Earlier this year, Americas Cardroom – a flagship site for the popular Winning Poker Network – added browser-based functionality for Android users. Mobile and tablet players can now hit the felt by heading directly to the Americas Cardroom website.

Limited Game Choice
However, the bad news is that this browser-based poker client is extremely limited in its offerings. In fact, players can only choose from one game type: ACR’s Jackpot Poker. Compared to other US competitors like BetOnline and Bovada – who recently rolled out complete mobile support for their users, featuring all cash-games, sit & go’s and tournaments – it’s not a great provision from Americas Cardroom. ​

Good news for US residents that love online poker: the game just got more accessible for mobile and tablet users. Online cardroom giant Bovada – combined with Ignition and Bodog which share its player pool for other regions – have made numerous improvements to their Android poker app.

The most notable additions include Sit & Go’s in a variety of formats. Android users can play games ranging from heads-up to large multi-table SnGs, from regular speed to hyper-turbo, and from a $1 buy-in upwards. There’s even a number of four-card variants on offer – including the dynamic Omaha and strategically-complex Omaha Hi/Lo. Multi-Table Tournaments (MTT) have also been added during the Bovada iOS and Android poker upgrade.

Another nice touch is the inclusion of Jackpot Sit & Go’s – a 3-max, hyper-turbo game type where participants compete for a selection of jackpots which at max can amount to more than 1000x the buy-in. Starting at just $2 (which can yield a $2400 jackpot win), you don’t need a big bankroll to win big bucks. This fast-paced game type is perfect for mobile users – a typical Jackpot Sit & Go lasts no longer than 10 minutes, so you can whip out your phone and get a quick game in whilst on the move.

​Last month, Bovada announced that it was reopening its poker room. Now that it’s here, it will be interesting to see what effect it has on the US online poker market.
 
Bovada initially closed its poker room after selling its poker software to IgnitionPoker just over a year ago. It seemed at the time that Ignition was just a rebranding of Bovada Poker. The sudden return of Bovada Poker last month, however, has left many people confused about the distinction between Bovada and Ignition. To clear this up, @BovadaPoker tweeted on August 23 that Ignition and Bovada, despite sharing the same software and both using the Pai Wang Luo Poker Network, the two companies are “separate entities”.

(UPDATE:  The Bovada poker app has relaunched in the United States.) Earlier in August, Bovada released a statement declaring the closure of their online cardroom that will take place on September 30th. To be replaced by the new Ignition Casino, players from Bovada will be unable to use the Bovada poker client following this date. Fortunately, Ignition Casino will retain all of the same features and games as Bovada, and users of the old site should transfer their account over to Ignition if looking to make use of them.  Ignition Poker welcomes US players and will be compatible with iOS, Android and Windows Phone.  

It’s been almost a year since Nevada launched its regulated online poker market and the great expectations have been replaced with a rather bitter reality. The intrastate poker market is already stagnating and the revenues simply didn’t meet the expectations of poker operators and the state legislators. Most experts were predicting an almost infinite growth, but in the end it seems that  they didn’t take the popularity of offshore poker sites into account.

Most US-based poker players have been waiting anxiously for the launch of the first regulated, intrastate poker sites in New Jersey and Nevada, but unfortunately most of those projects proved to be over-hyped and simply failed to meet the expectations of politicians and players alike. While it’s still too early to call the push for regulated online poker in the United States a complete fiasco, you should definitely take a look at our list of rather serious issues that plague regulated US poker rooms before you decide to transfer from your favorite offshore site.

US-based poker enthusiasts have been often led to believe that playing online poker is completely illegal with the exception of states that have already regulated internet gambling, but this isn’t true. The Federal Wire Act of 1961 is frequently cited as the federal regulation that prohibits international and interstate betting with the use of an internet connection, but in 2011 the Justice Department made it clear that this law applies exclusively to sports betting. This announcement was later confirmed by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which means that there are no federal regulations that would prevent you from playing on a real money poker site right now.

UPDATE:  Carbon Poker no longer accept players from the United States.  If you want to play real money poker in the U.S. then we recommend the BetOnline poker app. Following the withdrawal of PokerStars and Full Tilt from the U.S. poker market in the wake of Black Friday, Carbon became the best online poker room still open to US players.  They further cemented their reputation earlier this year by releasing a real-money poker app that worked on any type of phone or tablet, including Samsung Galaxy, Nokia Lumia and Apple iPhone.  While the app originally only offered Texas Hold’em ring games, they’ve now updated their software to also include Sit & Go tournaments.