America's Cardroom: A Real Player's Must-Read In-Depth Review - Automatic Poker (2024)

If you aren’t quite sure whether you should take the leap and play on America’s Cardroom, don’t worry. I have played over a million hands there and will help you make an informed decision.

What is America’s Cardroom like? Found on the Winning Poker Network, America’s Cardroom (ACR) is a legit US friendly poker site that has arguably the most lucrative reward system in the world. ACR is perfect for those who want to play a lot of volume and maximize the reward system. Lucrative promotions include the Beast, Sit & Crush, and VIP rank points. Players may also opt for a flat 27% rakeback.

This ACR veteran’s in-depth review should help you decide whether or not America’s Cardroom is right for you.

What is America’s Cardroom?

America’s Cardroom is based out of San José,CostaRica and is on the Winning Poker Network. The site is well-known for being a copycat poker room based on the model developed by Pokerstars.

When ACR was incorporated into the Winning Poker Network in 2011, it adopted the Pokerstars VIP “Supernova” model along with all the skins on the network. This was a pretty smart approach since there were tons of Americans who had just been dumped from Pokerstars due to Black Friday and were looking for another place to play. ACR and WPN filled this void.

However, America’s Cardroom also offers the option of choosing 27% rakebackwhich is a much better deal unless you are an extremely high volume player. You can choose whichever option you want when you sign up.

If you are a Pokerstars “refugee” and want to recapture the feel of the good old days, then America’s Cardroom is a really good option for you. However, just keep in mind that the level of play, like on Stars, is a bit tougher than you will find on other US sites.

Even so, the ample rewards help make up a bit for the lack of softness. If you prefer to play against more fish then I recommend trying Ignition or BetOnline.

America’s Cardroom at a glance:

• Banking: Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Bitcoin, Crypto, WU
• Software: PC, MAC, Mobile
• Games: Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Stud
• Min Cash Buy-In: 40bb min Std, 30bb min CAP
• Fish Rating: 3/10
• Sign Up Bonus: Yes. <Check Latest Bonus Amount>
• Rakeback: 27% or VIP
• Summary: The Highesttraffic, biggest rewards, and most challenging games in the US.

Site Ratings

In order to clarify the strengths and weaknesses of America’s Cardroom, I assigned a rating from 1 to 10 on seven important considerations.

Overall rating= 7.57/10

What does the software look like?

The software balanced functionality and aesthetics.

How is America’s Cardroom?

What makes America’s Cardroom stand out is the nostalgia I get when I play there. Back in the day, I was a Supernova player on Stars. In fact, I was 1/4 of the way to getting Supernova Elite the year that Black Friday occurred. Denied!

The feel of the software on ACR is not exactly like Pokerstars but is smooth and functional in a similar way. The tables are easy to resize and setup for multi-tabling and I have no trouble setting up my Table Tamer hotkeys. Everything works much smoother on this site than it does anywhere else.

I really love the fact that there is enough traffic on the site that I can pop up 24 cash game tables during a large portion of the day and get my mass multi-tabling fix. By the way, if you love to grind out a ton of rakeback and rewards, ACR is the place for you.

America’s Cardroom Summarized Details:

• The speed of games can be slow at times due to the saturation of multi-tablers, but it isn’t a deal breaker. You can just play one more table and get the hands per hour you desire.
• The Winning Poker Network is #1 in traffic in the US and 10th worldwide.
• There is cash game traffic up 1000NL. 2000NL or higher even runs occasionally.
• The MTT schedule is loaded with high guarantees. There are a couple of tournaments series that runs every year to keep the hardcore tournament grinders happy.
• The deposit bonus is good but you only get 60 days to release it.
• Payout options are improving for Americans. The Bitcoin makes things really easy.
• No major scandals appear to have ever happened on the Winning Poker Network.

Why Play On America’s Cardroom?

Besides the great rewards system, I play on ACR because the micro-stakes are still soft enough to build up a bankroll and test out a variety of different play styles while I hone my game. I know that if I can beat as high as 50NL on America’s Cardroom, then 100NL or 200NL will be a cakewalk on the softer American sites.

