I'm a US citizen but will be studying abroad in France for 4 months this fall. I just now heard about the recent regulations on online poker in France and the switch to .fr sites. My question is during this time I'm living in France would it still be legal for me to play on my normal Pokerstars/FT accounts?

If not, would I even have access to the .fr versions? I assume even if I did, I would have to open new accounts/show proof of my French address/redeposit/etc. Which would hardly be worth the effort for 4 months.

So am I basically screwed over and no online poker for me for 4 months?! I sure hope not..

just use a VPN with an US IP and everything will be fine

Yeah use a VPN and send a prior e-mail to those sites stating you will be using one fearing your local french ISP might be blocking access to those.

You can only be legit since you will stay less than 4 months and surely won't have the right visa to be considered as a French resident. You will be considered a US citizen abroad so you won't have to deal with much trouble.

I said send them a mail prior moving since you might not use a unique IP address with the VPN so you'd better explain them the situation before moving to France : they will surely understand it 100%. If you log with a French IP then use a VPN it will be tougher to explain this move : expect your accounts to be locked at one time but will still get around it sending ID and visa type I guess. So better be on the safe side if you want to grind 24/7 without worrying about it.

OP you can use what ever vpn (european ones) you want , even the free ones ,you just need an ip adress that is not a french one
You don't even have to mail stars or ft to warn them you're playing abroad
I travel a lot in diff countries , play poker online and i never had problems with the poker rooms .
I was in France last week and I played on FT and PS using a German vpn it worked fine
I don't think the online poker rooms trace ppl IP adresses
BTW to register on ps.fr you need a french bank account or at least an european one plus they ask you a bunch of proofs : elecricity bills etc ... , but you don't have to be a french citizen or a french resident to register on ps.fr

Pheeew thanks good to know there's an alternative at least.

I'm not the best with computers (I had to google what a VPN even was )...So would anyone be able to recommend a safe/good VPN to use? I've found some free ones and some that charge 5-15 bucks a month. Does it really matter which I use as long as the IP address is coming from a country other than France?

Also one of the free ones mentioned it has a traffic limit of 1 GB for month. I have no clue what that equates to or how many GB I would need. I assume I would use my normal French IP Address for all other web surfing and only log in to the VPN for poker (if that's even possible, I think it is from what I read). Say I played poker 2 hours per day on average, how would I know how many GB I need? Or does GB not even matter? I'm totally clueless

i guess the vpn you mention is cyberghost
don't use a french one or you won't get access to .com sites you can use any vpn exept italian ones
1gb/month is enough to play poker even more than 2 hours a day but if you browse the web,loading just the pics on 2+2 and watching some vids 1 gb is not enough
but try one thing just log in with the vpn then disconnect vpn and you'll still be able to play on a .com poker room (i tried it works)
the vpn are easy to install on the computer and they don't harm them + vpn 's are more secure than a normal connexion cause the data is encrypted
unfortunatly the connexion is limited on the free versions to 10mb/s so the computer is a little slower but won't chnage anything while playing exept if you 're used to have a very fast connexion
if you want good comp advices go the the 2+2 subform :Computer TEchnical Help

I am currently using a VPN in France and Pokerstars have temporarily blocked my account as the IP doesnt match my registered address and they want to know what country I have been visiting.... What is their policy on VPNS? you any idea?

I was in France 3 weeks ago, When I logged in to FTP I got a msg which referred me to their .fr policy & blablabla; could login but could not sit - When I logged into PS everything went fine. I'm not very much into computers so I didn't try any technical stuff

ieatcake I'd just try to explain what you did, they probably blocked ur account to protect it from hackers in a foreign country.. Confess and apologize

Best VPN for multi tabling poker

VPNS dont work. I used a VPn in france to access .com and they tracked it straight away. After one session they blocked my account until i could explain the login...... dont be fooled.

Bump

Leaving for Europe in about an hour, stopping in France first. So, everything should be fine if shoot them an email first and use a VPN? Should I inform them of using a VPN from france? There is no risk for me to acesss the .com site, right? Pretty sure they are a US citizen with French residency. Prior to the regulations I accessed PS with no prior email and wasn't questioned. Also, are you still able to access .com from Belgium? Looks like it AFAICT. Thanks.

why don't you email the site and ask them?

i would love to have the opportunity to play on one of the .fr sites, they must be the fishiest things ever

.com is still accessible in Belgium, yes.