Since 2006 and the passage of the UIGEA, online poker and its legality has been a confusing issue for many online poker players in the US.  Bestpokersite.org seeks to clear away some of the fog surrounding this issue with the release of its Online Poker Guide for US Players.

To understand the current legal status of online poker, first you’ll need a bit of background on what the UIGEA is and what effect it has had on the US online poker industry.  Bestpokersite.org’s guide offers helpful information on what’s in this law, and what impact it has had on US players looking to deposit money on online poker sites.

Because the UIGEA has made it difficult to process online poker money but hasn’t made the playing of online poker explicitly illegal in the United States, many players are unsure how to proceed once they’ve found a site on which they’d like to play.  Bestpokersite.org’s US Players Online Poker Guide addresses the difficulty US players will face and offers helpful insight into the optimal way to go about finding the best poker site that can accept US deposits.

The consequences of the UIGEA have rippled through all aspects of online poker for US players, including game variety.  Bestpokersite.org’s US Players Online Poker Guide offers helpful tips for players looking for diverse game play at any time of day or night.

There’s no question that the passage of the UIGEA has left many US online poker players confused and has even caused some to abandon the game.  In a climate with murky legality, security and support, already incredibly important online poker issues, become even more relevant.  Finding a room that can easily process US payments is hard enough, but of course it is vital that the room have excellent support and security should something go wrong.  Bestpokersite.org offers valuable resources not only on how to find rooms accepting US players, but also assists in locating the rooms that will be safest and most secure for US players.

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http://www.bestpokersite.org/

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While no one knows precisely where Full Tilt will fall, we can make some educated guesses based on the position the company is likely to be in after their relaunch.

Will They Honor Existing Deals?

The answer to this question is almost certainly yes.  Since Full Tilt won’t be open to USA players, they will need to retain each and every non-US customer they possibly can.  To do that, they’re going to have to beat out the best poker rooms who will have quite a bit of resources trained on preventing Full Tilt from doing just that.  Denying players with rakeback deals their rakeback payments would essentially be corporate suicide for the company, so you can feel quite confident that existing deals will be honored.

Will They Offer New Players Rakeback?

The answer to this question is less clear.  One on hand, it seems that Full Tilt would follow the logic above and extend it to acquiring new business –  if rakeback is what it takes to compete with rooms like PokerStars and Red Kings Poker, then rakeback is what Full Tilt will offer.  Expect rakeback to be available to new players, but in a limited form for a limited amount of time.

Will Deductions Change?

Probably.  This is one of the areas where Full Tilt will be looking to make up revenue, and since many players simply aren’t educated about deductions it’s a great place to grind out a bit of extra earnings without alienating too many customers.

Will Everyone Shift to VIP?

Possibly.  Full Tilt has already invested a lot in Black Card, and it’s possible that they will offer some one-time incentives to rakeback players in an attempt to convince players to give up rakeback voluntarily.  Obviously FTP would prefer to have players on VIP as opposed to flat rakeback, so they might be willing to cough up some significant value to achieve that goal.

Did you know that you can even wind up with free poker money?  Yes, so like a deposit bonus, you can get free money to play with – that won’t cost you a deposit.  This can get you started playing for money – for free.  In fact, you’re going to find that many online casinos offer great perks when you know how to find them.

So, how can you find free poker sites?  You need to find a site that offers you all kinds of information.  Get great, honest reviews about all of the online poker games you can play, find out about stats, strategies, track the major poker tournaments and professionals and even more.  There are many really great review sites that you can check out.

Plus, if you’re looking for free poker money that will blow you away, you’re going to love a site that points you in the right direction.  You’ll find reviews of these sites where you can play online poker for free and get bonuses without making any kind of deposit.  These sites offer an honest breakdown of the pros and cons of each online poker room so you can make the best choice for you.

If you’re looking to play poker for free or enjoy a free trial, you can enjoy reviews of sites that offer you the time you need and want to enjoy the poker play for free before you decide if you want to become a paying member.  This gives you the time you need to explore the poker sites you’re interested in and decide if you’re playing the way you want to.

A site that reviews free poker sites can help you to practice play and develop new strategies for game play.  You can learn about different statistics and odds and you can even get to know a poker site before you commit.  These same review sites will offer you great, solid information about sites that offer free poker money even when you don’t make a deposit.  So the next time you decide that you’re looking to play poker for free or enjoy bonuses without a deposit, consider a great review site to get you going.

