Back in New Jersey & More States to Come in 2021?
Currently, PokerStars is only available in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Now you can play on the go 24×7 regardless of where you are. All you need is a smartphone that gives you Internet access via 3G, 4G, LTE, or Wi-Fi. We have Como Jugar Blackjack En Pokerstars listed for you some of the top. Players playing within Pennsylvania can set up real-money cash games or tournaments with others in the state. Or if you want to play with players outside of Pennsylvania, you can do that as well but for play money. PokerStars Home Games are very easy to set up and play, as shown by the following quick guide. Setting Up a Home Game on PokerStars PA.
Updated Jan. 3, 2021 – PokerStars launched in Pennsylvania and has the highest traffic of all regulated poker sites in America. It also hosted the Pennsylvania Online Championship of Poker. This was a huge series with more than $1 million in guaranteed prizes. It took years, but it looks like it was worth the wait for Pennsylvania players.
PokerStars has been running strong in New Jersey since 2016, but it hasn’t reached the size Pennsylvania has. A shared player pool could really kick things up a notch though. We’ll see if success in Pennsylvania leads to PokerStars in more states.
Online Poker in the USA
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Six states have legalized poker. Out of those, four currently have sites up-and-running. Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania. Two more states legalized poker but are still working on setting sites up. West Virginia, legalized it in 2019, but poker sites there aren’t expected to launch until 2021. The same goes for Michigan.
When it comes to PokerStars, only two states have Poker Stars software. PokerStars gained approval to operate in New Jersey in 2015. Their site, pokerstarsnj.com, went live on March 21, 2016. Of course, you have to be physically located in New Jersey to play. It’s play money for all other states. PokerStars NJ also offers casino games like slots, blackjack, roulette and more.
PokerStars then launched in Pennsylvania in late 2019. They kicked things off with the Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker that drew thousands of players and culminated in a $300 buy-in main event with a $100,000-guaranteed prize pool.
If you’re not in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, PokerStars could still come to your state further down the line. If you want to play today though, there are still plenty of great alternatives.
Best PokerStars Alternatives for US Players
We recommend Ignition Poker as the best alternative. A lot of people prefer it to non-state run sites since they accept players from all 50 states. Bovada, BetOnline, SportsBetting, ACR, Black Chip Poker and Intertops also rank highly. As state by state rollouts occur, we will continue to keep you updated on when PokerStars makes it to your state.
Can You Play PokerStars in the USA?
PokerStars is only available if you are physically in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. PokerStars will be in more US states soon though. West Virginia and Michigan are the current front-runners to join the party.
PokerStars, which also owns Full Tilt Poker, is currently owned by The Stars Group, formerly called Amaya Gaming Group and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada. PokerStars is partnered with Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, and their main competition in the state is WSOP/888 and Borgata/PartyPoker. In Pennsylvania, they teamed up with FoxBet, which is the real-money wagering provided by FOX Sports.
While there are poker sits in Delaware and Nevada, but PokerStars has yet to get a license in either state. If you do not live in either New Jersey or Pennsylvania, we recommend Ignition Poker or Betonline.ag. They are safe and trusted sites that service all 50 states. Check out our reviews for a comprehensive look at each poker site. We detail the most important factors to look at when picking a poker site.
Make no mistake. Online poker is legal in the USA. It’s 100% legal for you to play. Don’t have to worry about getting arrested.
How Many Players on Pokerstars?
PokerStars remains the largest poker site on the internet with tens of thousands of players logging in weekly. PokerStars traffic is far superior to any other poker website and it controls over 50% of the market.
The sale of PokerStars has now changed the game in the US market. It is a prerequisite for any online casino that operates with a US license to also have or be partners with a US operated “land-based” casino. PokerStars partnered with Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City, NJ. Unfortunately, PokerStars has struggled with its NJ-based traffic. On the bright side, Pennsylvania has been a traffic bonanza for PokerStars since it launched in late 2019.
PokerStars also made a massive deal with gigantic casino conglomerate Eldorado Resorts, which operates properties across 12 different states. The US government has to be pleased that PokerStars is playing ball and infusing the US market with plenty of cash.
When Will PokerStars Return to the USA?
It kind of already is. If you’re in New Jersey or Pennsylvania, just download the software. If you’re in another state, then you’ll have to wait. Regulated poker has been moving pretty slow. Even then, some states that have legalized it haven’t let PokerStars in. That’s because they have another obstacle. Some important gaming groups in the USA see the brand as a bad actor because it operated without a license in the USA for years.
