Online Gambling

I’ve been playing poker online for several years now. Based on my experiences, feedback from others, and news reports (both good and bad), here is my list of the 4 best online poker sites for US players.

1. Doyle’s Room – Free and easy credit card and e-wallet deposits, fast and free e-wallet withdrawals (express check withdrawals are $50), and their unique bounty tournaments set this poker room apart from the others. Doyle’s Room operates on the Cake Poker network, the 4th-largest poker network open to US players in terms of number of players. They also have a pretty good casino, too. Accepting players from 47 states (KY, WA, LA are barred), Doyle’s Room is a great choice for playing poker online. Current online poker promotion for new players: Get a 110% bonus up to $550.
2. Full Tilt – There is always a lot of action at Full Tilt, the 2nd-largest poker network in terms of number of players. E-checks are free for depositing and withdrawing, so that’s a real bankroll saver. Also, thinking back to when I first opened an account with Full Tilt, their initial deposit bonus was generous and straightforward to clear. Current online poker promotion for new players: Get a 100% bonus up to $600.
3. PokerStars – The granddaddy of them all, PokerStars is the largest poker room in the world — it’s about twice as big as Full Tilt. The PokerStars lobby is full-featured, yet still easy-to-use; the tabbed interface and filtering options allow you to customize its display of just the cash games, tourneys, and poker variants that you want to see. Freerolls abound at PokerStars. E-checks are free for depositing and withdrawing. Current online poker promotion for new players: Get a 100% bonus up to $600.
4. OddsMaker.com Poker – This is one of 70+ rooms in the growing Merge Network. While I suppose that one room on the network is as good as any other, OddsMaker.com also has a sportsbook, racebook, and casino, which is convenient if you like to bet sports, play table games, and win at some video poker. Their initial signup offer is simpler than it sounds: $10 rake = 800 VIP points = $10 free money released to real money account. Current online poker promotion for new players: Get a 100% bonus up to $1000 + 14 days of entries into a daily $500 freeroll.

In addition to maintaining The Online Casino Gambling Directory, I also answer online gambling questions at AllExperts.com, the oldest and largest free Q&A service on the internet. I thought that I would share with you a recent question about sportsbooks, as well as my response.

Question:

What sites are good for online sports betting? Is there a catch to placing bets? I understand money line bets i think just wanna know if there was max or minumum bets?

Answer:

If you’re a casual bettor, you really need just one sportsbook account. If you’re a more serious bettor, you’ll want to have five or more accounts. The reason for this is so that you can compare lines (often called “shopping lines”) offered at the sportsbooks, and get the best odds on the bet you’d like to place. Moneyline odds, for example, can vary by as much as 15 cents (e.g. a team may be +105 at one book and +120 at another) and you’ll want to be able to take advantage of that by having accounts at different sportsbooks.

As for if there is a “catch” to placing bets, I’d say not really. The only thing you need to be aware of is when you accept a bonus on your deposit, the types of bets that you can place with the bonus money are often limited to -110 bets (or worse, e.g. -105, -100, +105, etc.), and usually no parlays or props are allowed with the bonus. Also after accepting a bonus, you must place a minimum number of wagers before you can make a withdraw. These restrictions vary by sportsbook, so you’ll want to make sure that you understand their bonus when you make a deposit.

The minimum bet varies by sportsbook as well. Most sportsbooks accept bets of as little as $5 if you place the bet online; higher minimums are required when placing a bet by phone (where phone betting is offered, which is pretty rare). Maximum bets depend on the type of wager and your relationship with the sportsbook; generally speaking, more exotic wagers have lower maximums, which may be increased as you develop a relationship with a sportsbook.

Now to the meat of your question — which are the best sportsbooks? I’ve been betting online for years, and use a 5-star rating scale to rate sportsbooks. As of this writing, there are only two sportsbooks that I rate as 5-star and that accept US players. You can find them at this link, which you may need to copy and paste into the address bar of your browser:
http://www.theonlinecasinogamblingdirectory.com/s.php?as_usa=2&as_rat=5&t=Sportsbook&SRC=AEJul2010Blog

If you want a few more options, here is a list of the 4- and 5-star sportsbooks that accept US players:
http://www.theonlinecasinogamblingdirectory.com/s.php?as_usa=2&as_rat=4&t=Sportsbook&SRC=AEJul2010Blog

Finally, here is a list of the 3-, 4-, and 5-star sportsbooks that accept US players:
http://www.theonlinecasinogamblingdirectory.com/s.php?as_usa=2&as_rat=3&t=Sportsbook&SRC=AEJul2010Blog

I hope you found my answer helpful; feel free to let me know if you have additional questions.

