Which works out best for a non US player at the moment? Really like Pokerstars software and structure, but their VIP scheme doesnt seem great unless you can reach at least platinum. Got 35% rakeback at Carbon but not sure what the traffic/games are like. CheersDaniel
You can find a lot of US players in Merge network though they no longer offer rakeback.
Love it
Non USA players should consider PokerStars, Ipoker (we have Betmost up on our Deals page), IPN (we have Redbet up on the Deals Page) and possibly 888.I wouldn't recommend playing most of the US facing sites, as we see what has happened to 2 of the 3 that the US government has gone after (FTP went under and we're still waiting to get paid, UB/AP seems to be liquidating, pennies on the dollar is likely for players there).That doesn't mean these sites are unsafe, but they are clearly a degree or two riskier than playing on a site that doesn't offer play to US players.And given that the games on Merge or Bodog aren't any softer or higher volume than many of those non US facing sites that I named, there's just no good reason for non US players to be playing there, unless they just want a little extra action here or there.We offer Black Chip signup on Merge, and you can get up to 47% rakeback I believe, depending on your VIP situation, and another 8-13% with deposit bonus (if you're low volume, your 35% Carbon account will be your best deal on Merge, if you're high volume, our Black Chip offer should surpass that quite a bit and you can start an account on Black Chip within the Merge Network rules even if you have an account somewhere else).I would still recommend non US players to play on Ipoker or IPN or of course PokerStars.Opinions against what I've said are welcome, I'm happy to debate the important variables for non US players, as I know some people (affiliates) specifically target non US players for the US facing sites and don't really give them the entire story (example: poker news sites that are primarily funded by US facing site advertisements).This also doesn't mean US facing sites are bad people or crooks (some are crooked, bad people, some are great additions to the industry), there's just a real added risk facing their operations that the non US facing sites don't have.Cliffs - While Merge has the highest US facing traffic and soft players play there regularly, it's no softer than a site like IPN or Ipoker likely is, and sites like Ipoker and PokerStars in particular, just have many multiples more traffic than these sites. Also, there is some added risk to be playing on sites that offer poker to USA players, most likely in the form of the site operations (which, as we saw in FTP and UB's case, can extend into player funds). Pokerscout.com is a great indicator of overall poker room traffic (Note: While Party Poker is 2nd or 3rd there usually in traffic, their HUSNGs rake 10% rake up to $10, so anything below the $100 level is raked about twice the market rate, making it a bad deal).
Thank you very much for your detailed reply. Much appreciated!