I just looked at the tournament schedules for the new Jersey poker sites like wsop, 888, borgata, and I didn't know quite what they had over there. I know it sucks but it looks better than what I imagined. The launch of pokerstars is of course what got me looking at all of this.

So my question is, what's the most people you have ever seen in an online tournament in nj, nevada, and hell let's throw Delaware in there. I'm curious about the legal, regulated sites but I'd also like to hear about the more underground sites like bovada. Also, if anyone has a traffic report on 7 card stud tournaments, that would be awesome.

Mods, sorry if this is in wrong place, I imagine there's gotta be sonewhere in here to ask this, I looked but didn't really see anywhere.

This is probably the best place for your post.

Pokerscout will have some overall traffic info for you, but not so much for individual games/tournaments. As for 7 card stud tournaments, I expect you should consider yourself lucky if you find any.

Thanks! I saw on one main event of a series, I think it was party's njcop, tgat there was 473 entrants. I honestly had no idea ipoker in the u.s. was at that level, as crappy as it is compared to pre black friday. But still, I've been thinking we have to be connected to row in order for u.s. online poker to work and now it doesn't seem like that's right.

The past 5 years have been a long, slow haul but maybe we'll have a really good system in another 5 years man that is so depressing

I'd bank on more like 10 years.

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Kahn

Unfortunately, that's probably about right. Even states considering legislation will probably take at least a couple years between the beginning of legislative efforts and cards in the air. So unless we hit a 1-outer at the federal level, it's gonna be rough.

I'm betting on poker bots being strong enough to have an edge vs all human players at heads up NLHE and PLO before a respectable system is in place through most of the U.S., which will likely kill off a lot of the action.

There's a good chance it's all downhill from here (as it has been since 2006-2008).

Only good thing for poker that's happened really has been bitcoin, and even that's fairly niche at this point.

That's about to change with the continued mainstream adoption of bitcoin, better means to swap between fiat -> BTC -> fiat (thanks to 'proper' debit cards for US and RoW players) and because... well, you know

^^ I tend to agree with this. Bitcoin is becoming more and more mainstream. When I mention it to new groups of people I get fewer blank stares than before. Now, granted, most have never used it and ask more questions, but the interest to learn more is there.

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Kahn

I'd have to agree with you as well. In addition it has become a lot easier for people to acquire or spend their bitcoins compared to just 1-2 years ago. I already mentioned this in another thread, dealing in BTC is for me a lot more convenient than dealing with any of the other payment processors from PayPal over Skrill and Neteller to WesternUnion, Banks and co. I have most of my cash in BTC these days and no plans to change that.

BTC has become a lot more "US friendly" since 2015 as well. Coinbase, Circle have made a good name for themselves and Shift has partnered with Coinbase bringing the first two-way BTC VISA card to the US market. https://www.shiftpayments.com/

Makes you wonder why anyone would continue to pay hefty processing fees to US facing poker operators to receive "their" money.. or often don't at one point. If you play BTC poker you don't have that problem since you can simply deposit and withdraw your entire roll daily for a couple of cents. There is no need to keep your roll on the site and thus it's low risk to play on those sites.

You can also basically create a new account whenever you feel like it as well... and LOL at having to verify or whatever else.

What more does one want?

how does betonline compare to ACR and Bovada??

It is the third largest US-facing network. ACR is the flagship of the 2nd and Bovada is the 1st.

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Kahn

Moved our bitcoin discussion to a more appropriate thread so as not to derail this one further.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/28...poker-1039832/

Which sites, if any, are micro-stakes friendly?

I'm looking to start a new bankroll, but will be working with $200 or less.

Would prefer a site with a deposit bonus and/or rakeback, obviously.

Either micro-stakes NL or SNGs.

I'm in Tennessee, BTW. Not opposed to using BitCoin, but have never used before.

ACR is microstakes friendly with cash stakes as low as .01/.02 but the cash is pretty tough there from my experience. (Haven't played there in a while so maybe I was just a fish then). The tourneys and small stakes sngs are super soft though.

I will admit they are mainly filled with regs but at 2 or 5 NL there are still fish. Given how bad rake is at these stakes I think the 27% rakeback and bit coin deposits/cashouts make it worth it. The tougher player pool will make you a better player anyway.

On WPN there is a lot of tight preflop play because there are so many multitablers trying to make money from rakeback. Even down to 2nl there are many players playing a whole lot of tables. That tight preflop play, though, isn't always a good indicator of the quality of their postflop play.

Currently what's you guys preference . Acr or bovada? I know week to week opinions change . More likely to play stt and mtt.

Both have pros and cons. Why not play both?

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Kahn

Both are super soft for MTTs and STTs. I'd recommend ACR for tourneys as they have better rake back and software.

Thanks

Are there currently any places where Americans can play in the same pools as Canadians, or other international players?

If not now, are there any plans to unite players in the future. Pokerstars has told me there are no such plans. Example, the New Jersey players can only compete against residents in their state. What good does that do for Canadian traffic on the site?

Does it also mean that some events, such as the Sunday Million, will not run in New Jersey.

It concerns me now that we will NEVER again have what we had before Black Friday.

Any thoughts anyone??

As for a global player pool on stars we are SOL for now. Both ACR and Bovada operate in multiple jurisdictions. I think.

You don't distinguish between regulated & unregulated poker & forgive me if I've misunderstood you, but you also seem to think that it is the poker sites that are responsible for the various ring-fenced markets. You also don't say what country you are playing from, but I assume it's Canada or possibly America.

If you are prepared to play on unregulated poker sites there are various options available, but that's not where the future's at!

PokerStars would love to offer REGULATED poker to one integrated worldwide market, but getting to that situation from where we are now is going to take years or it most likely will only partially happen. I suggest you read up on the chequered history of online poker in America - the key event was the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act [UIGEA] of 2006: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unlawf...nt_Act_of_2006

This had the effect of removing some online poker providers from the U.S. market while others [such as PokerStars & Full Tilt] ignored the act & profited greatly from servicing a large market in a 'grey' or 'black' manner. Then the US DoJ responded as per the below on 'Black Friday' - April 15th 2011:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United..._v._Scheinberg

Yes, all of the US-facing sites that aren't regulated by a state.

There's not much point in asking a poker site about something that isn't controlled by them. This is a question for the respective state governments, and the federal government. I'm sure the sites would love to pool the players.

Nothing.

Right. NJ-only sites can't have non-NJ events.

That's quite possible.

You should probably do some reading - there's lots of threads about this topic in the Poker Legislation and Poker News, Views, and Gossip forums here.

I live in upstate New York and currently play on carbon poker. 5 tables of 6max 10nl is considered high traffic.
What are my option in regards to other sites that allow NY players, and what is the traffic like?

Thanks peeps

obv. bovada is out of the question.
americas card room will have the highest traffic.
betonline will be much softer than ACR.

i play on both, and both have acceptable payouts via bitcoin.