Reviews of online poker rooms serve a simple purpose: To help players with the lead work involved in choosing an online poker room.  There are simply too many factors across too many rooms for any individual to hope to piece together all of the information to make an informed decision.

That’s where reviews from sites like OnlinePokerRealMoney.com come in.  Their reviews aggregate the basic information regarding dozens of the top online poker rooms in one central location, allowing you to do research that would otherwise take several hours in just a few minutes.

Reviews of online poker rooms can fill players in on critical information such as the traffic a room enjoys, the games spread by a room, the deposit and withdrawal methods the room accepts and the customer support channels that are available to players.  Readers can also glean additional information that might aid them in their decision making, such as licensing and software features, and can get a snapshot of the current promotions offered by a given room.

It goes without saying that reading reviews of rooms that offer online poker real money games should be only one part of the research process a player employs when considering potential rooms.  One should, for instance, consider downloading the room’s software and trying their play money games to get a feel for the stability and general quality of the software.  While reviews are helpful, they’re only a starting point and cannot serve as a replacement for first-hand interaction with an online poker room.

Get informed on the online poker options available in 2012 with the newly released poker room reviews from OnlinePokerRealMoney.com.

Thankfully for those with balances stuck on Full Tilt Poker, it looks like the room is still on track to resume offering online poker real money cash games and tournaments sometime in 2012.  That’s the conclusion reached this week after major players in the deal –  including the Tapie group –  indicated they expected the deal to be finished by the end of February.

What does that mean for players?  There is still no firm timeline for when players will be able to access their balances and play on Full Tilt Poker.  There are still a number of hurdles the new owners of Full Tilt Poker will have to overcome.  Some will be basically formalities, like the reinstatement of their license with Alderney, while others will be more complicated, like arranging player cashouts in countries where Full Tilt will no longer be operating –  primarily the United States.

What will the new Full Tilt Poker look like?  That’s an intriguing question, and no one seems to have a good answer.  For example, will lead pro Phil Ivey remain a face of the site?  He’s obviously been stung by the scandal and may not be so eager to keep his name associated with the site going forward.  On the other hand, the amounts of money involved may necessitate his continued participation, or some existing contract may complicate his efforts to disassociate himself from the site.

2011 was certainly an interesting year for Full Tilt, as the company went from their peak to complete collapse and then seemingly rose from the dead.  Whether that rise from the ashes will culminate with the full-fledged return of Full Tilt Poker in 2012 is still anyone’s guess.

This means that although the level of bonus can be important, many players are taking more time to weigh up the merits of each individual site. This has always been the best approach in the long run because finding a poker site that is right for your needs can make all the difference. Having additional funds in your account will boost the poker experience but if the overall experience is not too pleasant, why waste time on the site? This is why so many players are opting for the tried and tested sites that so many players are naturally drawn to.

There are many major online poker sites to choose from but the Bwin Poker site is one of the best. The company promotes itself strongly across Europe and their name can be seen emblazoned across the kits of some of the best sports teams in the continent. This helps people to develop an affinity for the company and will make the poker site stand out from its peers. However, it is the quantity and quality of poker games that will keep poker players coming for more on the Bwin Poker site.

This makes the bonus Bwin Poker offering a useful addition for the majority of online poker players. Most players will have heard positive comments about the site but being able to experience it for yourself is a great bonus. Being able to experience the site with money given to you makes it an even more enjoyable experience and this is where the true joy of the poker bonus code comes into play. The fact that all of the major names in the online poker industry provide bonus codes indicates that this is an integral part of the modern poker industry.

For instance, 888 is another huge name in the online gaming industry and 888 Poker is a natural fit for many players. This means using the 888 Poker bonus is the perfect place to get your time on the site started with a bang. No matter how much experience you have of online poker, each new site will have its own nuances and styles. Getting used to a new site can take some time and this is why having bonus money in your account can help players to feel comfortable and try out as much of the site as possible. If you want to get ahead in the world of online poker, make sure you grab the right bonus.

The forum allows players to connect to fellow players.  While this may seem strange for players to fraternize with their opponents, the conversation appears to be pleasant and fun within the “Pokah” forums.  Most players seem to be happy to help out one another, especially on strategy on specific hands following a night of online Texas hold’em or some tournament play.  These opinions are valued by forum members and contribute to players becoming better overall poker players. 

