As you might have found in your search for US poker sites, it's very easy to find information online about the UIGEA and where Americans can't play poker anymore.
We're going to do the opposite: show you exactly where you can play poker online and guide you to the largest poker sites that still accept American players. In short, the best U.S. poker sites.
Although the US government has made it slightly more complicated for Americans to play poker online in the last few years and online casinos with this particular market, you can still find a new casino when searching around. Specifically, to deposit and withdraw money from online poker sites - the US poker market is still the biggest in the world.
And from California to the New York Island, from the redwood forest to the Gulf Stream waters, hundreds of thousands of poker players are still grinding it out online every day.
Where are you most likely to find them? These are the largest US poker sites online today:
Massive US Poker Sites
PokerStars: When PokerStars announced after the UIGEA was passed in 2006 that it was going to stay in the US market, it was a big relief for American poker-tournament enthusiasts.
This meant they could still participate in the Sunday Million, the World Championship of Online Poker and the wide range of daily freerolls, satellites and sit-and-gos Poker Stars offered.
Since then, the tournament lineup at PokerStars has exploded even further, offering by far and away the most extensive range of poker tournaments available online.
And because of its willingness to continue in the US market when others turned away, PokerStars soon became, and still is, the largest poker site in the world.
Full Tilt Poker: Like PokerStars, when most sites left the US market after the passing of the UIGEA, Full Tilt Poker also chose to raise the stakes instead.
With backing from several big names in poker, including Phil Ivey, Chris Ferguson, Howard Lederer and Erik Seidel, Full Tilt Poker started an aggressive ad campaign to recruit new players.
It paid off. Today the majority of all high-stakes cash -game action takes place at Full Tilt and whatever game or limit you prefer, Full Tilt Poker has it around the clock.
Medium-Sized US Poker Sites
UB.com/Absolute Poker: Both UB.com and Absolute Poker have a somewhat turbulent history.
The two are of course famous for the super-user account scandal that shocked the poker community a couple of years back. But they are also known for providing great cash-game and tournament action, and for sending hundreds of players to the World Series of Poker every year.
Today, UB.com and Absolute Poker run on the same network, Cereus, which is the sixth-largest poker platform in the world.
Bodog Poker: The traffic at Bodog Poker peaked around the time Jamie Gold miraculously won the WSOP Main Event wearing the poker site's colors in 2006.
Shortly thereafter, Bodog ran into some trouble with a cyber squatter and lost the rights to use its own domain name. "Bodog" became "BodogLife" and everything was turned upside down.
Now, though, after a protracted legal battle, Bodog is back and traffic is growing again every day.
The fact Bodog Poker has also made it very easy for Americans to make deposits and withdrawals has made it, once again, one of the more interesting US poker sites out there.
Up-and-Coming US Poker sites
Sportsbook Poker/PlayersOnly Poker: Both Sportsbook Poker and PlayersOnly started on the Cake Poker Network but have recently moved to the Merge network - a niche platform that also accepts US credit-card deposits.
The traffic is still in the lower segment overall, but if you play low- to mid-stakes Hold'em tournaments or ring-games (as 95% of all players do) there are always games to choose from here.
And, since this is a growing network, there's also a lot of dead money at the tables.
If you're interested in playing at any of these sites, check out our toplist of the largest US poker sites where you'll also find exclusive sign-up bonuses and in-depth reviews of the best sites for US players.
If you want to know how to fund your US online poker account, which is quite a hassle these days, we have the complete list of US poker sites credit card deposits as well as other payment methods for Americans.