The brand is still incredibly popular around the world though. The site also paid over an estimated $850 million in fines because of Black Friday. It might take some time, but PokerStars will make its way back to the USA on a broader scale.
Good Faith Will Not Prevail?
While some US states have been reluctant to allow PokerStars back, it should be noted that the company bailed out tens of thousands of American poker players. Full Tilt famously didn’t have funds on hand to repay its players after Black Friday. PokerStars then bought Full Tilt and repaid all its players for millions and millions of dollars.
PokerStars was simply a better-run business and separated their player accounts from operating expenses. It was, therefore, an easy task for PokerStars to immediately pay back its players after they were forced out of the US market in 2011. PokerStars was also better at becoming a global poker business. Most of its player traffic came from outside the USA.
This act of good faith was on top of the hundreds of millions they paid out in penalties to US officials. It was an example of responsible gaming. As more and more casinos based in the USA secure their licenses to operate, PokerStars will likely be entering several of these state-regulated markets.
When Will I Be Able to Play PokerStars in my State?
We have in-depth poker guides for many of the US states that are updated whenever there are changes to state legislation. Unfortunately, there’s no clear-cut guide to when it will be legalized in each US state. For now, it appears that progress will only occur at the state level and a federal online poker bill is still just a pipe dream.
Some states have a higher chance of legalizing and regulating online poker in the near future, however. We keep close track of some of the more progressive states and try to give our readers some insight into which states could be closing in on legalization. You can take a deeper dive into your states specific laws in regards to PokerStars and all poker laws with our state-by-state guides.
Online Poker USA Law State-by-State Guides
You can refer to the legal status of online poker in every US state here:
Alabama – Arizona – Arkansas – California – Colorado – Connecticut – Georgia – Idaho – Iowa – Kansas – Maine – Maryland – Massachusetts – Michigan – Minnesota – Mississippi – Montana – Nebraska – New Hampshire – New Mexico – North Carolina – North Dakota – Ohio – Oklahoma – Pennsylvania – Rhode Island – South Carolina – Tennessee – Vermont – West Virginia – Wyoming
The Entire History of PokerStars in the USA
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PokerStars has a fascinating history in the online poker industry with a substantial portion of it taking place in the USA.
2000s
- Now a billion-dollar, publicly-traded company, PokerStars had rather humble beginnings.
- It began in the early 2000s as a Costa Rican company called Rational Enterprises that was majority-owned by Israeli-Canadian Isai Scheinberg.
- PokerStars was just one of many of the early real-money online poker operators including PartyPoker, Pacific Poker (Now 888poker) and Tropical Poker.
2003 – 2006
- PokerStars’ claim to fame came in 2003 when an accountant named Chris Moneymaker won the WSOP Main Event 2003-2006 Las Vegas after qualifying on the site.
- Moneymaker was the first player to win the Main Event after qualifying online and helped create the so-called “poker boom” of the early 2000s.
- PokerStars quickly became a favorite amongst poker players for its secure deposits, reliable support team and booming cash games.
2006 – 2011
- The poker boom was stifled early on when the US government passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 that led to publicly-traded companies like PartyPoker getting forced to leave the US market altogether.
- UIGEA had the opposite effect on PokerStars because it was a privately-held company, it remained in the US market and quickly took the reins as the most popular online poker site in the world.
2011 – 2016
- The gravy train came to an end in 2011 when the Department of Justice seized the .com addresses of three online poker sites: PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute/UltimateBet.
- Online poker players referred to the day as “Black Friday”. It would be years before PokerStars would be allowed to re-enter the US market.
2016 – Today
- PokerStars continued to flourish on the international market and was purchased by Amaya Gaming in a massive $4.9 billion deal in 2014. Subsequently the first officially licensed online poker sites in the USA start to pop up in 2014.
- New Jersey became the first state to allow PokerStars back in 2016.
- In late 2019 Pennsylvania follows suit and allows PokerStars to officially open its doors to players in the state.
Unfortunately, many other states remain a pipe dream and it will likely be decades before PokerStars is allowed to operate in the entirety of the USA.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and efforts to mitigate the virus’ spread have not only required the closure of all Pennsylvania casinos. The situation has also more or less eliminated the possibility of continuing weekly or monthly home games as well.
