I hope that this was a level. Surely you realize that it's not that easy for most players.

We live about 10 miles from my mother-in-law, who is 89 years old. If I left the country, my wife wouldn't be coming with me.

This. Not everyone has the freedom to move out of this joke-of-a-country like its nothing. Some people have obligations/commitmnets that tie them down.

So in the meantime we're stuck with these few sites that either:
1) take months to cashout
2) dont have enough traffic
3) dont support HUD/multitabling
4) dont offer rakeback

Yet there are US players, like myself, happily playing poker everyday getting rakeback (except Bodog) using HUD and cashing out in a few weeks time. Different standards? I'm not sure what the real issue is here. I play on Merge, Bodog and Everleaf. Merge has the slowest payouts, but still about 4 weeks for my last one. Everleaf is fast, Bodog is reasonably fast. Are there a few glitches now and then, sure. Was it better on PS and FTP? Absolutely. But it is what it is right now.

There is a thread in this forum which is devoted to political action regarding the situation with online poker. If so many Americans are unhappy, then surely in a Democracy we can change laws and elect different representatives if the ones now won't listen. Maybe I'm just from a different generation, but my view of the US is that it is governed by the voters and they effect change by writing their reps and casting their votes.

As everyone knows, legislation/governmental affairs take an absurd amount of time to pass. What do I mean by absurd amount of time? Many on here depended on poker for a living so when they lost their source of income, or for some their entire bankroll on FTP, they were put into a serious financial crisis. Bills have to paid so realistically not everyone can sit on their ass like the government and wait till legislation. Although there is a new article every week claiming that "legislation is just around the corner", we all know at best it's still a couple months away, minimum.

Even if the Americans did vote for someone who promised legislation, it's common knowledge that politicians will tickle the people's ears for votes. Regardless, it would still take a very long time. The fastest way for the Americans to actually get legislation would be a violent revolt; something that many other countries do to successfully get what they want. However, we all know Americans as a whole are too beta to do that.

No one's asking you to sit on your ass and wait for legislation. Making money at poker or a "real job" and spending a few minutes each day to email legislators aren't mutually exclusive.

How respectable is Bodog right now and looking into the future with them changing their brand at the end of the year or whatever they are doing?

Bodog has a good reputation and an A rating from respected review site SBR. They have a good track record of staying out of legal problems. For about the last 3 years I believe the MMGG group has been running the poker side with Bodog branding, which will change Dec 31 as Bodog brand will end it's relationship. Their press release mentioned that MMGG will continue to operate the poker operation going forward, so unless the logo in the lobby makes a difference, nothing should change.

They need to improve their software, but their CS is decent IMO and have a presence on this forum with a couple reps. No RB is a big issue, but they do have a few promos that augment the paltry 1% points to cash system.

I use them as an alternate to Merge (backup in case Merge goes down?) and I find their cash tables much softer than Merge and for stakes I play fairly active. The 4 table max does not bother me too much, playing cash I usually tile and I fit 6 max anyway on monitor. If a couple more tables needed just add from Everleaf.

All in all, given the choices we have, it is an adequate US facing site once you get a hand grabber working with HEM. Traffic is reasonable and tables are soft, probably because the lack of regs who want RB and more tables stacked.

LOOKING FOR INPUT: WHAT SITES DO PEOPLE FROM THE U.S. PLAY ON NOWADAYS? WANT TO BE ABLE TO MAKE A CREDIT CARD DEPOSIT, AM FINDING THAT MOST SITES ARE NOT ACCEPTING C.C. FROM U.S. PLAYERS. WHICH SITES HAVE PEOPLE HAD SUCCESS MAKING DEPOSITS AND WITHDRAWALS ON RECENTLY?

AA

wow

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28...-play-1021260/

/thread

Will Bodog be shutting down to US at end of year? If not Im thinking about depositing half and half on Bodog and Merge (Hero).

