Glad to See This!
Another option is Bitcoin poker sites that are open to the US, if you're willing to buy and sell Bitcoins to play there. (You can buy them over the counter at most convenience stores now, but I think the limit is about $500... to get them out to your bank you need to open an account with one of the websites that lets you buy and sell them -- think similar to Liberty Reserve). The largest poker site there is called "Seals With Clubs." It's still pretty tiny, stakes are low by most standards, and the interface is definitely very, very basic. But there is action to be found there and they do have some decent-sized tournaments (last I heard their biggest was a 100 player(?) 50BTC weekly which translates to about a $650 prize pool at the current exchange rate). Lots of micro freerolls (micro in Bitcoin is like, really small. Think $0.20) and a handful of decent live games. The games tend to be pretty loose and wild, I guess because people still kind of consider it play money.
I should mention that they're my direct competitors and I don't think it's the best move for them to be running poker to the US. But I also know the owner to be a decent guy, we've coordinated somewhat on trying to lay out some player rights and guidelines that Bitcoin gaming sites should abide by, and I generally trust him. And I don't think there's any law yet that outright bans it, since Bitcoin's a virtual currency without banks and it's not covered under the UIGEA any way you read it. We don't run poker to the US because it seems like too much risk for too little reward, and we don't have anywhere near the poker volume they do (pretty much for that reason).
There's another one called BTCOnTilt but I don't recommend it, they closed a few months ago and may not have paid everyone back, and then just showed up again last week with new software. But I can recommend Seals because I know they haven't stiffed anyone. I play there myself (in disguise...only the owner knows it's my account. Another nice thing is they don't take any information to sign up).
It was just about 3 months ago that I saw a news story on "Bitcoin". I had heard of it before, forgot about it, and now revisited it. I read a few news stories and in that process saw a link for a bitcoin poker site, Seals, and went and checked it out. I'm really glad that I did! I live in the US, and poker sites are hard to come by. Yeah, I know about 5 dimes and have played freerolls there a few times but funding always seemed to be a hassle. Not that buying Bitcoin in the US is any less of a hassle, and in fact I don't recommend trying. But it turns out that there are several places on the web where you can scrub some together doing this and that... one of them is Seals. They have 50 chip freerolls (poker) every hour.... which at today's bitcoin price (about $100 American) are worth about 5 bucks.... enough to get a guy started for sure. And once a week that have freerolls that are more generous ... as high as 5 BTC at times (500 bucks today... 1,250 yesterday ... which is one of the problems with bitcoin at present but if you don't pay for them in the first place... no worries).
Here are some good points and some caution points about the site:
Good:
*) It loads in your browser... you don't have to download some god-knows-what's-in-it software.
*) Lots of freerolls
*) Most of the players are either fish, cannon-ball divers, or generally clueless, so easy money for the patient player.
*) Funds (in bitcoin only) in and out lickety-split. No idiot bank with sticky fingers to please. No vampire taxman. Private and free.
*) It's legal in the US
*) A really huge one: the owner of the operation, Micon, is there all the time, and they keep a great update of what is going on on the forum bitcoitalk.org (which forum is an excellent site for the latest on Bitcoin in general, how to get it where to get it who's doing what where when with it etc etc). Also just first rate customer service. NOt too long ago they were hit with a denial of service attack... just like the big operations and banks get. They kept players updated perfectly as to what was happening. Additionally.. I had bought into a 50 chip tourney when it went down.... scheduled to start in about 30 minutes. I emailed them to request a refund when it was obvious that the tourney (should have) started and then went on to other things... just before I went to sign off, I rechecked the site and it had come up.... two hours later... my tourney had started an hour later and there I was short-stacked! Well, to make a long story short I won the thing. Next morning, there is an email with an apology and a credit of 50 chips in my account. I wrote back and said... lookit, it's okay, I got back later, it was up, and I won the thing..." and they came back at me: "No,no. Keep the chips, and thanks!"
Compare that to something like ... well, your own experiences dealing with poker sites.
Caution points:
*) The software seems to get gummy and crash in firefox, but works fine in chrome and opera.
*) Like any gambling operation, there are hucksters waiting to hustle you..... (though in fact, most of the guys are okay to even classy .... there are the usual temper tantrums at times).
*) Getting Bitcoin can be a hassle ... I DON'T recommend that anyone buy it at this time .... it is too uppy and downy ... but again you can win your way up from freerolls without too much grief. The owner, Micon, has a thread at the above noted forum where he offers 50 free chips (1 chip = 1 mBTC , 1/1000 of a bitcoin, or ten cents today, which is then a free five bucks) to try out the site. You can find the thread there... I would post a link but don't want it to look like I am spamming. ( I have no contract with the operation, will not directly benefit from this post other than maybe having more players to play against, etc)
*) The site, being an in-browser java type software, has a simple-ish unsophisticated feel to it, and some people find that not to their taste. This is not a problem for me though.... easy money can't be perfect. Everything else about it... the instant deposits and withdrawls , the play anywhere in browser feature (I believe they have an app or phone thing for it... but I just don't deal with that stuff so not sure) ...it's just too convenient compared to other cash type poker operations that I have had experience with.
Glad to see them suggested and supported here!
Oh, and there is a fellow on there willing to convert cash to bitcoin and bitcoin to cash... so that if you want to fund your 5dimes account, he will help you do that... you can find him also on the bitcointalk.org forum site. So the various operations support each other after a fashion.