Online Casino Gambling Directory. The latest free offers, promotions, news, and information about online poker, casinos, bingo, sports betting, and more.
As I recently blogged, NuWorks is a new online casino software vendor. It is being used by only a few sites, one of which is US-friendly BuzzLuck Online Casino.
BuzzLuck offers 1, 3, 10, 52, and 100 hand versions of Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, and Joker Poker video poker. Looking at their paytables for single-hand quarter video poker, and assuming optimal play and max coins in:
Their Jacks or Better video poker is the best. They have a full-pay paytable with a return of 99.54%. You won’t find a better Jacks or Better video poker paytable anywhere, either online or in land-based casinos.
For the first time in a long time, there is a new player in the online casino software world. That new vendor is NuWorks. The NuWorks online casino software appears to be based on the Real Time Gaming (RTG) code base, but the graphics are much improved, and the game play is much smoother. Overall, it appears to be a major upgrade to RTG that has been rebranded as NuWorks.
I recently upgraded the Search capability at The Online Casino Gambling Directory. The upgrade allows users to search the directory for online gambling sites that allow players from a specific US state. Prior to Black Friday 2011, online gambling sites’ policies were pretty straight-forward: they either accepted no players from the United State, all players from the United States, or barred KY and WA only. Recently, sites’ policies have gotten more complicated and varied, and so the search upgrade was needed so that anyone can determine all sites that accept new registrations from any state.
Start from any search result, like for “blackjack“.
From the left column, check the “US players OK from” check box.
Select a state from the drop down list, like “Arizona“.
Viola! The search results now shows only those sites that accept players from the selected state.
Online Poker sites on the Merge Poker Network have recently began accepting new online poker accounts from poker players in the United States. While not all online poker players are accepted, most are eligible to open an online poker account. (Online poker players from the following states/jurisdictions are still barred at Merge Poker sites: KY LA MO MD NY WA DC).
My top three online poker sites on the Merge Poker Network are:
All offer a 100% match bonus on your initial deposit, with OddsMaker matching up to $1K — the most of any Merge Poker Network site that I am aware of. In addition, OddsMaker spreads $40K a month in online poker freerolls: 7 x $200 daily free rolls, with the games varying from Pot Limit Omaha, to H.O.R.S.E. to No Limit Hold’em.
Doyle’s Room online poker site is no more. The site that was plagued by frequently-changing software, occasional payout issues, and other problems announced that all of its players are being moved to Americas Cardroom, an online poker site that is on the same network (Yatahay) as was Doyle’s Room.
Surely this move is a direct result of Black Friday 2011, and the site’s namesake — the multiple-time WSOP champion world famous Doyle Brunson — wanting to distance himself from online poker.
I enjoy playing online slot machines, don’t you? I certainly have my favorites, but it’s nice to play something new as a change-of-pace.
It has been a while since I updated my site with the newest online slot machines from RealTimeGaming (RTG). Here are the link to their latest online slot machines, all of which have been published sometime this year.
Glitz & Glamour: The Man substitute doubles the prize, the Lady triples prizes; but when appearing together in a winning combination, they multiply the prizes by 6
Back in the day, every US-facing online poker site worth its salt ran regularly-scheduled online poker freerolls with real cash prizes and no entry requirements. Before Black Friday in April 2011, the least amount of time that you would have to wait before another online poker freeroll started somewhere was maybe 90 minutes.
I just reviewed the top US-friendly online poker sites, and online poker freerolls seem to be a thing of the past. Only one of the four top online poker sites, Poker4Ever on the Everleaf Network, runs regularly-scheduled freerolls any longer, and the prize pools are as small as $5.
And while Doyle’s Room does have their “Freeroll Fridays in September“, this is a special promotion and isn’t a part of their regular freeroll tourney offerings. Finally, Cake Poker and BoDoghave freerolls, but only for their new players.
It’s too bad that freerolls appear to be a thing of the past. I think newbies looked forward to getting their feet wet with these types of tourneys.
Since Black Friday in April 2011, online poker players in the United States have been struggling with not only where to play, but also with how to make deposits and withdrawals from their accounts in a way that minimizes the fees to conduct these transactions. Granted, medium-to-high-stakes players probably worry less about these fees, but for recreational, low-stakes players, fees make a difference.
I’ve written previously about the few online poker rooms that are still accepting new US-based real-money players. As a quick review, they are:
Doyles Room Poker – 100% bonus on initial deposits between $25 and $1000!
