poker black fridayOn April 16th 2011 the poker world was hit by a storm that no one saw coming. In a matter of minutes following the news hitting the press, the three largest online poker sites in the world put their entire US gaming on hold. Millions of players and millions of dollars were instantly frozen and panic spread amongst poker forums across the world. It had emerged that PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and the Cereus Network had been indicted with serious fraud allegations involving $3,000,000,000.

The world of online poker was rocked. US players had struggled to find an online poker room in the past and now it became even more difficult. The question ‘where can US players play online poker‘ had never been so desperate. In the land of the ‘free’, people American citizens can no longer make their own choice to gamble money (no matter how small or large) in online poker rooms.

The End of Online Poker for the US?

The US has been crushed by this recent development. While PokerStars and Full Tilt had been openly accepting US players for many years, their ways of loopholing the legal system in the States was not known. After a detailed investigation it was revealed that the 3 poker sites had been allowing players in the US to deposit by ‘tricking’ the banks into allowing it.

While fascinating, players are still allowed to deposit in a couple of other poker rooms like Carbon Poker, where it has noticed over 50% increase in traffic following poker’s ‘Black Friday’. More news to come.