Playing internet poker is an excellent method to get skills and experience with the game. A lot of people question moving their play to the web because they worry that they will lose something as a result. In all actuality, just about every aspect of live play is equivalent to what happens online, but the internet includes a few added bonuses you need to consider. Here are some reasons why playing poker on the internet is better than playing live.

Convenience

There’s obviously a level of convenience present in internet poker tournaments since you can play them in your own home, instead of driving somewhere in town. You have access to games any time of the day you would like, and you can still play against live people. The only real catch is you play with a screen name or avatar. Almost everything else is the same, however it happens right in your own home for your enjoyment.

Secrecy

Should you not have a good poker face, the internet will probably be the perfect place for you to play. People can’t watch your reactions when you play online. Most US poker sites will give you a chance to either use an avatar or at the very least create a username to hide behind. That’s the only information that gives away your identiity in any way, and you can work that out so nobody knows anything. You can be a totally different person on the web and work that in your favor.

Speed

Everything happens faster with internet poker because it is automated. Dealing is quick, betting is quick, action is quick, and everything is done for you. you’re left with a game which takes a part of the time a normal one would, giving you more time to spend the money you just won. Assuming there are not any disconnections on your table, you can get through a game with great ease.

Accuracy

Because things are all automated online, the concept of human error is practically eliminated. Pots are always split accurately, and you can be certain that every player puts in the proper amount of money if she or he wants to play a hand. The accuracy of the computer can’t be matched by anything else, which is great when you have money on the line. You can be sure that your money is safe in online poker rooms.

Bonuses

You can get internet poker bonuses that you obviously can’t get elsewhere. They’re designed to release money to you once you play for a specific amount of time, and they literally offer you free rewards for being around. You’ll find bonus codes that you can get from some websites before signing up with an actual poker site, and with these you can create an account and receive free money as you play. If you can find these bonus codes, your internet poker experience will be better than it would be naturally.

Location

For those of you in the audience from the USA, not all internet poker rooms wii accept you. It is important to find one that does. The simplest way to do thisis to locate a US poker sites web portal. These portals have done the work for you and are very reliable.

Additional domain names and gambling operations were seized on Monday May 24th 2011, which we aptly call Gray Monday. This time the industry leaders were not the only web sites seized but smaller web sites also. Even more important is a lot of different sectors in the industry were seized. There were domains seized in online poker, casinos, sports books and even bingo. This may send more of a message through the industry than Black Friday.

The internet poker market was hit hard and drastically when the three biggest players in the industry had their domain names seized. This sent a shockwave through the industry and millions of poker players were left wondering what happens next. What did happen next was that the three biggest poker rooms soon left the US market and their players were left in limbo. They now had to find a new place to play and their funds were in jeopardy. Although the three poker web sites worked out a deal with the Department of Justice to return the players money, no one we have talked to has gotten any money from them at the time this article was written.

After Black Friday, ultimately things started to settle down and players found a new poker home and continued to play online. Many thought the Department of Justice had made their point and were going to let things get back to normal as much as could be. But with the action on Gray Monday the hammer came down on the industry as a whole. The shock this time is in the form of all sectors of the internet gambling industry. Homeland Security made the seizures this time and the industry is in disarray. No one seems to be safe whether large or small players in the industry. It is just a matter of time to see the reactions to these seizures. Unfortunately, now we may see internet gambling web sites in all sectors start leaving the US market. We have seen some internet web sites change their domain names to an international extension as a result of these seizures. They seem to be positioning themselves to be immune from the US government actions by having these domains outside the US.

The feeling out there is that no one knows what will happen next and once again the internet players can be sent scrambling again. It a watch and see attitude nowadays, but the impact could be far more reaching than Black Friday. As a result, regardless of how big or small of an gambling operation you are or what sector of internet gambling you’re in, everyone can be touched by the government.