Forum or message board communication is all over the Internet nowadays.  Whether you love sports, cars, cooking or poker, there is a message board for you.  With the grand reopening of PokerRoom, players have this concept built right into the same platform that they play cards on.  This contributes to the overall feel of the site.  The players enjoy playing on PokerRoom and this was an obvious reaction in 2009 when the website closed its tables (for what sounded like forever).  However, the community and the Pokah forum are reopened along with the rest of PokerRoom online poker site.  Once again this forum gives players a place to voice their opinions, talk to friends and further discuss the game that they love, adding to the overall great user experience at PokerRoom. 

The reopening of PokerRoom has people excited to play cash poker games on the website of one of the true pioneers in the online poker industry.  The sense of community is just a part of the excitement.  Players can look forward to playing cards, winning money, and having fun on one of the premiere online poker websites once again. 

Launch
Full Tilt launched when many other online rooms had been in existence since the late 90s.  Initially, this seemed to be a hard barrier to burst through, but Full Tilt seemed to attract a base of players almost immediately.  Through great marketing and ad campaigns from TiltWare, Full Tilt attracted an active but still small player base in the online poker world.  Full Tilt still had a long way road ahead to become an internet poker giant, Party Poker was the king of internet poker at the time and PokerStars was also fighting for market share.  

Over the next 2 years, Full Tilt continued their ad campaigns and increased their player base, therefore increasing their profits.  Many professional players played on Full Tilt and their names were marked with red lettering, earning them the nick name “red pros.”  Customers loved the idea of playing with and/or watching their poker idols.  

UIGEA and Effects
In 2006, the United States congress passed the UIGEA an acronym for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act.  This impacted many online poker rooms across the internet, many were public companies and if they continued servicing US players their shareholders could be charged criminally.  

This forced many of the larger rooms out of the US market, the most notable being Party Poker.  Party Poker’s exit of the US market, along with other sites, propelled Full Tilt to the top of the online poker pyramid.  The passage of the UIGEA started a war for dominance in the US online poker market between Full Tilt and PokerStars.  Almost instantly, they sucked up Party Poker’s player base and increased their profitability.

As Full Tilt expanded, they offered improvements to players. In 2007, they upgraded their software, introducing a faster client.  Full Tilt also got a boost in 2007 when they sent Jerry Yang to the 2007 World Series, Yang won the main event in dramatic fashion all while wearing his Full Tilt Poker hat and jacket.  
 

Black Friday and Aftermath
In early April 2011, Full Tilt entered partnership with Fertitta Interactive, in which the two would work together if internet poker were federally legalized in the United States.  Things were looking good, that is until on April 15th, 2011 when disaster struck for Full Tilt.  What will forever be known as “Black Friday” for poker players, the United States Department of Justice indicted many top executives at Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker.  TiltWare CEO Ray Bitar and leader operating officer Nelson Burtnick were indicted.   The charges included fraud, money laundering, and violation of federal gambling laws.  Full Tilt’s domain www.fulltiltpoker.com was seized by the FBI and millions of dollars were frozen.

Full Tilt suspended real money play for US citizens almost immediately.  Though, Full Tilt had lost its US player base, it still had a large international base of players and things appeared to be salvageable.  US players demanded their balances which totaled around 150 million dollars, weeks and then months went by without payment and each announcement made by Full Tilt gave no specifics about the payment to players.  

The Alderney Gambling Control Commission revoked Full Tilt’s license in June of 2011 and advised players everywhere to steer clear.  The US Department of Justice accused Full Tilt founders Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson of operating a global ponzi scheme, alleging that they skimmed money off player’s deposits for their personal gain.  Ferguson and Lederer have denied these allegations.  

Full Tilt Sale and Future
Full Tilt was thankfully sold to a French investment group in November 2011.  The Groupe Bernard Tapie purchased Full Tilt for 80 million, within the purchase was a deal to repay players in full.  The DOJ was involved in facilitating the deal and will handle the repayment of US players.  

Most estimate the sale will be completed in the near future but so far no specifics have emerged on exactly when.  Player’s funds are still being held and again still no details regarding payment to players have come to light.  Full Tilt is still not operational and is facing attacks from lawyers across the globe, only time will tell how this situation will ultimately end.  