On Wednesday night, Governor Tom Wolf and Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine instituted a “stay-at-home” order for all Pennsylvanians, extending the previous order to all 67 counties. The order lasts until the end of April and limits residents to “essential travel.” Click here for a list of allowable activities under the latest stay-at-home order.
Home poker games might seem “essential” to some, but they don’t really qualify as such according to the guidelines. However, Pennsylvania poker players do have a ready option to keep their games going — the Home Games on PokerStars PA.
A classic online poker feature, now available in PA
PokerStars first introduced Home Games on its global site way back in January 2011 as a neat way to set up private games on the site among friends.
Americans who were playing on PokerStars back then might vaguely recall Home Games, having gotten a chance to try them out for a few months before “Black Friday” came and PokerStars left.
Those same Home Games are available on the PokerStars PA client, functioning exactly as they do on the global site. Players playing within Pennsylvania can set up real-money cash games or tournaments with others in the state.
Or if you want to play with players outside of Pennsylvania, you can do that as well but for play money.
PokerStars Home Games are very easy to set up and play, as shown by the following quick guide.
Setting Up a Home Game on PokerStars PA
Setting up a Home Game on PokerStars PA is especially easy to do. Once you’ve logged into your account, look over on the right-hand side of the client where there are shortcuts to “Challenges,” “Leader Boards,” “Settings,” and so on.
At the bottom are three dots indicating “More” choices. Click that and you’ll see “Home Games” as one of those choices, which you’ll want to select.
Having opened up Home Games, the steps from here are fairly straightforward:
- Create a “Poker Club”
- Invite players to join your Home Game
- Create cash games or tournaments
1. Create a “Poker Club”
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After clicking the option to create your club, you’ll need to come up with a Club Name and an Invitation Code.
The Club Name can be anything you like. Feel free to be creative, although know that your Club Name will have to be approved before it can be used.
Meanwhile the Invitation Code is simply a password that will be provided to other players later when you invite them to join your Home Game. Make that as simple or difficult as you like — whatever is appropriate.
Enter those two items, tick the box saying you agree with the terms and conditions, and you’ll see a congratulatory pop-up.
2. Invite players to join your Home Game
Once your club has been created, you can then invite other players to join. You’ll need to give them two pieces of information for them to be able to join.
- the Club ID number (a seven-digit number)
- the Invitation Code (the password you created)
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That’s it. They will then find Home Games, click “Join a Poker Club,” and enter that information to join. As the Club Manager, you have to approve their request to join your Home Game.
As you’ll see, all of this “administrative” work is handled under the “Manage Club” tab on the Home Games page.
3. Create cash games or tournaments
As Club Manager you also are the only one able to set up cash games or tournaments. Click the “Manage Games” tab and choose either “Create a Table” or “Create a Tournament.”
Creating a table means starting a cash game. You can choose the game and variant, set the stakes, and choose how many seats are at the table. If you aren’t in Pennsylvania (or if you are inviting players to participate who aren’t in PA), you will want to set the currency to “Play Money.”
Creating a tournament works similarly, only there you’ll be able to set up all sorts of parameters to create the tournament’s structure. That includes choosing the starting stacks, selecting the game speed and blind intervals, deciding what percentage of players cash, and even how often to have breaks.
With tourneys you can also set the buy-in (with play money again an option), the number of seats per table, the format (e.g., regular, rebuy, knockout, etc.). You also will want to pick a date and time, and you even get to name the tournament.
When you create a cash game or tournament, players in your club all automatically get an email letting them know. You don’t even have to send that regular email to the group — PokerStars Home Game handles it for you.
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Introducing New Twists to the Old Home Game
There are other fun features available to those playing Home Games on the site, including being able to play all the different poker variants that are available.
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Sure, you can just play no-limit hold’em. But you can also play Omaha hi-lo, Badugi, 2-7 Triple Draw, the 8-game mix… you name it.
If your regular home game never ventured too far beyond the no-limit hold’em margins, playing Home Games on PokerStars PA might be your chance to introduce a bit more variety — and you don’t even have to endure the headache of counting out split pots, monitoring a timer to know when to change levels, or even having to deal hands at all.
There’s more to Home Games as well, including the ability to publish announcements, keep track of results, set up regular tournament series with leaderboards, and more.
The best part, though, is being able to stay in touch (as it were) with your poker-playing friends during this time when by necessity we are having to remain apart.