The results so far are that US poker players haven’t had to move to different web sites as of yet, but new sign ups may have to go to a new website address to sign up. Same is true with US casino players, there is no effect yet from Gray Monday other than having a new domain name to sign up.

The Department of Justice in Baltimore Maryland Has seized two online gambling businesses as well as their international owners included in a prolonged, undercover sting, specifics of which were released Monday after 11 associated banking accounts were seized in five countries and 10 Web domains were shut down. Homeland Security set up a phony payment processing business in Atlantic City and spent two years infiltrating the world of illegal online betting. If convicted of running an illegal gaming business, the defendants face no more than five years imprisonment. Money laundering possesses a maximum sentence of 20 years.

The internet domain names seized were

• Funtimebingo.com

• Goldenarchcasino.com

• Truepoker.com

• Betmaker.com

• Truepoker.com

• Betmaker.com

• Betgrandesports.com

• Doylesroom.com

• Betehorse.com

• BetEd.com

• 2Betsdi.com

We have heard many individuals say they can still access web sites stated earlier, but we believe this is just because it takes a while for the DNS records to take effect. Sometimes we get the dreaded DOJ page and sometimes we don’t. We will see what happens in the coming days.

Some of the domains seized this time were part of the Yatahay Network like True Poker, Doyles Room, Bookmaker, 2betdsi, Betmaker, Betgrandesports, and Beted. Why so many are from one network in unknown, but the spectrum of web sites this time is greatly expanded to not just Online Poker Sites, but online casino sites, online sportsbook sites, and bingo sites. When Black Friday happened the largest online poker sites were targeted and soon after left the US market. We’ve not heard of any of the above mentioned sites leaving the US market as of yet, but would not be surprised to see this happen in the next couple days. Check back often as we will be updating the internet site as the information comes available.

The World has had its share of Black Fridays and the newest one involves the online gambling industry. For a long time, the gambling operators have made profitable amounts by opening up their sites to all players. Sometimes the players win, but overall the House winds up on the winning side more often than not. This prospect of winning keeps both parties excited and in the business. To encourage players to come back, the operators have always offered great bonuses. The other thing they diid was pay affiliate marketers to send them traffic. This is very profitable for both parties. However, the fate of affiliate marketers refering players to online gambling sites that accept players from the United States has taken a big hit since the most recent Black Friday entered the world.

For these affiliate marketers refering US players only, Black Friday was a day that literally put them out of business. Those affiliate marketers who were participating in revenue sharing programs in Europe, had no problem, but those who serviced the US market fell flat on their faces. While it is hopeful that the affiliate marketers will find their feet once again, it will probably have to be by the US Government changing their laws and legalizing online gambling. Such a law has alreading been proposed in Congress to legalize online poker. It has not passed yet and is not very far along, but it is a start.

With the emergence and popularity of online gambling sites in the last few years, many more people are playing online these days. Black Friday has forced them to find new places to play. Life has become so hectic these days and most gamblers still want to play online, so a good up to date affiliate portal can save you time finding new places to play. If you’re from the United States find a portal that offers sites for US players. Remember they have done all the work finding the sites for you, so just pick one and go.

Remember, Black Friday hurt the industry, but it did not close it down. There is still many sites that cater to the US market. Obviously, there is still alot of reasons to play online. You can play from the safe and comfortable environment of your house. These sites are good for those who dont care for classic casinos and for people who wre not able to make the trip to the casino. Also, these sites offer more games and variety than brick and mortar casinos.

The online gaming sector hit the hardest from Black Friday was clearly the poker sector. The four biggest poker rooms got there domains seized and left the US market. This sent numerous poker players looking for new places to play. It also left millions of dollars of players funds in limbo. It also gave the affiliate portals an opportunity to rebound and get back into the thick of things. The portals who quickly offered new sites to these players and helped them with their seized funds has the best chance to survive.

affiliate marketers got clobbered on Black Friday, but they are down and not out. There is still affiliate portals that can direct you to good US poker sites and US Casino Sites. Find a trusted one and you will be playing again very soon.

