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The bill also includes online casino games and pari-mutuel wagering, meaning it covers a broad range of online gambling options. Unlike New York’s proposal, this bill explicitly includes a provision for player pooling with other states, making it a much more promising prospect for online poker. Joe McKeehen won the $5,300 SHRPO Championship for $462,600, while three players made poker history by winning four events each at the 2026 festival.

Live Reporting – Past Events

But as improbable as it might seem sometimes, things have improved a lot. Players berated dealers and staff, sometimes escalating to physical assault. Which means that a safe and welcoming environment is the soil that poker needs to thrive and grow.

All I really care about is someone who loves and represents the game in the best way possible. But if not them, I think Jumalon would be a very good ambassador of the game. Stick with PokerOrg for all the biggest hands and moments from poker’s biggest showcase and beyond. Has this Main Event run reignited your passion to play a bit more during the year?

PokerStars also has a solid beginner offering, including play money options. The site offers free tournaments (freerolls), low-stakes buy-ins, and intuitive software. If you mostly play on your phone or tablet, these platforms offer the best user experience with minimal lag. PokerStars, BetMGM Poker, and GGPoker have top-tier mobile apps, supporting real money play, fast deposits, and smooth multi-tabling. GGPoker is quickly catching up, hosting bracelet events and the popular GGMasters series. We clearly indicate which sites are available and legal in your region, but it is always your responsibility to check before playing.

Nevada is one of the few states in the US that allows for legal, regulated online poker. If sports betting, with a far bigger market than online poker, can’t get any traction, there’s zero hope for online poker at the moment. Mississippi became one of the first states to jump on board the sports betting train, and it would seem online poker would be a natural fit.

Part of the BetMGM network, Borgata Poker is focused on NJ and PA players. Available in Nevada, NJ, PA, and MI, it’s a must-play for US tournament fans and legacy hunters, along with cash game grinders alike. Licensed in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, BetMGM Poker is a top option for American players. With excellent support and easy deposits through PayPal, Visa, and bank transfer, Bet365 is ideal for players who want simplicity, consistency, and security in every session. But don’t mistake that for thinking 88poker isn’t also a top site for those who play the game for a living. The platform caters to both casual players and high-stakes pros, with innovative tools like built-in staking, bubble protection, and smart HUD features.

online poker news

On the second effort, they succeeded, and the state has appeared to have gone backward in terms of precedent that might favor online poker. The only caveat – PokerStars as a platform in the US migrated across, meaning players now can only access it via the FanDuel platform. This incorporated Pennsylvania into the shared-liquidity compact, allowing PokerStars players to compete with others in PA, MI and NJ. Ever since they dealt their first hand of online poker back on January 29, 2021, Michigan has been one of the hottest online poker markets in the United States.

The 2026 Venetian DeepStack Championship at the Venetian Resort Las Vegas distributed $22,947,285 in prize money across 121 numbered events, running from May 21 through August 2, according to PokerNews. Poker player, vlogger, and influencer Doug Polk has announced that he is “stepping… Introduced by Northern Virginia Democrat Marcus Simon on Tuesday, HB161 would place online gambling under the regulatory authority of the Virginia Lottery Board. Last Friday, Gov. Bill Lee signed Senate Bill 2136 into law, banning online sweepstakes casinos… Read more »

The state in which you can actually pull the trigger on the play you want to make, without having to pretend that you are something you are not. We also provide guides on various poker variants, including Texas Hold’em, Omaha, and more. SOMUCHPOKER is the #1 news site for the Asia-Pacific poker community.

online poker news

She also has a credible record as a competitive live poker tournament player, despite not being a professional poker player. New York, Indiana, and Massachusetts are making new pushes to legalize online poker, while Wyoming’s bill explicitly supports player pooling from the start. Right now, Pennsylvania is set to become the latest state to offer multi-state online poker, with player pooling likely by April 2025.

So, I liked in my interviews to try and bring players opportunities to express themselves without worrying if it was going to give away crucial information about how they thought about the game. Poker players during that era had television identities, online personas, forum reputations, and private selves that could be very different from one another. There were a few players like Kathy Liebert, JJ Liu, and Jennifer Harman that weren’t sexualized all the time, but the default for players and media personalities alike was to frame them in a sexy way. The first two weeks of December may not have enough players for two giant festivals at the same time, but there’s still plenty of interest to go around if they all learn to share.