Casino Titan has one of the snazziest websites around. The graphics are sleek, stylish, and modern. I also like that visitors can play some of the table games (like blackjack) right in their web browser without registering.

Here’s what they have to say about their online casino.

“Casino Titan is well known in the online casino industry and offers top notch service in a sophisticated manner. We accept all U.S. and Canadian players and strive to build a trustful relationship with all our online casino gambling players. Our mission is to provide a fantastic, secure and fair online casino gambling experience.

With over 100 traditional casino games including over 80 exciting slot machines games, playing at Casino Titan gets you better odds than at a land based casino. Massive Jackpots and bonus are offered at winning various progressive games.

Casino Titan provides exciting online promotions and casino bonus offers for its wide variety of games, ranging from slot machine games, to video poker, high rollers, baccarat, European roulette and 12 progressive jackpots. The amazing promotions includes: a Free Signup Bonus, a Welcome Package, Highrollers Bonus, a VIP club, Free Cash just by playing and 10% Cashback.

At Casino Titan, you’ll find the most advanced security measures available in any online casinos and we are continually auditing our games and processes to ensure a totally safe and fair online casino gambling experience to our customers. At Casino Titan, you will find everything that you have been looking for in an online casino.

Casino Titan is powered by Real Time Gaming (RTG) and offers some of the best casino games in the industry. We have a great customer support team available 24/7 to help casino players.”

I don’t need to tell you how big of a legend Doyle Brunson is. It’s everyone’s dream to play against the Godfather of Poker. This Wednesday, your dream comes true. Join Doyle Brunson and his friends for a colossal Bounty Tournament that could put up to $50,000 in your wallet. If it is your first time playing in the Bounty, you play for free. After playing the tournament on Wednesday at 9:30pm ET, request your Bounty Rebate, and they will pay you $27.50 back in cash!

You cannot beat this value:

• Bounty Rebate
  First time players get a full refund win or lose!
• $50,000 Bounty Multiplier
  Knock out 1 Bounty get $1,000, Knock out 2 for $10,000, Get $50,000 for 3!*
• $5,000 10/2 Challenge
  Doyle won the WSOP twice with 10/2. K.O. him with 10/2 and we’ll pay you $5,000
• $500 Casino Chip
  The rich get richer! The Bounty tournament winner also gets $500 in DoylesCasino chips

Doyles Room Poker
110% bonus on initial deposits between $30 and $500!
You won’t be able to find another poker room where you can participate in tournaments, ring games and heads up matches with Doyle Brunson — author of SUPER SYSTEM (the bible of poker), winner of 10 WSOP Bracelets and player in every single WSOP since 1970. If you’re making your very first real money deposit at DoylesRoom, you will automatically begin earning our 110% Initial Deposit Bonus up to $550. Your Deposit Bonus is rewarded in $5 increments for each 83.33 FPP you earn.

Full Tilt Poker
100% bonus on initial deposits between $10 and $600!
Welcome to FullTiltPoker.com, the online home of some of the most respected poker players in the world. Here at Full Tilt Poker, we’d like you to have fun, while helping you learn the tricks and tips of the game that’s sweeping the globe.

Merge Poker Rooms offer the easiest way that I know of to play Backgammon cash games — both head-to-head cash games and cash tourneys. Every time that I have played, I’ve found several dozen — at times a hundred or so — players playing/waiting for a game.

The thing that I liked most is the rule variants that are offered around doubling, Jacoby, Crawford, beavers, and others. I’m sure that you’ll be able to find an opponent at the variety of backgammon that you are most experienced with.

Read more about all the rules of the backgammon games at a leading Merge Poker Room, OddsMaker Poker. The initial deposit bonus at OddsMaker Poker can be earned by playing backgammon, and the 5% maximum backgammon rake is more than reasonable.

Merge Poker Rooms accept players from all 50 states!