I also like the fact that HUD use is not restricted at all. While this does make the games tougher due to the massive databases that many regs have, I love to use statistics to formulate plans versus my opponents. ACR gives me that ability.

So, if you have ambitions to be one of the best and want to go prove it; America’s Cardroom is the place to play. Just like Pokerstars, the best players do seem to play there.

If you are a tournament player, you basically have two good options in the US. If you want softer games in an anonymous atmosphere, play on Ignition. But if you want to be a part of the highest guarantees and battle the best players for that big score, go with ACR.

America’s Cardroom Complaints

Actually, if you take ACR for what it is, there really is not much room to complain. While I definitely see some room for improvement, they do a very good job of meeting the needs of their clients.

What I mean by this is that the Winning Poker Network is built around being the “Pokerstars” home for US players since Black Friday. In order to do this, they have to offer a few things that could be viewed as negative by some. These include:

• Waitlists are something that hardcore players demand but also clog up the client and make it difficult to find seats with soft players.
• Notmovingtowardtherecreationalmodel by going anonymous or cracking down on HUDs is something WPN has consciously chosen to do. While this move would certainly improve the poker economy, it would also violate the core principle of their poker model which is completely built around the desires of high volume regulars who love tracking players and using HUD stats to their advantage.
• Having a high max number of tables is another feature that high volume players love but the 4-tabling non-robotic crowd dislikes. I actually think that the number should be taken down to 16 as a compromise, but am fine either way. I like to mass multi-table sometimes and don’t want that ability hindered.
• Cutting down re-entry time for tournaments would certainly go a long way toward improving the tournaments and making them less of a marathon. I guess the higher payouts make it worth it, but who has time to play an MTT for 10 hours? No thanks.

How Soft Are The Games?

Overall, the games are tougher on ACR than the other options available to Americans. Let’s look at the different formats and discuss the nature of the games.

How Soft Are the Cash Games?

Above 10NL, the games get exponentially harder every time you move up. Even the micro-stakes are laughably tight. I recently rebuilt a bankroll on ACR and was flabbergasted at how the games had changed over the past 3 or 4 years.

Almost all of the open limping has mostly disappeared even as low as 2NL! That being said, the players are still pretty bad.. but in a different kind of way. They are more weak tight but still not very good post-flop. I still can’t get over the disparity between the micros on ACR and the other US sites.

I actually recommend just playing on ACR until you can beat 50NL and then moving on to Ignition or BetOnline to try to move up to 100NL and beyond. The rewards simply won’t make up for the lower win-rate at that point.

How Soft Are the Tournaments?

If you are a serious tournament player you will have no trouble having a decent ROI on ACR. The fields are rather large and there is plenty of fish to be found. This site is a really good option for a full-time tournament player.

The tournament series held on ACR , such as OSS Cub3d, are especially lucrative and known for their softness. The bad players come out of the woodwork to try and get that one big score.

However, Jackpot SNGs are extremely reg heavy and difficult to beat. I am not saying they are not profitable, you just have to play an insane amount of volume to make any money. Regular SNGs, when they actually run, are very tough as well.

Is America’s Cardroom Profitable?

I know I have painted a rather grim picture when it comes to the state of affairs on the Winning Poker Network. Even so, I want to stress that the games are definitely still beatable. In order to write a more accurate review, I just played there over the last few months to test how the games are.

I am by no means the best player in the world, but I was able to go from a $50 bankroll up to $400 in just under 30,000 hands. I started at 2NL and worked my way up to 25NL at the end. I did this by focusing on playing no more than 8 tables and just relying on a fundamentally strong core strategy.

Here are my positional stats for the tests I did.

For comparison sake, once I hit $400 I went ahead and moved the money to Global Poker where I was able to go from $400 to $1,200 in less than 3 weeks. I found the quality of play to definitely be better on ACR, but not to the point where you feel like you are getting crushed. The players play badly on either site, especially post-flop.

