In case you missed it - the Australian federal government recently banned online poker.

Does this effectively give us the same level of access as Americans?
what are our options?

Normally I'd merge this in with the larger "Poker Site Suggestions" thread, but this is something of a special case with Australia having quickly pushed through legislation. Still surprised about that; after seeing your post I went to check back in on the NVG thread where things seemed to be going well last week, and...

I imagine the US-facing sites will be the place to start, but I don't know if access will be quite the same as for Americans; it will depend on which ones decide to go against the legislation - I imagine the situation is going to be a little fluid for the next month or two as sites decide what to do. Keep in mind that in the US, it's not online poker that is banned (in all but one state) - it's financial institutions processing transactions with online poker sites that is.

Edit to add: Let's keep discussion about circumventing the ban out of this thread; we don't usually allow discussion of ways to break site T&Cs. Not only that, it's probably smarter for those who decide to take such routes that their methods are not discussed in public on a high profile poker forum.

Intertops and Juicy Stakes (Horizon) have recently started advertising Aussie MTTs.

Ignition (formerly Bovada) have also been targetting Aussies.

I believe that in both cases, the operators are aware of the situation and are trying to be first in recruiting Aussies from the major sites.

ACR but not all rooms on this network. True poker for example is not accepting Aussies. Natural 8 told me this morning they are not accepting Aussies either.

Pretty sure we can use BetOnline. Unfortunately, their tournaments are 10 handed but still

Hopefully, Merge won't be closed out to you.

Afaik Merge, as an Australian company, has always been closed out to Aussies for some reason.

You wouldn't want to play there anyway. They ban winning players, cash game traffic is non-existent, and they have received the lowest grade for cash outs of any US facing site.

Any advice for someone who wants to play omaha hi lo? Where's the best / any traffic ?

thanks

Rec site. So top 1% winning players probably banned or table restricted. Cash game traffic low, obviously not non-existent, hence, winning players ban/table restriction. All sites would be happy with Merge cash out speed for the last year. See Merge Deposit/Withdrawal thread. So much for lowest grade.

The biggest issue you are going to have is finding a site that is willing to offer it there. The legislature is written that the fine for a network offering online poker inside Australia's borders is an absurdly high amount, per DAY, as in millions.

https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016B00186

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/c...l/igab2016283/

All networks are subjected to this unless they have a license to operate. There is currently no licensing program offered by the legislature. That means to me either: they will be conjuring up something in the future or they are equally as incompetent as the legislative body in the US.

In the States, the real underlying issue is about the filthy politicos being able to collect their vig, aka taxes, and a smaller problem of the exclusivity clause offered to the Native tribes.

Your best bet is to contact the customer service of whatever network you want to try to play.

Ignition Poker gives you access to a USA heavy player pool with mostly rec players. Biggest issue for me is that its only 4 cash game tables at once but up to 20 tournament tables. Its also anonymous, all players are assigned a number.

but isn't the software awful eg you time out for a few hands after you go all-in?

If this were in fact true, do you think the site would really be in the top 5 sites in the world for cash game and MTT traffic?

--
Kahn

Actually, that is a bug posted about weekly in their discussion thread.

could be a stupid question, but why did they ban it?

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/29...poker-1366296/

Cliffs: The same reason all governments do.

Are ignition actually accepting Australian players yet, I had read that it was 'announced' but no player would actually be able to sign-up for several weeks. Has anyone successfully opened and verified an account?

Yes, they most certainly are. I have a few dozen friends with new accounts.

--
Kahn

anyone know much about betonline. seems we can still play on there at the moment.

I have tried to login to Ignition but having serious problems from Australia.

Have tried everything; used two different pc's, changed the DNS settings as suggested on their site, rebooted pc's and router, re-installed software. Client starts up but I get a blank screen for the lobby and can't login.

Very occasionally I can login but then get a blank white screen for the cashier.

This has seriously put me off and I may stick with ACR for now. Anyone else from Australia had issues?

yes i have that issue every time, i just restart the client it usually takes 3 attempts before I get in.

Will be interested in finding out if any Aussies have been able to deposit and play and by play and mean multiple sessions hours in length) without having trouble as the bo vaca/ignition thread shows it has many problems

i have no problems since the last update once im in, just takes a few times to login, smooth otherwise playing zone.

@ mirage01 have you done cashouts yet how long did deposit and withdrawls take as ive read many have had long dalays

Party Poker real money went off line today. You can log in, you can view tables being registered, you can open table, press register for this game, and thats as far as you can get. Play money is still fully working for those who like that.
This is a sad day.