OddsMaker.com Poker
100% bonus on initial deposits between $20 and $1000!
Our online poker card games test your mettle and challenge your preconceived notions of playing caliber. As a leading source of poker tournaments and rooms, Odds Maker has countless return customers who depend on our betting systems to keep their sk …[Full Description]
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There was a little of everything in this week’s round of 16 games, the first knockout round of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The USA loss was agonizing to watch (at least for USA fans), England and Mexico got screwed (at least they got an apology, so that’ll help — NOT!), and the Paraguay v Japan game was boring as hell until the shootout.

Here is the schedule for the teams that moved onto the round of 8:

Friday July 2

10:00 AM EST: Netherlands v Brazil

02:30 PM EST: Uruguay v Ghana

Saturday July 3

10:00 AM EST: Argentina v Germany

02:30 PM EST: Paraguay v Spain

Of these four matches, the bookmakers have Spain as the largest favorite, while the odds on the Argentina v Germany game suggest that this will be the most even of the matchups. Also look for the Argentina v Germany game to be the highest scoring of the games, and the Uruguay v Ghana game to be the lowest scoring.

BestUS.com has complete coverage of all manner of 2010 FIFA World Cup bets.

Betting on the 2010 FIFA World Cup is available at all major sports books. Here are some of the highest-rated sportsbooks at The Online Casino Gambling Directory:

Intertops Sportsbook
25% bonus on initial deposits between $25 and $400!
The oldest and one of the most trusted sites on the ‘net! Claim your $20 free after making your first $20 bet. 10% deposit bonus available for non-credit card deposits on Tuesday and Thursday only. No download needed to make sportsbooks wa …[Full Description]

Sportsbetting.com Sportsbook
20% bonus on initial deposits between $20 and $500!
Bonus code for 20% bonus: SBTWENTY. SPORTSBETTING.COM is the simplest and most popular destination for sports betting on the Internet. Our many years of experience guarantee you a quality betting service. Get a 5 percent reload bonus every Thursday.

BetUS Sportsbook
20% bonus on initial deposits between $100 and $299!
BetUS.com is a leading online sports betting and sports wagering entertainment website, providing a safe and secure place for online gambling for more than 13 years now. BetUS.com is recognized as one of the oldest and most respected online entertain …[Full Description]

Sportsbook.com – Sportsbook
10% bonus on initial deposits between $20 and $1990!
Everybody Bets.

Superbook.com – Sportsbook
10% bonus on initial deposits between $20 and $500!
Superbook has some of the best promotions out there!

Players Only – Sportsbook
Get a FREE $100 bet each Sunday when you wager at least $50 during the week.

The US-friendly Rival Gaming online casino, Ruby Royal, has a new player promotion this month. While “timed free play” offers are popular for Microgaming online casinos (all of which bar US players, in case you are wondering), this is the first “timed free play” offer that I have seen for a Rival Gaming online casino.

Here is a short summary of the new player offer at Ruby Royal; see their Promotions page for complete details.

“Simply register a real casino account, log into the software and visit the cashier. Claim the bonus ‘30 minutes and 888 free bets’. Once you claim the bonus, you have 30 minutes and 888 free bonus cash to go for the jackpot and win as much as you can. Anything over and above the 888 is considered winnings and is yours to keep up to a maximum of 100 credits. Regardless of whether you win or lose on this risk free offer, you will still be eligible to claim our massive 100% matching bonus up to 888 free on your first deposit.”

Here’s a great promotion from the folks at Slots of Fortune online casino.

• Sign up and register: Get $15 FREE
• Make a deposit of between $10 and $111: Get 700% initial deposit bonus, up to $777
• If your deposit was $50 or more: Get $10 bonus for each goal by the USA in the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Slots of Fortune online casino runs Rival Gaming software, and you can take the World Cup theme even further with their Global Cup Soccer slot machine. This exciting game comes with a $12,500 Jackpot and special features to multiply your winnings by getting different combinations of the gold, silver and bronze trophy symbols.

The NBA Finals start on Thursday in Los Angeles. The Lakers are nearly 2-1 favorites to win the series (-190), while the bookmakers are offering a decent price on the Celts (+155). Of course, if you are like me and picked the Celts to win it all prior to the finals being set, you would have gotten a much better price than they are being offered at today… like +210.

Here is a set of NBA coverage links that you might find useful to research the series:

• Boston Globe
• ESPN.com
• LA Times
• NBA.com
• Yahoo! Sports