There’s also plenty of juicy cash game action for players at all bankroll and skill levels. Its tournaments are well-structured, with a mix of progressive knockouts, daily guarantees, and satellites to popular live events like the PartyPoker MILLIONS. Because it attracts players from across 888’s casino and sportsbook, the action is never-ending.

World Series of Poker Mystery Bounty Event Players Hit it Big

The best poker sites for real money are PokerStars and GGPoker. Aligning both of these factors will help you come to a decision and find the best online poker site for you! Determining which online poker site is the best is highly subjective, and will largely depend on each individual’s preferences. These operators offer superior protection for your funds and data than unregulated or offshore platforms, which carry higher risks for players. Wherever you play, it’s essential to choose licensed, regulated sites that comply with local laws and responsible gaming standards. Whether online poker is legal depends entirely on the laws of your country or region, or in the case of the United States, the state in which you reside.

The UIGEA went into full effect in 2010 and did not exclude games of skill like poker despite lobbying efforts from the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). While poker was booming, a piece of legislation was about to question the legality of online poker in the United States. Following Chris Moneymaker’s iconic victory in the 2003 Main Event, poker sponsorships were going around like crazy and ads for big online poker brands like PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker couldn’t be avoided. In a new PokerNews video essay, we take a look at Black Friday, the darkest day in poker history that forever altered the online poker landscape and uncovered widespread mismanagement by some of poker’s biggest names. Yes, while real-money gaming is restricted throughout the United States, free play money options are open to most.

And lastly, I think Greg ‘FBT’ Mueller played very, very tight at the final two tables, but that was a bit of an over-adjustment. I think it’s clear Jumalon is the favorite, and as long as he can play a good final table, he should secure a nice payday. Poker pros predict who will win the 2026 WSOP Main Event as Lucas Jumalon leads the final table into poker’s biggest showdown. And I’ve been receiving so many nice tweets and shout-outs from a lot of well-respected players; Matusow, Hellmuth, David Baker, Alex Livingston, the list goes on. I’m asking players their pick to win, and many of the older guys are rooting for you.

Every major site provides tools to help you stay in control, including deposit limits, time reminders, and self-exclusion options. Not every poker room is available in every country, and the experience can differ significantly depending on where you’re based. Below is a table fully outlining the different methods available to contact each operator.

Its global reach, diverse player base, and nonstop action make it the go-to platform for anyone seeking high-volume games at every stake level. If you want to find a game quickly and easily, or play large-field tournaments with bumper prizepools, BetMGM Poker is a great choice. BetRivers Poker might be one of the newest online poker sites around, but it’s already making a big impression on the market. It is focused on returning a high share of rake to players via its iRush Rewards programme, which can deliver 40 %–75 % rake-back at top VIP levels.

online poker news

You can find all these answers on our legal gambling guides which are catered for those new to the scene as well as seasoned veterans. Online poker is making a comeback in the U.S. 15 years after Black Friday, thanks in no small part to the PokerStars on FanDuel launch. Within days after launching the poker site, a $5 million guaranteed Ignite Series beginning April 18 was announced. Scheinberg avoided prison time and had to pay a fine of just $30,000, bringing the Black Friday saga to a close nearly a decade later. In March 2020, PokerStars founder Isai Scheinberg pleaded guilty to running an unlawful internet gambling business. Howard Lederer and Chris Ferguson of Full Tilt Poker are considered pariahs in the poker community to this day, though Ferguson appeared at the 2017 World Series of Poker and wound up winning the Player of the Year distinction to the dismay of the community.

WSOP Main Event runner-up Lauri Saaskilahti reflects on his $6M run, his bond with Lucas Jumalon and coming agonizingly close to poker history. Are we as a game and community more attractive to a greater portion of the population? Finally, the broadening of the poker demographic has demanded a higher level of inclusion and tolerance.

Many events also include guaranteed prize pools, which ensure a minimum payout regardless of entries, and can sometimes lead to overlays that offer even more value. You can quickly sort by different filters, including buy-in level, game type, and operator, making it easier than ever to plan your schedule, find the overlay value and register on time. Tired of jumping between poker clients to find your next tournament? At PokerNews, we’ve reviewed the top tournament sites in the US, Canada, UK and around the world. ‘A chip and a chair.’ That famous poker idiom signifies that as long as you’re still in a tournament, you’ve got a chance of winning no matter the size of your stack.

