I played poker on both Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker for about a year until black friday. Recently I wanted to get back into it, but im not sure what the landscape looks like for US players.

Are both of these sites now unavailable for real money In the US (Im in PA)?

I deposited $50 on Bovada, but a lot of the 2NL games are lacking in players. Twice last night I was unable to find a full-ring game, plus im not sure I like the anonymity. I want to be able to use a HUD and track my/other peoples stats, but as far as I know I cant on Bovada.

Is there another site similar to how Stars and Full Tilt used to be? Is there a consensus about which is the BEST site?

Edit: Also, what is the current leading poker tracker software? Id love to be able to see my hand history and graphs detailing everything and, of course, a HUD while im playing.

I have much the same story as you (I'm even from PA, too!) I recently deposited on Carbon Poker and play the microstakes. It's not anywhere near pre-BF w/r/t the number of players/tables, but I never have trouble finding a game.

How are you finding Carbon? Im a bit paranoid about cash-outs, and Bovada is said to do well in that regard. If Carbon is too, I might switch there so I can use a BUD.

I haven't cashed anything out yet, so I can't comment personally. With that said, from everything I've read cash outs are simple but can take awhile to process (2-4 weeks I believe). I think there is also a 3% fee if you opt for a check, but you get one free per year.

Go to internet poker forum and see thread where US players can play. Sorry on my phone or I would link it.

You can use Holden indicator on Bovada but its a limited HUD. On some other sites you can use Pokertracker 4 or Holdem manager 2.

Can I use PT/HEM on Carbon? If so that might be my best shot.

Thanks for the help!

Yes sure you can use them. You can also try WPN network with sites like BlackChip and AmericasCardroom. Both have a good traffic.

If I were you I'd put up with the limited HUD and play Bovada as it is very significantly softer than nearly any other site.

I've read your posts, TheDefiniteArticle . They are great!

You think I should stick with Bovada? Would it make sense to stay on Bovada until/if I can move past 2NL? Or just stay there indefinitely because ALL the levels are much softer? I had no idea Bovada was considered the fishier site.

Am i beeing dumb but why cant americans just use vpn to get onto stars and send someone the money from europe or uk who can deposit and transfer via stars

Yes, you are.

I am similar to you. I put money on BetOnline as well as Carbon and I like Carbon much better. I cashed out $1k and after about 6 weeks received my check and successfully deposited it. I recently purchased PT/HM v4 and one downside is that it does not track MTTs/STTs through Carbon but I think it does do ring games. I don't have much knowledge because I rarely play cash on there. Welcome back! It is much different than it was pre BF but it feels great to be back and playing!

Too much of a risk. It's possible but Stars' TOS allow them to confiscate any funds you have on the site when doing this (I think).

Ahh ok, i was thinking afterwards how they find out maybe if you was constantly accessing stars from different ip addressees. And then theres getting the money in your account since the IRS bums your country lol, i feel lucky to live in the uk where i don't have to deal with any of that crap.

Well i'd really love to be able to review my play with PT/HEM. Would it be crazy to deposit at some place like Carbon and play cash games with a HUD there, and use my Bovada to do MTTs and SnG? Is there a Pennsylvania-friendly card site that would offer some sort of deal with one of the HUDS that would be better than Carbon?

You can get converters for Bovada, but no, that wouldn't be crazy.

I thought that all of the Bovada hand converters were very limited in what they could do? Even though im definitely a losing player right now, it'd be great to have graphs and VPIP/etc for each player at a table. Of course, TheDefiniteArticle knows way more than I do, so perhaps ill stick with what he says are softer games at Bovada until I build my BR a bit. I suppose the softer games would make up for any advantage I might get from a HUD for now.

I sincerely appreciate all of your help! Being away from poker for ~4 years has kept me out of the loop considerably.

You can only use session stats on players with Bovada HUDs (though I'm not sure they're worth it - Hold'em Indicator, the only one I'm aware of, costs $100 at the moment, I think). You're looking at $20-$30 for a hand converter to make them compatible with HM2/PT4. With that said, I can't play on Bovada myself as it's closed to European players, but I do have students on there etc.

That makes sense. I remember pre-bf there were offers from sites like Pokerstars/FTP where you had promo codes that helped you unlock PT/HEM by playing hands along with your initial deposit bonus. Is that still a thing anywhere?

http://www.cardschat.com/states/pennsylvania/

^That site says BetOnline is the best for my state. Is this an unreliable source?

Edit: Now I'm getting an error when I try to load Bovada. The help forums all say this is a common issue on Mac, which is what I play on, so a new site might be necessary after all..

You probably want to read this thread if you've not already done so. Bear in mind that the OP (which seems to be updated from time to time) refers to networks rather than sites (so each network covers a number of sites). BetOnline is apparently on Chico.

I can't comment on US sites' promotions since I don't live in the "land of the free (and segregated player pools)" but some sites over here in Europe certainly offer that kind of thing so you may find something. The HM website has a "get it free" page - I don't think it mentions any US sites but you might want to check that and PT. And just ask in the thread I linked you to, perhaps.

I have read that, which is very helpful in narrowing it down. I originally thought I could play on PS/FTP again so I DLed them -_-

Being a likely losing micro-stakes player, I just want to find the BEST site for me to deposit on, and find a HUD for. I don't want to deal with depositing on a site to find out that, while its legal, its not especially good. Too few players, too many regs, etc. Bovada seems to have a pretty limited full-ring 2NL selection. I regularly can't even find one and have to do 6 max. So I'm already regretting depositing $ on here, and just want to avoid this problem in the future.

The thing about Bovada is that they don't display full tables in the lobby so there's often a lot more running than it seems.