While the cash games are easy to beat only up to a certain stake, the MTTs on America’s Cardroom are beatable all the way to the highest stakes. Apparently, there are still plenty of fish who like to dabble in tournaments.

How Many Players Are on America’s Cardroom?

The traffic on US sites still lags a bit behind the rest of the world. There is still a pervasive myth out there among Americans that online poker is illegal. However, the top three sites that allow US players still have plenty of traffic to keep the grinders happy.

Currently, there is some debate as to whether the Winning Poker Network (WPN) is #1 or whether it is Ignition. It’s actually really difficult to know for sure since Ignition is anonymous and you can’t really see how many games are running.

Based on my experience, I think that they are likely about equal. I only give WPN a slight edge because of their beginner tournament GTDs. The bigger guaranteed tournaments indicate that there is a large player pool to draw from.

However, this does not necessarily mean that the cash game traffic is smaller on Ignition. The fact is, nobody knows. I guess it doesn’t really matter since they both have ample traffic and are built around two completely different poker site models.

When Are the Peak Traffic Times on ACR?

Since America’s Cardroom caters mostly to US players, the games tend to peak during the times that Americans can be involved in leisure activities. This means evening US times on most days.

• The peak traffic time on ACR is therefore typically between 9 PM and Midnight, Eastern time.

According to pokerscout.com, the usual 24 hr peak is between 1,000 and 1,200 players.

During peak times you should have no trouble pulling up 20 to 24 tables of any stakes up to 100NL. As for tournaments, there are typically between 100 and 300 players in each event during the day and then upwards of 2,000 for the low buy-in guarantees during peak times. The higher buy-in tournaments almost always get more than 500 entrants.

Here are some results from early February of 2019, to give you an idea of how many players enter tournaments:

Which Cash Game Format Has the Most Traffic?

Without a doubt, 6-max cash games get the most players on a daily basis. In fact, it’s very difficult for a full ring player to get more than two or three tables up at a time.

I think 6-max dominates because most of the poker teaching (mine included) has been specifically directed toward 6-max games. The increased skill needed to navigate these games makes playing 9-max seem like a cakewalk.

I guess people got so used to learning 6-max games that they just continue to play that format during their sessions.

Game Limits

For NL Hold’em, the lowest limit is 2NL and the biggest game is 10,000NL. High stakes run surprisingly often on ACR.

Which Tournament Format Has the Most Traffic?

I am pretty sure that Jackpot single table games get more traffic than any other format on ACR. These games fill up really quickly and only take a few minutes to play. Due to the fast nature, there are likely thousands of these games played every day.

What Are the Deposit Options?

Depositing on America’s Cardroom is as easy as it’s been over the last few years. There are now more options, even American Express was added recently. Most credit card transactions are instantaneous while Bitcoin can take a bit longer.

Here are the current deposit options available to US players:

• Visa/Mastercard/Amex – There is some danger of the card being declined. If Bitcoin isn’t an option, give ACR a call at 1-877-314-4195 and they will help you get money on the site.
• Bitcoin – The easiest way to move money to and from the poker site.
• Cryptocurrency – I just counted. There are 44 different active non-Bitcoin cryptocurrencies accepted.
• Ria Money Transfer – This option was recently added. It’s very similar to Western Union or Moneygram.
• Western Union/Moneygram – This is usually a last resort for players if no other option is available.
• Player-to-Player Transfer – You can even still receive the welcome package on your first player-to-player transfer. This is really a last resort option if you exhaust all other possibilties.

Deposit options are subject to change, please check the website for the latest methods.

What Are the Deposit Limits and Fees?

Note, that if Ria or another cash transfer method charges a fee, sometimes ACR will be willing to pay the fee for you. The more you deposit, the more likely they will pay it.Don’tforgettoask.

How Fast Do Deposits Get into My Account?

