Merge is the only us network not accepting players. So if the 10 sites you tried were all Merge skins, that's why you couldn't sign up. The best deposit method is a player to player transfer. You can get anywhere from 5-60% vig. Of course, the higher the vig, the harder it is to cash out from that site. WU is a very convenient service and THEY take debit cards.

Dumb question... what is vig, I see that used alot on these forums in regards to p2p transfers.

@xTrav - I have created accounts at Bodog, Intertops, and Minted in the past month and had success depositing with my Visa on all 3 sites.

Its not a dumb question. Vig is the amount people in the business of lending money or taking bets charge as a fee for their services.

Thank you, I always wondered.

When I deposited with Bodog I only used my credit card - when I cashed out I needed to fax my ID to receive a check

With Minted, everytime I cashout though WU the person at the WU agent always asks me for my ID, which I just give them - no WU agent has denied my cashout so far. If they ask questions I'd probably just be like yeah this guy is my partner we have our own company it's called none of your ****ing business incorporated now give me money you stupid cow

lol, okay maybe I wouldn't say that if my money was on the line

I am now playing online and crushing it

where are you playing?....I need to know so I can avoid being crushed

I signed up on carbon right after BF, waited until 5 weeks ago to deposit via western union. Everything went flawlessly including me getting my first cashout in less than 3 weeks.

I like minted bit those damn freeroll steps are super annoying to play

But no bit, lol

Apparently this is xTrav's way of apologizing to everyone he called liars, and thanking them for trying to help him out.

The site I am on is none of the sites you guy's suggested to me.

That's nice. You told everyone they were lying, that there were no sites accepting US players, simply because your CC company wouldn't allow you to deposit on the sites they suggested, something that has been a problem for US players for years. That doesn't invalidate their advice. You were wrong, and you were being a bit of an ass.

i deposited $50 on 5dimes and its up to $202 but almost no one there, no sngs going and 47 players on the site as of now, no plo8 or plo. and ive got some worries about cashing out there or maybe bodog or intertops if i deposited there.

heres my concern. how do u go about getting a withdraw via WU or MG? seems like everything ive read on not just one sites but ALL them companies sites, require u to live in the same state as the state on ur state ID to get the cashout. well i live in las vegas, my state ID says Louisiana on it and i cannot get an ID in las vegas made up and also i do not have an address and i simply live out of a post office box at the flamingo. (stay in comped rooms in the casino for the last 2 years and move rooms weekly). im worried how i can be approved for verification process since i have no utility bills of any kind and im sure im not the only one with this problem or who no longer lives at the address on thier ID. and i asked this before in a sites thread and their 2+2 rep totally ignored my query and never replied so can someone familiar with this problem please reply?

sevencard, I just cashed out of 5dimes with no problems. Email support for cashing out was a little shady (they ask for your account name and pw), but they were helpful and responded quick. The whole process took less than a week.

EDIT: Forgot to say, they didn't ask me for ID or anything, but I didn't use WU or MG.

Short for "vigorish."

Traditionally, in the United States it refers to money paid to a loan shark. That is the dictionary definition, and it's the definition I grew up with. The word used to be common on the old cop shows on television when the police were going after illegal gamblers (usually bookies or loan sharks).

From dictionary.com:

vig·or·ish   /ˈvɪgərɪʃ/ Show Spelled[vig-er-ish] Show IPA
noun Slang .
1. a charge paid on a bet, as to a bookie.
2. interest paid to a moneylender, especially a usurer.

More recently, vigorish can refer to any percentage that you have to pay in order to gamble, for example, in poker, the "vig" is called "rake" when it's taken from a cash game pot. The amount of a poker tournament entry fee that does not go to the prize pool is also called "rake."

Rake is generally the profit for the casino or poker room, but more recently, part of the rake is sometimes used to pay dealers or to donate to charities. All of the poker rooms in my city are for charity fund-raisers and the tournaments have a very high rake--20%, an amount that is set by state law. (It would be nice if I live withing 100 miles of a casino.)

From the first paragraph in the Wikipedia article:

Vigorish, or simply the vig, also known as juice or the take, is the amount charged by a bookmaker, or bookie, for his services. In the United States it also means the interest on a shark's loan. The term is Yiddish slang originating from the Russian word for winnings, выигрыш vyigrysh. Bookmakers use this practice to make money on their wagers regardless of the outcome. To minimize their risk, bookmakers do not want to have an interest in either side winning in a given sporting event. They are interested, instead, in getting equal betting on both outcomes of the event. In this way, the bookmaker minimizes his risk and always collects a small commission from the vigorish. The bookmaker will normally adjust the odds or the line, to attract equal action on each side of an event.

Later in the Wikipedia article, under the subheading, "Other Kinds of Vigorish":

Poker

In pai gow poker, a 5% commission charged on all winning bets is referred to as vigorish. Unlike baccarat, the commission is paid after each winning bet, either by the player handing in the amount from his stack of chips, or by having the vig deducted from the winnings.
In table poker, the vigorish, more commonly called the rake, is a fraction of each bet placed into the pot. The dealer removes the rake from the pot after each bet (or betting round), making change if necessary. The winner of the hand gets the money that remains in the pot after the rake has been removed. Most casinos take 5-10% of the pot, typically capping the total rake at $3 or $4.

You pretty much nailed the problem with playing online post-Black Friday. I'm an MTT player, with a best result of 7th of 2,200, for a win of well over 100 buy-ins. Now I'm on Juicy Stakes (Cake Poker Network) and the biggest tournament that I play is usually a 30-player SNG. I'm making the transition to live tournaments, but it's a little scary. The highest BI that I played on PokerStars was $10, and the lowest BI in the local charity rooms is $40 with a 20% rake.

I guess I'll manage. I started out at $1 +.20 STT, beat the rake, built a bankroll and moved up to $5 (it takes a ton of patience to increase your bankroll 5X against a big rake), then $10.

So, I'll probably do OK in the local charity rooms, but I'm certainly not going to get rich doing it. It sure would be nice to be able to play large-field $10 +$1 MTTs again.

If your an MTT player the only way to do it Online in the US, if your looking to put a decent amount of volume in, right now is to play on multiple Networks.

I'm assuming that you didn't get the chance to play on Merge before they stopped US players?

xTrav=level

What issuer do you use for your Visa? Mine was denied on Bodog but it was accepted at Minted. I hate playing at minted b/c there's only about 3 tables going on at a given time for my levels.

I'd rather play on bodog b/c there's a ton of tables open.

Thanks!

I really cant read another sentence of everyone trying to coddle this guy.Somebody put him 2 bed.

I had heard that Sportsbook.com was part of the Merge network, and was still accepting U.S players. Does anyone play on that site, and if so do they have reliable cashouts for U.S players?