Poker shutdowns - poker room shutdowns for U.S. players

Updated In May, 2012 - BREAKING NEWS: Bodog Poker Shut Down for US Players. Starting from the 14th of december Bodog Poker closed for players the United States. You can however still play on the Bodog Poker network trough their new poker room skin called Bovada Poker (review at pokernewsreport.com, check them out for the latest poker news). Bovada Poker is only allowing players from the U.S.

On 4/15/2011, the world of online poker was turned upside down. The United States Department of Justice shutdown Pokerstars.com, FulltiltPoker.com, UB.com and AbsolutePoker.com. They shutdown the largest US poker rooms and indicted the CEO's for each room. It is not illegal to play online poker in the USA so the DOJ found some banking violations to use against the world's largest poker websites. They didn't actually shutdown these poker rooms, they seized the domains. Poker Stars and Full Tilt Poker have since worked out a deal with the U.S. government to get the domains back. That really isn't good news for American poker players though. Both of these rooms have officially banned U.S. players from their real money tables. This site will answer some of the questions many of you probably have. What does this mean? What do we do now? How and why did this happen? Where can we play now? The news is not all bad though. If you have money on any of these rooms you will be getting it back without a problem. You also still have some solid options if you want to continue playing real money online poker. These poker shut downs may have crippled us but we are already recovering. Read about each poker sit shutdown below:

• Poker Stars shut down
• Full Tilt Poker shutdown
• Absolute Poker shutdown
• UB Poker shutdown

This entire situation was a waste of tax payer's money because the government has not stopped US citizens from playing real money poker online. They have basically caused four poker rooms to stop accepted US players. The vast majority of these players have simply started playing at another US poker room. There are over 100 US friendly poker rooms right now. Most are part of a network but there is still a large independent poke sites. These poker rooms have grown more in a week than they did in the previous year. These poker shutdowns have simply forced players from one room to another. I have negotiated special signup bonuses with the US poker rooms listed below. I was able to do this because they are all competing for the hundreds of thousands of orphaned American poker players. You will receive a far better bonus when you signup through us.

Room	Traffic	Bonus	U.S.	US Poker Reviews
Bodog Poker	30,000	$1,000 Bonus	No	Bodog Poker Review
Lock Poker	15,000	150% up to $750 + More	Yes	Lock Poker Review

Many online poker players from the United States are wondering why their government shutdown Poker stars, Full Tilt Poker and the others. There are many answers to this question. Some are just speculation while others are disturbingly based on real facts. Before I begin I should point out that I am not a lawyer and everything on this web site is based on my opinion. I have listed the top reasons why these poker rooms got shutdown below. The sitatuion for each room is a little different so I have also created more details guides on why each one was shut down.

• Banking violations - This is the main reason why these rooms got shutdown. The only federal law that concerns online poker players is the UIGEA (Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act ). This bill was passed in 2006. It was only passed because it was connected to the Safe Port Act. It did not make playing poker online illegal though. It was aimed at U.S. banking institutions that processed payments to/from online poker rooms. To this day the vast majority of banks have not done a single thing to enforce these regulations.
• Government corruption - I think all Americans know that their representatives are bought and sold by U.S. companies and organizations a regular basis. Who has the most to gain from shutting down poker rooms like Fulltilt and Pokerstars? That is an easy question to answer. The brick and mortar casinos, the dog and horse tracks and the state lotteries are the main ones that I can think of. The author of the UIGEA was the recipient of vast amounts of money from the horse betting industry. Casinos have also lobbied against online poker because it cuts into their profits. These "legal" forms of gambling are okay because the politicians in Washington D.C. are nothing more than corporate lapdogs for these companies.
• The Conservative agenda - Conservatives want to control everything you do. They want you to live by their "values" and "beliefs". Basically anything that is frowned upon in the bible is targeted and gambling is no exception. It is all about control with these people. They hate freedom and want everyone to obey their every command. It goes far beyond online gambling though. The Conservative Party is all about hate. They hate gays, rape victims and virtually everyone who isn't rich, white and Christian.

The situation is not all bad though. There are many U.S. Senators and Representatives that have been trying to legalize online poker since 2006. Barney Frank is one of our strongest allies. The government is wrong about poker. They claim that poker is gambling but it is not. Playing games of skill is perfectly legal in the USA. Isn't poker a game of skill? There is some luck in poker but that is true for just about any game. Skill is the primary factor in poker. You can beat your opponent that holds a stronger hand. That happens all of the time. That is why poker is a skill game.

• Poker Shutdowns

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• Fulltilt Poker Shutdown

• Absolute Poker Shutdown

• UB Poker Shutdown

• Carbon Poker Re-Opened

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• Is Bodog Poker Closed?