Credit card deposits happen the fastest, usually going through in just a few seconds. However, if you have any type of fraud alert service with your bank or credit card company, the transaction will likely be declined. You then have to call the bank and tell them to approve the transaction. That is why I prefer Bitcoin, to avoid the hassle.

I have had around 20 Bitcoin transactions of varying amounts with America’s Cardroom over the years. I have never had a problem and they almost always go through within a couple of hours and sometimes just a few minutes

Does America’s Cardroom Accept PayPal?

Unfortunately, America’s Cardroom nor any other major poker site currently takes PayPal. I hope that one day it will be an option, since it will make things really easy.

Global Poker did experiment with PayPal. Sadly, they took away the option in mid-2018.

Does America’s Cardroom Accept Bitcoin?

All cryptos are accepted at ACR. For the least amount of hassle, I recommend Bitcoin. (Click here to earn $10 free for using Bitcoin)

Here are the other cryptocurrencies that are accepted:

Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ether, Dash, Ripple, Eos, ZCash, Dogecoin, Komodo, Digibyte, Stellar, Cardano, Tron, Augur, Salt, Qtum, Bitcoin Gold, Gnosis, Decred, RCN, LBRY Credits, Potcoin, district0x, OmiseGo, Basic Attention Token, Swarm City, WeTrust, Tether, Edgeless, Aragon, Bancor, Wings, List, Civic, Maidsafe, Mathpool, NEM, Numeraire, Nxt, Golem, GameCredits, iExec, Storj

How Safe is My Money?

You are smart for being concerned with how money is management by a poker site. This is true especially after the big Full Tilt scandal which put a huge dent in the confidence of the entire poker playing population.

If not for Pokerstars buying out full tilt and refunding a lot of the “lost” funds, who knows where we would be.

ACR uses segregated accounts to hold the money owned by the players these funds are set aside and never used for operational expenses. That way, it keeps things honest and a player’s bankroll intact no matter how well the business does.

The bottom line is that ACR is perhaps the biggest and most reputable poker us-facing poker site. If you can’t trust your money with them, you really can’t trust it anywhere.

How Does America’s Cardroom Payout?

You have multiple options for withdrawing money from America’s Cardroom:

• Bitcoin
• Cryptocurrency
• Cash Transfer
• Bank Draft

Payout options are subject to change, please check the website for the latest methods.

How Long Do Payouts Generally Take?

America’s Cardroom payouts happen extremely fast. Nearly all requested are processed within 24 hours. Once again, for the fastest possible service, I recommend Bitcoin. (Click here to earn $10 free for using Bitcoin)>

Are There Any Withdrawal Fees?

The fee schedule is as follows:

Fee schedule subject to change. Be sure to check the site for any updates to payout options.

You might notice that ACR did away with sending out checks. In my opinion, this is fine as it is the least efficient and slowest way to get your money. However, if you contact them directly, I bet they would still send you a check if it was absolutely necessary in your case.

How is the customer service?

Over the years, I have only had positive interactions with the support team at America’s Cardroom. They offer quick solutions to just about any issue and if the person on the phone can’t handle it, they will elevate you to a manager quickly.

I remember one time that I was having issues with my bonuses clearing properly. I had put in a whole lot of volume and the dang thing was just not budging. Within 5 minutes they had not only fixed the issue, but had credited me with an extra $10 just for the trouble.

I am not saying you will get free money every time you contact support, but it’s obvious they want to take care of their customers. Especially the ones that generate a lot of rake.

How Do I Contact America’s Cardroom?

There are three options available for getting in touch with the customer service at ACR. You can either chat with them online, give them a call, or send an email. Just be aware that email response and resolution times can vary wildy between a couple of hours and a couple of days.

I recommend first trying the online chat, which has proven to be just as good as talking to a live person in my opinion.

Here is their contact information:

Live Chat

• Go to the America’s Cardroom website and then click the red “Live Chat” button on the side of the screen.

Phone

• 1-877-314-4195

Email

• support@americascardroom.eu

How Does the America’s Cardroom Bonus Work?

