What’s the secret to winning poker online?
Pure, intense concentration.
Paying attention to your moves, along with the activities of the other players at the table, will give you a winning edge. One of the best ways to stay focused is by coming up with a mantra. As you play the game, recite the mantra to yourself, and focus on what’s happening.
Of course, you’re not going to take home any money if you’re playing on an unregulated site. Where is online poker legal? Read on to find out everything you need to know.
States Creating Licensed and Secured Sites
What states are legally allowed to host poker games online? There’s New jersey, Delaware, and Nevada. Pennsylvania and Michigan recently joined the ranks of states that legalized online poker too.
What does the future hold for online poker legalization? Unfortunately, getting states to allow poker online isn’t a fast process. You’ll need to double-check whether or not online poker has regulations within your state to be sure it’s completely legal.
Your state may be simply waiting in the wings as legislators debate the issue. Whatever you do, avoid unlicensed poker rooms considered black market poker rooms.
Black market poker rooms don’t provide you with the same protection level as a secured site. Licensed secure areas are going to have your back no matter what happens. You’ll be able to enjoy a superior gaming experience, along with other benefits.
Is Online Poker Legal in Every State?
Do you have to live in a legalized poker state to play online? Not at all. However, it helps to understand that only states who have legalized online poker will be hosting sites.
Both Delaware and Nevada have agreed to share the liquidity for their online poker games. It took years of negotiations for the two states to work on all the details. Now they’re freely sharing liquidity between 3 different markets.
The pact between Delaware and Nevada was able to boost poker activity. You’ll be able to find many beautiful sites run by Nevada or Delaware website operators that fully abide by all of the rules and regulations.
Many New Jersey sites offer tournament opportunities with fun payout guarantees. We also mentioned that Pennsylvania joined the list of states allowed to play poker online.
You’ll find that many of the Pennsylvania sites work closely with NJ since they are also sharing liquidity. Who benefits from shared liquidity? The players!
When states are willing to work together, the sites are safer. You can peek at the best online casinos list to make sure your site is above board. All of the sites are regulated, licensed, and fun.
License Websites Protect Your Funds
One of the best benefits of playing on a secured site is having protection for your money. Legitimate poker sites in the United States have to abide by strict oversight from their state.
Since they have to report to a gambling authority, you won’t have to worry about the site running off with your funds. Every poker room has to be able to prove that they have an airtight system in place to protect your money.
To gain their license, the poker site also has to prove that they abide by all requirements for promptly processing payments. After all, you don’t want to win big on an online poker site and then wait weeks to get your winnings.
Along with proving that they can quickly provide you with payments, regulated sites have to keep active licenses. The licenses will be for a casino or lottery program your state requires.
The license helps provide additional insurance that every transaction will be appropriately honored. Using black market sites doesn’t offer the same guarantees. There’s no recourse for accountability on a black market site if you lose your money.
Sites That Prevent Identity Protection
When you’re playing poker online, the website will have to verify your age. They also have to verify your identity before you can join a table. That means the website will want to know who you are, where you are, and of course, your payment information.
To make sure you don’t become a victim of identity theft, you should only play with top-level sites that provide the best level of cyber security. Quality online poker rooms will use casino-level security to keep personal information private.
What happens if you play an offshore site in which your information is compromised? You’re out of luck. Offshore sites don’t have the same responsibilities that licensed sites in the United States have to abide by.
If you lose your information to a black market room across the sea, it’ll be up to you to put the pieces back together. Dealing with identity theft is no joke.
Identity theft can easily cost you thousands of dollars. Protect yourself from day one by only playing with sites that can prove they have top-level cyber security in play.
URL Tips
One of the easiest ways to tell if a site is regulated is by peeking at the URL. Safe sites will read “HTTTPS”, with the “S” standing for secure.
Unsafe sites will only have the “HTTP”, without the “S” for security. If you have a modern computer, with anti-virus software, it’ll probably warn you the site’s not safe.
Monitored and Enforced Legal Sites
Another advantage of playing on monitored sites is that they’ll be responsible for game fairness and gaming protocols. The protocols and rules on legal sites are strictly enforced and monitored.
There are severe consequences for the site operator if there’s even the slightest transgression. At the same time, an unregulated site will have the ability to manipulate its policies at a moment’s notice. For instance, an unregulated site might offer you a bonus and then retract it right after you win.
A regulated site won’t be able to do this to you. Along with using a strictly monitored site, you should also be keeping a close eye on your internal dialogue. After winning big, some people find that they can’t resist the urge to gamble it all away.
If you think you’re dealing with mental blocks keeping you from prosperity, you can check out these tips. Simple practices can help you realign your goals, making the game fun again.
Top Legal Poker Games
What are the 3 poker games you’ll find online the most? When it comes to regulated games within the United States, it’s common to find no-limit Texas hold ’em or Pot-Limit Omaha. You can even look into scheduled events or major tournaments series, such as a mixed game tournament.
Different formats are going to include things such as sit and go, lottery-style sit and go’s,, satellites, and cash games. Unlike Texas hold ’em, Pot-Limit Omaha gives players a chance to change the betting structure completely.
Pot-Limit Omaha
As you become familiar with different online gambling sites, you’ll come across the term PLO. PLO stands for pot-limit Omaha, and it’s a type of regulated poker game you can play legally online.
Unlike Texas hold ’em, during a PLO game each player gets 4 hole cards. The players aren’t using all 4 cards; they’ll have to select 2. Players need to know exactly which 2 of their hole cards, along with 3 of the community cards, will give them a winning hand.
Why Play Online?
Once you know where to play online poker legally, you might be wondering what the advantage is. Playing poker online is convenient, but it’s also going to give you a competitive edge.
Now, you can enjoy playing at more than one table simultaneously. This is something that would be utterly impossible at a brick-and-mortar casino. You’ll be able to play multiple bets, making it easier to recover from your losses.
When you lose at one table, you could always have the chance of winning at another! Of course, you’ll want to have a strict gambling budget before you start playing. When using multiple tables, it’s easy to get so caught up in the fun that you overspend.
Another advantage to planning online is that you won’t have to worry about your poker face. Nobody will be able to look at your face to see any kind of tell or hint as to what your cards might be. We also love that when you play poker online, you can find a table no matter what time of day it is.
Start Playing Legal Online Poker
The next time you hear somebody wondering, “is online poker legal?”, you’ll know the answer is, “Yes!”. If playing poker online makes you happy, you can be a winner today.
By visiting one of the many regulated poker sites in the United States, you’ll be able to play with ease.
Since different websites offer different versions of poker games, do some exploring today. Find your preferred gaming style, and place your first bet.
Remember to set a betting budget first so that the entire experience can be fun. For more ways to have fun, read another one of our articles.