I understand your situation because I have some of the same problems. I can play online but the nearest poker room that deals tournaments is 100 miles away and my wife and I share one car.
I live in Michigan. Here are some of the things that things that I do. Some might not apply to your situation.
My state has licensed charity poker rooms. There was a room three miles away from me that I didn't know about it until I had been playing online for two years. It was in one of the local bowling alleys. Now I have one charity room about six miles away and four more within 40 miles.
Check the expenses of whatever you plan to do. I have not yet played in the casino. I decided to check what the rake was, so I compared a $50 tournament at the casino to $50 tournament in my charity room. The rake was the same.
So, I can play in my local room or I can drive 100 miles to the casino. I can pay for expensive food and drink in a casino or I can get a $2 pop (and a free refill) and a $5 sandwich in the bowling alley. The math on that is obvious.
Online poker is not illegal in your state unless the law says so. As far as I know, the only state where playing poker online is illegal is Washington. Online poker is explicitly legal in Washington, DC and in New Jersey.
A lot of charities and organizations have casino nights where poker is part of the deal, so watch for that. Most of the people playing at an event like that aren't poker regulars so it should be a soft game.
Do some Google and Facebook searches. I am active in the West Michigan Poker Facebook group and in the West Michigan poker 2+2 regional subfourms. You might find some places that you didn't know about, including home games, but make sure that you're careful about that. In some states, raked home games are illegal, but home games which are not run for profit are fine. I would check the law in your state on that.
Regarding where to play online, I play on Americas Cardroom and I don't know a lot about the other sites, except that you should avoid the sites that have a high minimum withdrawal or charge a high fee for making a withdrawal. I once deposited $50 on a site and later found out that the minimum withdrawal was $500. On ACR the minimum withdrawal (snail mail check) is $100, one check each month with no fee. There are other withdrawal methods but they come with fees. Make sure that you understand how withdrawals work and what the fees are before you put money on a site.
On ACR (and I assume on other sites) you can play at very low limits. They have freerolls and other tournaments that cost less than $1. A week ago I played an 11 cent tournament with around 1,000 players and final-tabled it for $18. That broke my previous ROI record for one tournament, when I final-tabled a $3.30 on PokerStars and cashed for $384.
Last edited by Poker Clif; 01-01-2017 at 03:41 PM.
Reason: Edited for rudundance. No significant content change.