Most sites, such as PokerStars on FanDuel, allow players to get the online poker experience www.pokernewsdaily.com for free by playing in play money ring games and tournaments. It consistently ranks as the world’s largest online poker room, with tens of thousands of players active at any time across cash games, tournaments, and unique formats like Rush & Cash and All-In or Fold. Some sites share online poker liquidity with others on the same network to offer more games and larger tournament fields, while others work to attract more players to their standalone sites.

We break things down into simple categories, so players can choose based on their preferences and skill sets. To celebrate the launch, players can jump into the “No Sweat” Series from April 6–12. A new era of online poker in North America has arrived. But a lot of players just spew chips when they are tilted, then later tell themselves, ‘Well, it was still a good bluff.

online poker news

Other states like Wisconsin, California, and Florida, just to name a few, are allowed to offer poker via compacts between state and tribal gaming interests. Some states – such as Hawaii, Utah, and Wyoming – have long resisted both poker and other forms of gaming due to factors such as religion and politics, which have influenced their state laws. Yes, live poker is legal in the United States in 2026, though it does vary from state to state. PokerNews’ interactive map not only shows you where you can play legal poker in the US but also poker legislation for various states. Virginia’s Sen. Mami Locke and Delegate Marcus Simon introduced an online gaming bills that have since been pushed back to 2026. Last year, PokerStars sponsored the $1m GTD Maryland State Poker Championships, with Ben Gazzola taking home $110,578 after defeating a 245-player field.

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered, too, with the best play money poker apps. Key Takeaways Molly Bloom rose from elite skier to the woman behind some of the most exclusive high-stakes poker games in Los Angeles and New York. Find out what’s going down at the planet’s biggest poker tournaments and pick up a few skills of your own. EvenBet can deploy in 4–6 weeks, with platforms stress-tested for 10,000+ concurrent players.

It’s a game where I think that people have this completely backward. A lot of people look at PLO and think it’s basically a ton of gambling with four cards. Sure, deep-stacked you can be adding some limps into your game.

If you are like me, user feedback will certainly play a huge role when you are looking to play rounds of online poker (real money) Reddit users recommend. When it comes to finding the best online poker sites to play at, there are so many ways of going about it. I have played quite a number of casino games and poker happens to be one of those with a pretty high degree of variance. Ideally, numerous states would pass online poker legislation and then enter into an interstate compact allowing them to join their player pools, much like the lottery system in the USA. Along with PokerStars and PartyPoker, the four sites were generally accepted as the biggest and best places to play online poker. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been any recent talk of online poker in Virginia, so while it’s possible in the future given the state’s current gaming landscape, it wouldn’t be anytime soon if at all.

However, it was only in June 2025 that residents of West Virginia had a legal and regulated platform on which they are able to play, following the launch of BetRivers Poker. Among Washington state casinos are Muckleshoot Casino, Tulalip Resort Casino and Emerald Queen Casino, to name just a few. There are nearly three dozen casinos in Washington operated by more than two dozen different tribes. Charities are permitted to hold bingo, raffles, and casino nights.

You have to constantly keep that all in mind and adjust your game accordingly. There’s not any other tournament that even comes close to the atmosphere and the structure of the tournament. Hopefully it’s not once in a lifetime. It had no negative effect on my play. But then again, if you look at the big pots that I played, the training that I had was a little bit irrelevant when it comes to those spots. I do that kind of work, but it’s not the main part of my game.

  • Major tournament series offer huge prize pools, deep structures and the chance to compete for prestige on a global stage.
  • Further, poker players in different parts of the world typically have numerous options when choosing to play poker online.
  • You have to constantly keep that all in mind and adjust your game accordingly.
  • Banned in Tennessee Three states – Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Iowa – have recently taken legislative action against sweepstakes casino sites as pressure for the sites to comply with state laws ramps up.
  • “You think you’re good at drawing until you’re trying to draw someone playing poker and express what they might be experiencing.”

Online gambling is regulated in Malta by the Malta Gaming Authority. MicroMillions 2026 is designed for those with modest bankrolls and big poker dreams. Build the infrastructure now, so when the whistle blows, you’re already at the table. Our turnkey poker solutions are built with regulatory frameworks in mind, embedding AML monitoring, KYC checks, age verification, and reporting dashboards directly into the platform. For operators, the pivot to a regulated poker environment isn’t just about meeting requirements once legislation arrives — it’s about being ready in advance. Together, these examples show that when it’s done right, regulation can move beyond legality to legitimacy, cementing poker’s place as mainstream digital entertainment.