Like any other site, ACR offers a rather large initial deposit bonus. Unfortunately, very few players will be able to clear the maximum bonus. The release rates are just too slow and you only have a certain amount of time to clear it. America’s Cardroom gives you 60 days.

The main purpose of any bonus from a poker room, is to give you a higher hourly rate during that initial period when you are first building up your bankroll.

You Get a 200% Bonus If You Deposit with a Cryptocurrency

This was a recently added change that shows you how much ACR likes to get deposits with Bitcoin or one of the other cryptos. Now, you can get the full $1,000 bonus by only depositing $500.

Really, while this deal sounds good it really doesn’t help a player who is actually capable of clearing the entire thing. It is highly unlikely that a $500 deposit is going to have the necessary bankroll to play a stake high enough and with enough volume to be able to clear even half the deposit, much less the entire thing.

Regardless of this issue, I still thought it was worth mentioning.

How Easy Is It to Clear the Deposit Bonus?

As you know, it’s very difficult to clear even a significant portion of the $1,000 deposit bonus. Even so, here are the details regarding how the clearing of it takes place.

Once you make your deposit, you have 60 days to clear as much of the bonus as you can. The bonus releases in $5 increments based on how much rake you pay. For every 27.5 Award Points you earn, $1 of the bonus is released.

It’s actually kind of hard to do the math, but it appears that the ACR bonus will add somewhere between $.75 and $2.00 to your hourly rate per table.

Are There Any Tips on Clearing the Bonus Faster?

It really all depends on what style of poker you play and how much rake you generate. A really tight player will benefit less from the bonus while a super aggressive maniac will maximize the release rate.

In my experience, while playing 8 tables, I was able to clear about $5 a day at 50NL. Even with quite a bit of volume, this is still only 1/3 of the full bonus.

I recommend not changing your style of play just to clear a bonus faster. In fact, forget the bonus and just pretend like it isn’t there. Chasing bonuses have caused a lot of players to go broke really quickly.

What About the Clearance Rate for Tournament Players?

If you thought it was tough for cash game players to clear the bonus, triple that difficulty for MTT players. You only get a small amount of Award points for the amount of the buy-in that goes to the poker room. So if the tournament is a $10 + $1, then you only get points for the $1 portion of the buy-in.

So unless you mass-table $30 buy-in or higher SNGs, you likely have little chance of clearing the full but. However, it’s not a big deal not to get the whole thing knocked out. Just play your best poker and enjoy the slightly higher hourly rate during your first 60 days on the site.

Once you have been on the site for awhile and built a substantial bankroll, you will be better equipped to knock out future reload bonuses should they be offered.

Check Latest Bonus Offers (Link to site bonus page)

Is America’s Cardroom Legit or Rigged?

There have been a few claims about cheating over the years, most notably in 2018 by a player named “Chicago Joey” who claims to have exposed widespread cheating and botting on the Winning Poker Network.

It is true, that last year I received a small amount of money in my account which I understood was a payout from confiscated funds from cheaters. To me, this means something was done about the issue and WPN is continuing to try hard to maintain the highest security in their games.

Here is the video on the “scandal” posted by the accuser. To me, it sounds like a bunch of rambling about nothing but you decide for yourself.

I recently won at 8bb/100 at 25NL and below. I find it hard to believe that I could have that kind of win-rate if the games were full of these amazing winner bots.

How Is America’s Cardroom Legal?

ACR is not legal as much as it is not illegal. Save for a few states, there are no laws on the books that prohibit Americans from playing online poker. In fact, the only thing that is against the law is for a U.S. bank to do business with a gambling website.

As long as you play on a legit site, like ACR, and pay taxes on your poker winnings, there is nothing shady or illegal about playing one of the greatest games ever invented in the United States.

Even the notion of a nationwide ban on a game that is played by nearly half of the population at some point seems laughable to me. Too many Americans love playing cards for it to be banned!

Is America’s Cardroom Regulated?

ACR is licensed in Cyprus by the Cyprus gaming authority. Even so, reputation is much more important than who oversees the license.