The World Series Of Poker had an additional record breaking year and stays the industry standard, In 2011, there was a record 75,672 entries when compared to last year’s record of 72,966. This year was up 3.7 percent of last year. Also, the prize pool set a record in 2011 with a whooping $191,999,010 dollars compared to last year’s previous high of $187,109,850. This was a slight increase of 2.6 percent. These numbers cause you to think everything is good within the poker world.

By taking a look a little deeper you will see most predictions of the turn out for this years tournament were deeply understated. The truth is they broke records as stated before. So Black Friday did not have the impact some thought it might. Despite thousands of players angry after three of the four sites failed to reimburse them even after the government cleared the way to do so. Many thought players might not be able to afford WSOP buy-ins because of the online poker crackdown. We believe the predictions were a year early. With sponsorship down and much less fish playing online poker these days the sharks are not going to make much cash for buy ins. It could just have not been long enough for the losses to kick in.

The television part of the tournament has definitely taken a commercial hit. It’s no real shock because the people who own these sites were huge sponsors specifically Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker. If you have been watching the tournament on television you will see their logos are not on the players either. Even the UFC events don’t have these sponsors anymore. If ratings are down this year they can lose more sponsors. A good thing is Godaddy has signed on this year to be a sponsor and maybe that is a good sign.

Tha harsh truth is next year will be the year to worry about. If poker players cant find online poker sites that accept players from the US, then they could lose interest and take up different hobbies. Even if their desire is to play, but there’s no place online, they may get frustrated. In either case the lack of US poker Sites is a problem and the fact these players have never had there funds returned to them is yet another. The environment over the next year can really get bad.

So how can we fix it and keep the best tournament on the planet? That is not going to be an easy one. Here are a few thoughts. First, if the government is prosecuting the operators of these poker sites criminally, then they should also pursue the funds being returned to the players just as vigorously. The poker players were not breaking any laws and their funds should be returned. Second, there must be a law that legalizes online poker at the very least if not all of gambling. The law makers should not play politics with this situation. It is time to get past the Indian gaming lobby and help the players. Until we get US poker sites again the sport is in trouble and so is the tournament.

Yes there’s an online tournament which is all-in or fold and yet a bounty tournament. It is an extremely unusual tournament but an intriguing one indeed. For those of you that don’t know what an all-in or fold tournament is a tournament where each round preflop you have to go all-in or fold your hand, It is different from the all-in type tournament which requires a player go all in each and every time which requires little or no strategy at all, but just luck. A bounty tournament is when you receive a bonus for knocking out a player. In such type of tournament the prize pool is less because half is awarded to the the bounties. This tournament has a lot of elements and new strategies.

One thing for sure such type of tournament will cure you with the nasty habit of limping in to pots. It’s impossible to limp in during an all-in or fold tournament. It’s a good lesson to learn. Limping in most cases is a bad habit and a bad poker play. Also, you better play with a great hand. Players are either going all-in with top hands or folding bad ones. This helps you with the discipline of only playing top hands before the flop. A very good skill to have in your poker game.

It’s important to play top starting hands in late position. If you consider the strategy of these kinds of tournaments, players are playing the top hands in early and middle position. They are fully aware a small hand in these positions will get beat by a good late hand. So understand that in late position with no one all-in in front of you, a hand slightly lower than the top hand can be played here to steal blinds.

Stack size is essential in these tournaments. Remember that the starting stack size is the same for all at the outset of the tournament. So really hand strength is the only variable from the beginning. Later in the tournament the stack sizes are far different and are starting to turn into a weapon to be reckoned with. Two things are going on here. First, the larger stacks can play a little more aggressively because if they gamble a lttle bit an lose to the smaller stack they’re not out of the tournament. This play puts pressure on short stacks and if the play borderline hand they are gone.