FTP in the Past

Whatever its present condition, it cannot be denied that Full Tilt Poker was one of the largest online poker rooms, the home of poker pros such as Phil Ivey, Howard Lederer, Andy Bloch, Tom Dwan, Patrik Antonius, Mike Matusow, and Eric Siedel and the chief sponsor of poker TV shows such as Poker After Dark, Face the Ace, Learn from the Pros, Poker Championship at Red Rock, and others.

When the US federal government passed the SAFE Port Act, which included an amendment called the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in September 2006, PartyGaming Plc withdrew from the US market and the void created by the absence of Party Poker was filled by FTP and PokerStars.

FTP was a paradise of cash games and tournaments, based on popular poker variants such as Omaha, Texas Holdem, Stud, Razz, H.O.R.S.E, and others. Early in 2012, Full Tilt Poker introduced a new variant of speed poker called Rush Poker, enabling players to play incredibly large number of hands per hour.

FTP’s Legal Troubles

FTP’s troubles began in April 2010 when the federal court in Manhattan began investigating the activities of its board of directors, especially Chris Ferguson and Howard Lederer. A year later, on April 15, 2011, the US federal government cracked down on FTP, PokerStars, and Absolute Poker, seized their domain names, and indicted key people associated with them on multiple counts of money laundering, bank fraud, and illegal gambling—an event popularly referred to as “Black Friday” of online poker. Subsequently, the three companies left the US, but continued operating outside it.

Two months later, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC), the regulatory body that had issued licenses to FTP, suspended its licenses pending investigation. Since investigations indeed revealed that FTP had broken AGCC laws, the regulatory body revoked FTP’s gaming licenses on September 29, 2011.

On September 20, 2011, another blow fell on the fallen online poker room when the US Department of Justice (DoJ) made an amendment to the civil complaint it had filed against FTP. According to the amended complaint, Full Tilt Poker was a Ponzi scheme of global proportions, through which its owners cheated innocent players of around $440 million. FTP’s legal representatives denied these allegations, while admitting that FTP’s financial situation is a mess.

Current Situation

On September 30, 2011, GBT, a French investment company that specializes in converting impoverished companies into profitable businesses, expressed its interest in purchasing FTP.

Accordingly, in November, GBT held a round of talks with the US DoJ and reached an agreement stating that FTP would forfeit its assets to the DoJ and that the DoJ would refund FTP’s US players while the GBT would refund FTP’s international players. Once FTP forfeits its assets to the DoJ, it would sell the company to GBT for $80 million.

FTP shareholders have agreed to these terms, but a definite agreement is still to be signed, and once that is done, the acquisition of FTP will be complete and FTP will be re-launched by its brand new owners.

Play at More Tables
At Full Tilt Poker you can play up to 16 tables at a time. The more tables you play, the more rakeback you will earn. If you normally play at a single table, you can try upping this amount to two. Similarly, if you play at two tables you can try an increase to four, etc. If you double the amount of tables you play at once, you will double your rakeback total for the month. Full Tilt Poker offers resizable tables, which makes multi-tabling very easy. You should definitely ease your way into more tables, by just adding one table at a time. Then once you are comfortable with that amount of tables you can try adding another.

Increase the Stakes
The higher the stakes you play, the more rakeback you will earn. This is because at the higher cash game stakes the pots are larger, which means more rake will be taken from the pots. Similarly, if you increase your tournament buy-ins, the fees will also increase, which will increase your monthly rakeback. If you are a winning player at your current level and you have the bankroll necessary to increase your stakes you should try it out and see how you fare. Even if you just make the same amount of profit per hour at your new level, the increased rakeback you will receive will increase your overall profit.

Play Super Turbo Sit and Go’s
If you are a sit and go player you can try out the Full Tilt Poker super turbo sng tournaments. These tournaments have slightly lower fees than other sit and go tournaments with the same buy-in, but the fact that the blinds increase every 3 minutes means you will be able to play several of these in the same time it takes you to play a normal sit and go tournament.

There are several ways to increase your Full Tilt Poker rakeback. You can of course play more poker, but you could also try playing at more tables, increasing the stakes or playing the super turbo sit and go’s. Full Tilt is without a doubt the top online poker room to offer rakeback, so any rakeback you do earn is basically gravy!