I’ve tried a few different online poker sites, but so far they’ve all more or less sucked. The client hangs or crashes, the connection comes and goes even though my connection to the Internet remains stable, there are fees on deposits and withdrawals, the interface is an astonishing example of poor design, the list of tables and open tournaments updates once in a blue moon, and so forth and so forth. Since we have a bunch of online poker players here, I thought I’d ask for recommendations.
My parameters:
I mainly want to play no-limit Texas Hold’Em 10-20 man or heads up Sit&Gos with buyins in the range of $1-$25, with the occasional larger tournament.
I want no fees on deposits or withdrawals.
I want to be able to deposit and withdraw via credit card.
The player base should be large enough and active enough that you can find a Sit&Go as described above 24 hours a day.
The interface should be as non-annoying as possible. Ideally, you spend zero time wishing it did something differently.
The client and server should be as stable as possible. Crashes, hangs and lost connections shouldn’t be commonplace, and if the server crashes refunds shouldn’t just be promised, they should be delivered.
Any recommendations? Feel free to just pop your experiences and suggestions out there; if I can’t use them I’m sure someone else can.
Um, so what sites have you tried? I’d suggest PokerStars and PartyPoker, but I can’t imagine that you haven’t tried those before.
As for the credit card, I think most places take them. If you are in the US, don’t bother as most card issuers cave and don’t work with gambling sites. Neteller is your friend in the US. The poker sites pay the Neteller fees, so it’s free to the player.
Hollywood Poker offers NL games with blinds ranging anywhere from 10 cents to $100, and you can create your own tables seating from 2-10 players for the same blind levels. It has SNGs ranging from $2.25 to $108, full table and 5-handed, and you can create your own tournaments which start at $5.50, SNG or MTT. It’s 11:27 PM on a Wednesday night and there are over 13,000 players online (I don’t know if that’s real cash players only or if it includes play money players). I only use the Java version and it has always been very stable. I don’t know about the download version, but if it crashes on you the Java version will usually still run. The two times in the last 8 months or so I’ve been on the site, I’ve needed reimbursement twice and in both instances it’s been in my account within 24 hours. Support has been unfailingly helpful and polite, best customer support I’ve experienced anywhere on the net. If you’re in the US you probably won’t be able to use your credit card but as Dag Otto notes you can make Neteller Instacash deposits through the site with no fees.
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Just a guess, but it might be because on-line gambling is still illegal in the USA. There are gray areas, but I think most credit cards don’t want to get involved.
It’s not that gambling is illegal in the US. There are probably more places in the US where gambling is legal than illegal. It’s that internet gaming is an unsettled legal question. The last I heard the semi-official position of the Justice Department was that it’s prohibited by the federal Wire Act, the same law that prohibits calling Vegas from out of state and betting on sporting events. Which is why you used to see ads for dot-com poker sites on TV but now only see dot-net ads in the US. The World Trade Organization is taking aim at US online gambling restrictions but it’s far from settled.
But the real reason you can’t use a credit card in the US is because of some lawsuitsfiled by losing internet gamblers, claiming that the money they charged to their cards to fund their online gambling was an “illegal debt” and unenforceable. There’ve been decisions on both sides of the credit card for gambling issue, and rather than bother with it most creditors in the US just flat-out prohibit the use of their cards.