Let’s focus on the cash and prizes. The good thing about this is it is possible to knock players out and get their bounty. If you play top hands you’ll be able to very quickly get your entry fees back and then you are playing for free. Remember all players have a bounty and every one but the winner loses theirs. So the bounties can get you profitable quickly. For the tournament prize money is usually half as a result of bounties, but enough there to play for. Follow these strategies we stated earlier and you will be getting plenty bounties and finish at the final table.

Outlined in this article we found a unique tournament which is very fun to play, with some very strict strategies, and it teaches the players some very good discipline and tools for your poker game. We have only played these tournaments at Carbon Poker and Pokerhost Poker both US poker sites. They seem to be hard to find, but are well worth it when you do.
Information from Internet Poker All-In Or Fold Bounty Tourneys Create Excellent Poker Skills

$150,000 Guaranteed
19 events
November 29th - December 4th
$50,000 guaranteed Main Event 2011 ACROSS WARM-UP EVENT $25K GTD NLH
November 24th, Thanksgiving Day at 9PM Eastern - $55 buy-in (1R+1A)
All players are eligble for a FR on November 25th at 3PM Eastern awarding 10-seats to ACROSS Main Event ($82.50 value)

With 19 events, there’s an abundance of chances to win often. People who do will are eligble for special bonuses. And people who don’t? Don’t worry, ACROSS has bonus prizes for everyone, no matter how you finish.

$25k Warm-Up Event Bonus - We’re holding a unique ACROSS warm-up event on Thanksgiving - Nov 24th at 9pm Eastern. Sign up for the $55 buy-in tourney (featuring one rebuy and one add-on) and we’ll toss you in a special freeroll on Nov 25th at 3pm. Finish inside the top 10 of the freeroll and we’ll slot you in to the ACROSS Main Event where $50k is on the line.

Kings of Cashing - For those who play like a king, you deserve to be treated like a champion. That’s why if you’re among the top 10 players to score the most number of cashes in ACROSS, we’ll throw you in to a $15k Guaranteed DS Sunday tournament for free.

Sign up now at Americas Cardroom or visit US Poker Rooms for a Full Americas Cardroom Review
Information from ACROSS (America’s) Cardroom Online Super Series

Just one Dollar $Two hundred fifty Guaranteed

In a really surprising move, the US Department of Justice has addressed its stance on online gambling. The legal opinion was released on Friday just before Christmas, though the original judgement was created back in September. The decision came in reply to a request by Senators Harry Reid and Jon Kyl for the Department of Justice to clarify its position. Two other states, Illinois and New York, also called for clarification concerning the Wire Act of 1961, one of the major regulations used by the Department of Justice in search of online gaming and casino regulation.
The opinion reverses the Justice Departments past stance that all varieties of gaming online are prohibited, but stops short of proclaiming that the Justice Department is looking to create regulations for a country wide online gaming program. The Department of Justice affirms the new policy “differs from the department’s past understanding of the Wire Act, (but) it demonstrates the department’s position in Congressional testimony at the time the Wire Act was initially passed in 1961.” The latest conclusion by the Department of Justice says that the Wire Act only focuses on sports betting rather than casino or online casino offerings.
Many states may take advantage of this decision to introduce new lotto games within their borders. The latest position does bring the opportunity of individual states or even a group of states banding together to allow for online casinos to make a comeback in the country.
There is the possibility of which several states might group together to make a web-based casino jackpot offering more desirable. Very similar to multi-state lotteries such as PowerBall as well as Mega Millions plus some interstate horse racing, a multi-state internet casino jackpots would give the incentive necessary to generate big earnings.
Proponents of legalized online gambling say the business might provide new possibilities for income for states. But others, such as large casino interests prefer a national program. They say the free-flowing nature of the Internet is ill-suited for state gaming plans, which would try to restrict online gambling to inside of a given state’s borders.

For more US Casino News

Justice Department Ruling Could Signify Huge Changes For Internet Poker Players