US players have far fewer options when it comes to online poker than most of the rest of the world. US laws about online poker create a less than hospitable environment and many poker sites see the US market as too risky. The biggest players in the late 2000's, PokerStars and Full Tilt, were prosecuted under US law, settled without guilt/admitting any criminal misdeeds, and have been forced to shut down their US facing operations. That said, numerous sites currently accept US players, and thousands of US players play on these sites daily.

Federally speaking, playing online poker in the USA is NOT illegal for you, the end user. However, if you're looking to play online poker in the USA you should understand that it lies in a legal gray area in many states, and playing online is not completely without financial risk. Readers interested in a little more detail should read this brief summary. Players should also be aware that online poker is explicitly illegal in the state of Washington and Louisiana (though no individuals have ever been indited or prosecuted in any US jurisdiction) and regulated in others. If you want to play poker in the USA you should make sure you know what the laws are in your own state!

Beginning in 2013, status such as Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey have legalized and regulated online poker and each have sites exclusively for in-state play. These sites do NOT share liquidity with the world wide markets. Many people in the poker industry believe that type of liquidity sharing to be a decade or more away from legalization/adoption.

Some of the "Networks" shown below have several different "skins" that operate within that network. A poker network is a collection of companies, or skins, pooling their players together in order to create a larger poker room. Imagine this like a car dealership, each dealership is going to give you effectively the same car but each dealership will have different special offers, different levels of customer service and an all together different experience. We've tried to outline the main skins for each Network below with their Pros and Cons.