1.30 – River Belle Poker.

8.15pm EDT – Sun Poker. $100 freeroll. Private SPN event via Online Shark.

8.45pm EDT – WSOP Ladies Super Satellite. $7.60+.65 – River Belle Poker.

10.05pm EDT – CheckRayz Texas Holdem Private $100 added to prize pool tournament. $5+.50 – Poker4ever.

Thurs 5/11

3.45pm EDT – WSOP Shorthanded Super Satellite. $12.50+1. River Belle Poker.

8.45pm EDT – WSOP Shorthanded Super Satellite. $25+2. River Belle Poker.

9pmEDT – $5+.50 $200 added. Absolute Poker. Private SPN tourney via Shark Poker Tour.

10pm EDT – $5+.50 $50 added to the prize pool. CheckRayz Heads up challenge. Celeb Poker. (registration opens on weds 5/10 at 10pm EDT).

Friday 5/12

6.45pm EDT $10K Guaranteed at Noble Poker. $30+3.

10.30pm EDT CheckRayz Private $15K Guaranteed MTQ. $5+.50 – 1 seat added to the prize pool. Kiwi Poker.

Saturday 5/13

4.30pm EDT – $15K Guaranteed freezeout. Kiwi Poker. $50+5.

5pm EDT – $200 Freeroll at Pokertime. SPN Private tournament via Online Shark.

* note: private free poker tournaments and money added poker tournaments via CheckRayz require registration through the CheckRayz Leaderboard Poker Tour website. Registration with CheckRayz is free. Passwords for CheckRayz events are located on the poker tournament schedule page. You must be logged in to register. Password sharing is not permitted. CheckRayz reserves the right to move to strip unauthorized individuals of their tournament prizes won through CheckRayz if they are not an “invited guest” of CheckRayz.

* note 2: private free poker tournaments and money added poker tournaments via SPN can be accessed via either the online shark poker website and the Shark Poker Tour website. Sharky also may reserve the right to motion to revoke prize money accumulated by any unauthorized peeps in his private tournaments. Said another way, you must be registered at the appropriate websites before registering for the tournament. Password sharing is not permitted.

Sunday Shout outs

Yea, I know. The above tourney schedule, with the exception of the “legaleze” makes it seem as if I am writing without really “writing.” The shout outs do the same thing, I am sure. But hey… at least it proves to some extent I am reading, right?

First off, a big poker pub shout out to Norman of the CheckRayz tour. Norm’s been volunteering pro bono proofreading my site, checking the tourneys and the schedule page, calendars and emails against one another. And of course, I’m doing ten things at once minimum, so it keeps him busy. I truely appreciate the time you take to make sure the message I am putting out is consistent and accurate. Thank you Norman!

Speaking of friends and tour members. Thanks to CT for helping me organize my betting scheme for the Derby. Typically, I am great at rating the ponys, however I fall a bit short in constructing my bets. She helped me a great deal, but my pony picking fell short.

A blanket Shout out goes to everyone in the “blogosphere” who actually, unlike me, use grammar and spell check in their work. Starting next week, Imma step it up and actually check my work before I submit. (Boooooo!)

Thanks again to Haley for tipping me off via her blog on the poker legislation progress.

Another thanks to haley for “pimping” Lou Kreiger’s Poker Blog. Lou has been writing up a storm on the legislation currently being considered. He’s doing a great job of writing objectively and trying to assist those politicians in thinging things through prudently. Shout out to him as well.

Once again, Felicia Lee gets a shout out for knocking yet another one out of the park with the phenomenal post on grabbing your balls Self Esteem and Poker. She’s an every day read for the beer guy. I highly suggest that every poker player of all skill levels make her a daily read as well.

Finally, a shout out goes to everyone who has helped to make CheckRayz the hottest and best poker tour on the net!

Mike