Americas Cardroom Review

It’s America’s Cardroom but it uses a “.eu” domain. Yes, they don’t sound like the right pair but that’s just how Americas Cardroom is. Of course it shouldn’t be a serious issue that can be used against this gambling site. We’re just not sure if they adopted the domain name to avoid legal troubles or they just had no other choice because others have already registered similar domain names under the more preferable domain name suffixes.

Anyway, Americas Cardroom is one of the serious players in the online gambling space.  It has existed since 2001 and has evolved over the years. It now touts itself as the “most trusted US poker room.” This is not something we would easily believe as we do this Americas Cardroom review but we can’t quickly shrug off the more compelling claims this gambling site has. These claims are as follows:  fast payouts, fair play, account and transaction security, action-packed tournaments, and hundreds of thousands of hands played everyday.

Americas Cardroom is mainly a poker site with an eventful history. It started as the poker room for online sportsbook Betcris. This poker room was known as the first licensee for the Dobrosoft gaming software. However, after a few years, Dobrosoft and Americas Cardroom parted ways. Americas Cardroom, later on, was removed from the Ongame Network after the passing of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006. It led to the eventual retirement of the Americas Cardroom brand. However, Americas Cardroom was resurrected after the online poker room DoylesRoom was acquired by the Winning Poker Network. Former DoylesRoom owner Doyle Brunson insisted to have his name taken out of the sold DoylesRoom brand so Winning Poker Network needed a new brand name and decided to use Americas Cardroom.

Find out if Americas Cardroom is the right site you should be spending your bitcoins with by reading further into our Americas Cardroom review.

Download Required

Unfortunately, playing on Americas Cardroom is not web-based. There’s a need to download and install an 18.9 MB installer software to be able to play.

Once the software is installed, you need to launch the software and register for an account. The process is similar to how it is done with other online casinos. Just find the Create Account button on the installed software. It’s a brief process that involves an email validation code. The validation code email usually arrives quickly so you should be able to create an account in a matter of around 15 to 20 seconds. Just bear in mind that you have copy the code and paste it on the Americas Cardroom software. You can’t simply click on a link to verify your email in the same way you would with web-based casinos.

Americas Cardroom’s user interface is intuitive enough but it may not be that easy to figure out for those who are completely new to playing online poker. Newbies might quickly learn the ropes but it may take time to make the most out of the options available or to efficiently work with the interface.

The Games

It should already be easy to find the games available on Americas Cardroom. They are shown on the topmost tabs: Hold Em, Omaha, Jackpots, Tourney, Sit & Go, Casino, and Sports. The first two are the cash games. Jackpots, Tourney, and Sit & Go are tournaments. The last two are of course self-explanatory.

Americas Cardroom conveniently provides a tutorial Youtube video so players can quickly get acquainted with the software’s interface and different options.

We will no longer be going into the details of the different games in the different sections for this Americas Cardroom review. We will just point out the highlight or the specific games players should watch out for or consider paying more attention.

• Americas Cardroom features fast-paced Jackpot Poker Sit & Go tournaments with a 500-chip starting stack and 3-minute levels.
• There’s a Sunday Special Tournament that provides $115,000 in prizes. This is claimed to be the biggest Sunday major offered by any US facing site.
• There’s also a PLO (Pot Limit Omaha) Sunday Special which now has a $35,000 prize pool. This prize pool increases by $2,000 every week.
• For hardcore poker players, there’s The Cage to satisfy your quest for high stakes excitement. The Cage is a multi-table time-based cash game featuring a $1,000+50 buy-in. The buy-in results in 1,000 chips with real dollar value (1 chip =  $1). It lasts for 5 hours. The blinds increase with every level advancement.
• Americas Cardroom features two rake races: The Beast and Sit & Crush. The Beast is a weekly progressive poker points race that costs nothing for players to enter. Sit & Crush, on the other hand, is a weekly progressive sit & go race that allows players to earn thousands in winnings and tournament entries.
• Americas Cardroom as 10 big guaranteed tournaments everyday, including weekends. These tournaments guarantee $300 to $15,000 in prizes per day, not inclusive of the $50,000 weekly guarantee.
• There are also “turbo” tournaments which feature 10 fast-paced tournaments everyday from 2:30 PM to 11:30 PM EST, offering large amounts of guarantees.

Americas Cardroom Software

The software currently used is said to be based on Dobrosoft but there are some online sources that say it uses an updated Yatahay software. There’s nothing striking or flashy about this software but it gets the job done and there are great features in tow. These features include CAP tables, synchronized breaks, preferred seating, raise methodology, on-demand tournaments, multi-tabbing, knock out tournaments, straddle tables, late registration, auto top-up, auto buy-in, and a bonusing system.

Overall, the software can be considered above average or even good. The graphics may not be excellent but they’re more than passable and should not be a hindrance in enjoying the games. The live chat feature is also integrated in the software so players don’t have to go to the site just to use the live chat feature.

The lists of active and waiting players have been combined in Americas Cardroom’s new software. This is arguably a better way of presenting the player lists as it is easier to see the players you would want to play with and those who are next in line. It’s a great way for choosing the right game for you.

Multiple windows are opened when accessing different games, something we prefer as compared to those software that open everything on the same window.

Moreover, there are new ring game filters in the new software. These filters let you look for the exact type of cash game that fits your preferences by simply clicking on the box of the desired game.