Minted Poker (everleaf network) has horribly bad customer service. Credit card deposits take forever to load. Random weird things happen all the time and they make you wade through their messed up bureaucresy (dunno how to spell it) to get there. I'm sure it's better than merge but worse than Bodog. Pretty much I'm sick and fed up of this black friday stuff.

And now, everleaf just blocked me from logging in because i'm under investigation for a $5 tournament I entered. They said I took advice from another player and it was cheating. They did not send me the history or the chat log - and asked me to explain it to them.

I have been playing as high as $4/8 PLO. And they block me due to a $5 tournament accusing me of cheating. That seems absolutely ridiculous. They do not seem to know how to run a poker site. First off why would somebody cheat at a $5 tournament when they're playing for $1,000's on cash tables. I'm fed up and want my money back. I'm going back to Bodog where I feel safe and secure.

Beware, Minted poker is not as good as they say. Sitngos barely run above $1. Most scheduled tournaments are cancelled. The rake is horrible. Just seriously, run your business better Minted. You just lost a customer.

Totally sick dude, so you think Bodog is a good choice to play at the moment?

No. Read my post above yours, or read the Bodog thread. Bodog is just ending their branding, the poker operation has been run by MMGG for years and will continue, just without a Bodog logo after Dec 31.

i'd say bodog is the ONLY choice to play at the moment. Their software is MEH, but they're the only one that you can rely on to cash out in a decent time frame PLUS have decent games and customer service.

So please, come to bodog. Minted is a poorly run site, plain and simple. I just really want it to work out there but the fact is there's no tournaments, no sitngos... customer service are useless, cash games really aren't that good.

So yes come to Bodog. I'll let you know what Minted does but it's brutal what they just pulled with me, banning me for an offense with a $5 tournament (have no clue what it's about, no hand history or chat history) when I was playing way higher in the cash games and giving plenty of business ($400 in rake for them in the past day or two).

i'd rather not take away from how upset I am with Minted and worrying whether I'll be able to cash out in a timely manner after they banned me for some $5 tournament cheating suspicion - but here is a thread on why NOT to play on Merge since you seemingly may never get your cashouts:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/19.../#post28620652

yeah merge checks are sick, I waited 3 weeks and got sick of it and payed a vig last night to get a trade. So i got my money today and looking for a new site. So bodog might be it for now and a + I can bet on football tomorrow! hahaha

yeah man, bodog is it - and it's hardly even acceptable - but it's worth playing on for me. Any other site just say no!!

You keep mentioning this, but it strikes me as irrelevant. Whatever the result is here, it doesn't matter that it was a $5 tournament. If you cheat, should they let it go because it was a small buy-in?

And when did this go from a blocked account asking you for more info, to a banning?

i'm not banned just blocked.

I understand that cheating is cheating and the game should be played fairly - but whatever happened I don't see how it could possibly be a smart thing to do or enough evidence to block my account. I'm making them plenty of rake and they have some issue with a low buy-in tournament... I don't even remember chatting with the guy.

On top of it they gave me no specific explanation of what I did - they're essentially asking me to confess to something i have no clue about.

Well, I hope it gets resolved fairly. Minted has very good representation on the forums here, so I'm sure with a little patience you'll eventually get to the bottom of this. Good luck.

Thank you for your support, glad I can vent a bit here about it. Will update once it's resolved.

If you've done nothing wrong the venting may have been premature. You are definately in the minority as far as complaining about Minted customer service and your suggestion that they not investigate suspected cheating because it occured in a small buyin game or because you pay them a certain amount of rake is absurd.

No, it's not that small buy-ins shouldn't be investigated - it's more that I have been playing huge and then to block my account because of something which i have no clue about doing in some random $5 tournament doesn't make any sense to me.

THISSSSS, usa goverment blows. My guess is 1.5 years until this matter is fixed. So were stuck playing on these ragtag crap sites until then.