Hello everyone!

I live in a state in the United States where online poker is not legal. After playing 10 years of Texas Holdem without ever betting a single dollar, I think I'm confident in trying out the online scene. I'm as green as it gets otherwise as far as knowing the ins and outs of playing real poker online and was hoping people can help me get things situated so one day I am able to play.

1) What site is generally the best site for fish like me to play online holdem?

2) Do I register while I'm in my home state, or do I wait until I'm physically in a legal state (Let's say Nevada).

3) I currently only use Walmart as my bank. The issue with this is I don't have a real debit card, it acts more of a prepaid card but it has routing numbers and everything just like a normal bank account. It works just fine with Draftkings, for example. Will this Walmart card/bank account work with poker sites, or do I need a traditional bank account?

4) Do I just try to find the cheapest flight/hotel in the entire state of Nevada and use the internet in the hotel room to play poker? Use VPN for protection or will this cause trouble with poker sites?

That's all I can think of atm, perhaps you guys can chime in your first experiences to help make sure I have my ducks in a line.

I know real online play is a different animal (at least I think so) than the f2p site I've played on for years, maybe you can tell me what to expect when I hop into my first several tables.

I appreciate all of your help. There is such a vast wealth of knowledge on this site that it seems daunting on where to start, so, I'm starting here

You might already be able to play on a site like ignition, acr, or global poker. Of those, I'd generally say ignition is the best bet in terms of game quality and reliability, but they're all worth looking at. Depending on your state, you may not have to go anywhere to sign up and start playing.

It's kind of unlikely your card will work, but it may be worth trying. ACR and Ignition also accept crypto which will work for sure. If you use crypto, only send and receive with your own wallet and don't send directly from or receive directly to an exchange or a site like Coinbase. Your bank account may work with Global, so if you aren't comfortable using crypto you may want to consider playing there.

If you're trying to go to a regulated area and play (for example on wsop.com or ps.pa), you can generally sign up from wherever but you will have to be physically located in the state to actually play. The sites use geolocation and vpning can lead to your account being banned and money being seized. Not recommended.

Hope this helps, good luck. There is nothing special to expect, but it's worth noting that once real money enters the equation players will be generally more serious, you won't see so many allins or calls with random trashy cards, and so on. Microstakes real money poker is still quite soft to anyone who has spent some time studying and learning the game (so if you put in the work, you can learn to win), but don't be surprised or disheartened if it takes you some time to adjust and you don't experience immediate success. It's normal to take some time to adjust coming from play money.