Mobile-Friendly But Not

Americas Cardroom has a mobile-friendly website that adjusts its layout and the amounts of content shown based on the size of the display of the device used to load it. It also has an Android mobile app although it’s not intended for gaming. It only provides information regarding tournaments. Basically, although Americas Cardroom’s website is mobile-friendly, we cannot consider it mobile-friendly in this Americas Cardroom review because it involves the downloading and installation of a desktop software. There is no app available for actual playing. The downloadable desktop software does not have a corresponding mobile app version.

Fiat Currency and Bitcoins Accepted on Americas Cardroom

Americas Cardroom mainly uses dollars and has already started accepting bitcoins. All the amounts used in the games are expressed in dollars. When using bitcoins, the BTCs are converted to dollars.

Deposits are done through different methods. These include credit and debit cards, Western Union, and bitcoins. Deposits through Green Dot and Netspend prepaid cards are also accepted on Americas Cardroom. The minimum deposit amounts and the charges vary depending on the payment method used. We recommend contacting customer support first before making deposits to be properly guided throughout the process.

For cash outs, Americas Cardroom offers a variety of options. There’s the option to request for a debit card that works at all US ATMs although there’s a quite high charge of $40 involved (for the debit card) and a $4.95 fee for every debit card withdrawal and $3 for every instance of using the debit card. Debit card withdrawal requests usually take around 2 business days.

Up to $2,500 in withdrawals may be requested per week and up to $10,000 per month.

Withdrawals made through Western Union are charged quite high fees. A withdrawal of $100 to $299 for example, is charged $60. The higher amounts of $1,000 to $1.500, though, have a proportionately lower fee at $110.

Taking these into account, it’s obvious that bitcoin is the more viable currency option to use.

Americas Cardroom Bonuses, Rewards, and Rakeback

There are number of bonuses, rewards, and other promos are available on Americas Cardroom. Here’s a summary:

• 100% first deposit bonus of up to $1.000 in freeroll and $50 free tournament bucks
• 10$ Freerolls on Demand
• 27% weekly rakeback
• Sit & Crush promotions
• Elite Benefits program that includes exclusive entries to live events and cash bonuses

Just a short note: this is actually not how the bonuses and rewards are presented on the Americas Cardroom website. The bonuses/rewards listed above, along with some games and tournaments, are collectively labeled as Promotions. We are presenting them in this way to make them somehow consistent with our typical presentation of online casino bonuses and rewards. We provide brief discussions for the games or tournaments (under Americas Cardroom Promotions as shown in the image below) under the games section of this Americas Cardroom review.

The deposit bonus clears at a 27.5 points (Award Points) for each $1 of bonus money. This bonus is released incrementally (at $1 for every increment). The expiration period is 40 days. Award Points are earned each time a player pays for rake at cash games or tournaments (5.5 Award Points per %1 rake).

Freerolls are available 24/7. It is a great way to start at Americas Cardroom without having to spend real money yet. Americas Cardroom encourages players to play with freerolls for the chance to earn  a tourney entry by being in the top 10 of the ACR Freeroll Leaderboard. The player who tops this leaderboard gets a better prize – $270 worth of tournament entries.

The rakeback is calculated using through the “contributed method,” wherein the amount paid by the player is compared to the total amount of rakes collected during the week. Hence, the rakeback given is proportionate to the rake paid. However, there are rakeback deductions imposed, which are the 7% deducted for fees, bonuses, and promotions availed ($27 deducted for every $100 in promotions availed).

The Sit & Crush promotions allow players to win extra cash by playing at sit-n-go games.

Tri-Channel Customer Support

Americas Cardroom offers comprehensive customer support. It has a toll free telephone number (1-877-314-4195). It provides live chat support that can be accessed through a button at the Customer Support page or through the persistent Live Chat button on the right side of all pages. Lastly, there’s email support through an online form at the Customer Support page. Just take note that you will have to send a message through this online form NOT by clicking on a Submit or Send button but by dragging an arrow button.

Customer support is available 24/7.

Designed for US Players

Americas Cardroom clearly indicates on its website that it accepts players from the United States. In fact, its payouts and deposits are particularly designed for players in the United States. The site is not open to all states, though (only available in 43 out of the 50).

Rigorous Security System But Without Anonymity Guarantee

Americas Cardroom takes pride in its security system. It implements banking-level security using SSL and 256-bit encryption. Deposits are stored in a separate bank account that is only made to transactions involving the players and games. Americas Cardroom claims that every table is monitored by security professionals to make sure that no collusion happens. The site prevents different accounts who share the same IP address to play at the same table.

Unfortunately, for those who value their anonymity while doing online gambling, Americas Cardroom may not be the best option. The nature of the deposit and withdrawal transactions do not guarantee anonymity. While withdrawals are generally quickly handled,

Get Acquainted with Americas Cardroom through the Following Pages

If you have questions about Americas Cardroom, be sure to drop by the Frequently Asked Questions section as your inquiry may already have an answer posted here. Also, don’t forget to read the site’s Terms and Conditions to avoid violating rules, policies, or guidelines. If you want to know more about the Americas Cardroom software, there’s a Software Features. You can also visit Americas Cardroom’s blog and social media pages for updates or to contact them:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Youtube

Pros and Cons

Pros

• 24/7 customer support
• Chat facility for all players available at any poker table
• US players accepted
• Live chat, telephone, and email support provided
• Soft competition
• Rakeback program

Cons

• Software download required
• Not mobile-friendly
• Games are not provably fair