Bodog Poker – 110% bonus on initial deposits between $20 and $1000!
Cake Poker – 110% bonus on initial deposits between $25 and $545!
Poker4Ever – 100% bonus on initial deposits between $10 and $500!
I’ve just spent several hours running down as many details as I can about their deposit and withdrawal options, and their associated fees. It is frustrating to say the least. Often times, the information that they have on their sites is out of date, unclear, or is contradictory to information that they have published elsewhere.
So, as far as I can tell, only DoylesRoom offers online poker with no fees for certain deposit and withdrawal methods. Specifically, DoylesRoom offers no-fee Visa deposits ($20 minimum); in addition, they will credit to your account any fees incurred when depositing via Western Union or MoneyGram (both $200 minimum). On the withdrawal side, they offer 1 free check-by-mail per month ($20 minimum), as well as debit cards ($5 monthly fee + per-load and per-use fees).
Remember the good old days of the free (or nearly free) e-wallets like FirePay, NetTeller, eWalletXpress, EcoCard, Click2Pay, QuickTender/UseMyWallet? Me too. The current e-wallets that are accepted by various online poker sites all have 5% or more fees by the time you perform one deposit and one withdraw. The online poker site itself does not charge any fees to use these e-wallets, but the fees to load the e-wallet and then make a withdraw are substantial.
BoDog Poker supports MyPaylinQ, which loads via credit cards at 7% fee, or for free via Western Union (WU). But the only payout option is WU with a $20 MyPaylinQ fee + WU fees.
Cake Poker supports MoneyLineWallet (MLW), which charges $4 per load from your linked checking account. However, Cake Poker cannot payout back to your MLW account. Even if they could, there are MLW payouts fees — via a check for <$1000 (the fee is $10) and via a Bank Wire for larger amounts (with a $55 fee (plus your bank may charge an incoming international wire fee)).
Poker4Ever supports PICCLUB, which has the same load and payout fees as MyPaylinQ.
Quick review: Fastest payments around. Wide variety of banking options, many of which are free or low-cost. Offers lines on non-sporting events as well as all of the most popular American and Eurporean sports leagues and events. Live Chat with an agent if you have any questions.
Languages: English, German
New player bonus: 25% of initial deposit, up to $100 bonus
Quick review: Hip brand. Very fast site allows quick navigation. Lowest rollover requirement on the Internet. Good articles on many sports provide different angles that you may not have considered.
Languages: English
New player bonus: 10% of initial deposit, up to $50 bonus
Quick review: Easy sign-up process. Generous bonuses in addition to the New player bonus. Live Chat with an agent if you have any questions. Live scores available on-site.
Languages: English
New player bonus: 100% of initial deposit, up to $1000 in bonus
Real money online poker players that reside in the United States have fewer options for their online poker play since Black Friday of April 2011. As I am sure you are aware, many online poker rooms have left the United States market in light of the FBI’s actions on that day.
DoylesRoom.ag has decided to keeps its online poker room open to US players. They are even allowing new accounts to residents of the United States (except WA and MD residents). They have recently moved to the Yatahay Online Poker Network, joining a half dozen or so other online poker rooms on the network. In addition, they are offering a LIMITED TIME initial deposit bonus of 100% when you deposit between $50 and $1000.
Doyle’s Room deals Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo tournaments (both normal and turbo) and cash games in fixed limit (FL), pot limit (PL) and no limit (NL) formats. You can easily find your favorite game using the filters provided in the poker lobby.
The easiest way to make a deposit at Doyle’s Room is with your Visa card. Otherwise, you can deposit via a Bank Wire or a Person-to-Person transfer; however, these deposit options are obviously less convenient than depositing via your Visa credit card. There is a $50 minimum deposit — this is perfectly reasonable, in my opinion.
Your best withdraw option is probably a bank draft / check. Checks can be requested for between $25 and $2500once per week and have no fee! You can also choose debit cards as your withdrawal method, but there is a $5 monthly fee, plus a load fee of $2 each time that you load the card. Debit cards usually also have a per-transaction fee when you use the debit card to make a purchase.
Your online poker options are limited if you live in the United States. Doyle’s Room is a solid online poker room that you should consider for your online poker play.
The current e-wallets that are accepted by various online poker sites all have 5% or more fees by the time you perform one deposit and one withdraw. The online poker site itself does not charge any fees to use these e-wallets, but the fees to load the e-wallet and then make a withdraw are substantial.
