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Yeah so where can US players play now? Is it even worth it for US players?

i'm bullish on Intertops.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showpost.php?p=31449730&postcount=407

update to update: Merge is up to 4 months now also. if you want fast wd's, gotta pay for it some way or another (small traffic or high fees [Intertops, $50 check fee]).

and all the sites on the list are on Euro domains now so no big risk of websites being seized. processors, however...

paging arh7rf .....

Bodog is kind of a special case IMO. Poker may be murky, but sports betting and casino games are clearly over the line in the US. That WSJ article and another one on Forbes didn't even mention poker. The CEO was also featured in a Forbes article a while back titled "Catch Me If You Can." He's basically been taunting the US gov for years. The only thing surprising about this is that it didn't happen a lot earlier.

I agree with you on all of this. Additionally it seems that it is Maryland that is going after Bodog. Maryland has been going hot and heavy against sports betting but they seem so far to have had a hands off approach towards online poker. When they went after Doyles Room last year, they seem to have ignored the online poker part of the business.

As far as payouts go, I've pretty much resolved myself to doing it through 2+2's p2p transfers. Paying the vig is worth it to me to get the funds almost instantly and in time it might become the only way to transfer money anyway so I figure I might as well get used to the system.

As far as payouts go, I've pretty much resolved myself to doing it through 2+2's p2p transfers. Paying the vig is worth it to me to get the funds almost instantly and in time it might become the only way to transfer money anyway so I figure I might as well get used to the system.

any tricks of the trade?

any tricks of the trade?

Not really. It is just a matter of getting familiar with their p2p sharing thread so that you know which traders are legit and you can get familiar with the standard ways of posting what you are looking for. The mods and members keep a really close eye on what is going on there so if anyone is dishonest everyone knows about it really quickly (but there have been a number of scroundrals). A number of the traders have made it a business and have developed regular clientele. Those are the best people to do business with because their credibility is very important to them.

Different sites tend to have different vigs. Cake tends to have a very high vig whereas Merge has a lower one. If you find a reputable person to do business with, it is actually better to withdraw larger amounts at a time since you will pay a lower vig. Amounts over a thousand dollars (at Merge) are going to have a 10-15% vig, whereas a withdrawal of $100 will probably cost anywhere from a 15% to 25% vig.

so how safe is the EU Bodog in terms of the US Govt? As far as I understand they cant touch it, is that correct?

I agree. if you're making money faster than you can cash it out then it's the only thing that you can do, aside from just hoping that one day it'll be possible to cash money out more quickly.

+1 to transfers > withdrawals. That's how I got the last of my Merge money offline when withdrawing became too much of a hassle (and this was back in the summer).

so how safe is the EU Bodog in terms of the US Govt? As far as I understand they cant touch it, is that correct?

ianal, but the DOJ hasn't been able to touch Euro domains yet, so i'd say pretty safe. i mean it's pretty laughable that they take down a domain that's not even used anymore.

the only worries i have is that another site decides to pull a Everleaf and just fold under pressure. sigh

Cake tends to have a very high vig whereas Merge has a lower one. If you find a reputable person to do business with, it is actually better to withdraw larger amounts at a time since you will pay a lower vig. Amounts over a thousand dollars (at Merge) are going to have a 10-15% vig, whereas a withdrawal of $100 will probably cost anywhere from a 15% to 25% vig.

thanks muggles

I just finished reading this article. It's a fairly lengthy piece on the effects all of this legal turmoil has had on everyday poker players. It's a good read.

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2012-03-01/news/online-poker-faces-assault-from-the-feds/

some background on what domain names are and who runs them:

.com is run by an American corporation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verisign

.eu is run by an European non-profit
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EURid

Verisign jumps for DOJ:
http://calvinayre.com/2011/10/13/legal/verisign-to-revoke-domains-at-us-request/


Bovada is using a Latvian domain (there is no technical Las Vegas connection):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.lv

Thanks nawhead.

How about cake, did they do something similar to Bodog or is that still quite risky for euro's to play on?

Cake (room) should be safe from DOJ's reaches. Intertops (cake skin) also safe. they're both on .eu domains. i don't know about other cake skins tho.


Bodog's reaction today (with a Wire reference ):
http://calvinayre.com/2012/02/29/legal/the-morning-after-the-calvin-ayre-indictments/

Why is the US government going hard out after people who are just enjoying themselves playing a game on the internet?

Why at the same time are the crooks who created and manipulated the economic downturn not in prison?

Why at the same time do they have multiple wars ongoing at billions and trillions of dollars in debt to the nation, when there is mass unemployment back home?

It's an utter contradiction and seems almost Orwellian.

Also, why go after Calvin Ayre? He's just a bloke who goes out and enjoys himself. No harm in that and all power to him. He provides value to hundreds of thousands of people world wide. Unlike the government in any nation. Sometimes I think that the US government is retarded. More-so lately than ever before. What's worse is that the man on the street keeps falling for the same bullshit every time and re-electing guys who will categorically fuck them.

Completely tilting.

Have been using Everest since FT went. It's quite okay.