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US Poker Rooms - Best 2011 USA poker rooms
Updated In February, 2012 - Instead of listing 50-60 poker rooms I have decided to only list the best poker rooms for US players in 2011. If you are not a citizen of the USA don't take this as a slight. These three rooms have more traffic than every non-US room combined and tripled. Each of these rooms are independent poker rooms, not a generic skin on a generic network that has nothing to offer besides poor software, mediocre traffic and and overall dismal playing experience. These are not just the best 2011 US poker rooms, they are the best poker rooms online. Our 2011 poker bonus codes offer exclusive deals at each of these rooms that are better than what the average internet poker player receives.Room TrafficBonusU.S.US Poker ReviewsPokerstars 250,0003, 100% bonuses up to $600YesBodog Poker 15,000$100 Instant - $1,000 BonusYesFulltilt Poker 150,000100% up to $600 + FreerollsYesUS Poker rooms vs the rest...
Updated In February, 2012 - Why do poker rooms that accept players from the United States of America tend dominate the industry? The obvious answer would be that they accept US players but that is actually a very minor factor in the success of the three US online poker sites listed above. The U.S.A only accounts for 4.5% of the people in the world according to a 2011 report. To counter that you may be thinking that everyone has internet access in the USA. Granted, over 75% of the US population has access to the internet but that isn't even in the top 10. Germany, Japan, the U.K., Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden and many other counties beat us in this category.
Let's add in the fact that online poker isn't even legal in the United States and that U.S. players have a much tougher time depositing than their counterparts across the globe. Online poker is regulated and perfectly legal in many European countries so that only adds to the enigma. You would think that poker rooms like Party Poker or even networks like the iPoker Network would dominate our featured US poker sites. The iPoker Network is home to many popular poker rooms like CD Poker, William Hill, VC Poker, Mansion Poker, Titan Poker, BetFred and many others. How about the OnGame Network which is home to over 20 popular poker rooms. Then there are stand alone rooms like Everest Poker, 888 Poker (Pacific Poker), PKR and literally thousands of other poker rooms that belong to non-US networks.
- Update - A new poker room has just launched. Betshark Poker is a 3D poker room and they are offering a 150% bonus up to $1,000, $500 depositor's only freerolls and more. US players are welcome. Read this Bet Sharks Poker review for more info.
So, what have we discovered so far? The USA only account for around 10% of the internet users in the world and there are around 250 non-US rooms for each of 3 rooms listed on this site. Yet for some reason these three rooms are more popular according to daily traffic than every non-US room multiplied by 2 or 3. Just to sink my point home I must mention that Bodog Poker is a relatively small room, ranked 26th world wide. Just Pokerstars and Full Tilt Poker easily account for 75% of all online poker players. I've been dragging this out for a bit. I'm guessing you just want to know the reason why, right? There are several:
- Independent Vs Network - The whole "poker network" concept has been a complete failure. The reasons for this are many. Even the few poker networks that accept US players are utter failures. Poker networks are prone to cheating scandals. In the last year alone I can think of several examples of this. A "skin" on the network closed down and ran off with everyone's money. It only takes $5,000-$10,000 to open a skin on a network so 95% of all the poker rooms online in 2011 are owned by 1-2 man teams, not big publicly traded companies like most people assume. One would think that the network would take care of the players and affiliates that get ripped off by these skins but unfortunately many have learned the hard way that poker networks in general only care about making money.
- The software - Let's face it, the Party Poker, iPoker Network, OnGame Network and every other lame network out there has a poker client that looks like it was designed in the 90's. Party Poker's lobby looks like it did when I played in almost a decade ago. It's like these room are stuck in the past and won't accept the reality that their software is mediocre at best. It's either that or they are just too cheap to upgrade their antiquated poker software. There are a couple exceptions though. PKR Poker is home to the best 3D poker room but the problem with their room is the complete opposite of rooms like Party Poker. PKR's software is too advanced, too far ahead of it's time. Global broadband speeds just cannot handle the bandwidth PKR's 3D software requires. This creates a slow and laggy poker experience for 9/10 players and anyone who wants to multi-table will be sadly disappointed. Everest Poker is an independent room but their downfall was to only offer Texas Hold'em and Omaha. This in turn has caused their traffic/revenue to become stagnant so upgrading their software just hasn't been in the cards.
- The marketing - A vast majority of non-US rooms are not even up to the task of keeping their promotional page up-to-date. When you compare that to the huge teams of experienced marketers who know what online poker players like and have the budgets to make it happen found at the US poker rooms listed on this site...well you see my point.
- The trust factor - I'll have to bring up the problems inherent to online poker networks again. U.S. poker rooms like Pokerstars and Fulltilt Poker are backed by famous celebrities and poker players. They run commercials across the globe on a regular basis and have become household name brands. Compare that to a network skin owned by some guy in Russia that has ties to organized crime and has ripped players off several times before (this room really exists). The network knows this guy has ripped players off before but they still whore out their software to him because he pays the meager fee. If a room like Pokerstars and Fulltilt tried to run off with everyone's money there would be Congressional hearings and the WTO would get involved as well. Bank accounts would be frozen and the money would be returned in a matter of weeks. With the way these companies are setup, it wouldn't even be possible for them to rip players off en-masse. They make a lot of money fair and square anyway so it's not like they would attempt such a move anyway.
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U.S. Poker Rooms
2011 U.S. Poker Rooms
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