The Winning Poker Network has a nearly flawless reputation when it comes to treating its customers right, paying out in a timely fashion, and self-regulating the quality of the play on the site.

Are There Bots on America’s Cardroom?

The one mini-scandal that was brought to light by Chicago Joey revolved around an alleged ring of bots that were invading the games on WPN. If this actually did occur, I am not that worried about it.

I have said it many times in the past that bots are only really able to beat the lowest micro-stakes. In fact, they will beat the fish for less money than the regulars will. If you think about it that way, the bots are actually not necessarily a bad thing.

I am not saying I am promoting that bots be on poker sites, far from it. I just think that there will always be cheaters or people who attempt to cheat. And, until they are proven to actually be a serious threat then there is no reason to lose sleep over it at night.

What Random Number Generator Is Used?

ACR and the Winning Poker Network has its own random number generator (RNG) that is frequently tested by an independent organization called iTech Labs.

iTech labs is ISO/IEC 18025 certified as a legitimate testing laboratory for online poker or gaming websites. They have been in business and certifying a wide range of clients for well over 10 years.

ACR has met the highest standard for generating statistically viable random values when its cards are dealt at the tables. For more information on iTech, go to https://www.itechlabs.com.au/

What Countries Are Excluded From Playing On America’s Cardroom?

Play is currently restricted from only the following countries:

Sweden, Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Mayotte, Réunion, Martinique, France, Spain, Italy, Turkey

Can People in Every State Play in the United States?

Every US state can play on ACR except for the following:

• Kentucky
• Maryland
• New Jersey
• Delaware
• Nevada
• Washington State

How Are the Tournaments on America’s Cardroom?

Overall, the tournaments at America’s Cardroom are outstanding. In fact, I would give the site a 10 out of 10 rating if it wasn’t for the extremely long unlimited re-entry period.

I can understand why these insanely long re-entry periods were added. They did it to be able to inflate the size of their guaranteed tournament amounts.

Unfortunately, the extended re-entry period detracts from the experience enough to make me want to only play on Ignition Poker when I want to grind multi-table tournaments.

ACR MTTs are just too much of a time sink for my taste. I would much rather play in more smaller guaranteed tournaments rather than just a few big ones that take way too many hours to complete.

However, if you don’t mind the tournaments taking a long time, there is a ton of value in playing them if you have the correct strategy for playing the re-entry periods.

Here are the tournament schedule highlights:

• Almost $4 Million in weekly guaranteed tournaments.
• A daily high roller event with a $530 buy-in
• A daily 25k guaranteed with a $215 buy-in
• Two large Sunday tournaments with a 150,000 or high guaranteed payout
• An ongoing extra special themed tournament lineups for each day of the week: Manic Mondays, Extreme Tuesdays, High Stakes Wednesdays, Phat Thursdays, Friday Fun, Saturday Super Series, and Sunday Mania
• A large series every year called OSS Cub3ed (Click the link the see when the next series occurs)

I really like the way they theme each day of the week. This is a great feature to help break the monotony of hardcore MTT grinders. Just writing this makes me want to get back into playing tournaments.

The Cage

The cage is a time-based MTT that has a buy-inof $1,050. Once the event has been running for exactly 5 hours, it ends. Chips are worth real money and are converted to cash for all remaining players at the end.

Here are the Cage details:

• Play on 6-max tables
• Starting stack is 1,000 chips
• 5-hour event
• 55 minutes levels

Blind Levels

The Playpen

The Playpen is basically just a mini version of the Cage. Here are the key differences:

• 60 minutes long
• $10.50 buy-in
• Only four 13-minute levels
• You start with 1,000 chips worth 1 penny apiece

The Sunday Venom

In July of 2019 ACR will be holding the biggest ever online tournament for a US facing poker site. The Sunday Venom will have a $2,650 buy-in with a $5 Guaranteed prize pool. First place will be at least $1 million.

There are several ways to get into this huge tournament:

1. Buy in directly
2. Play in steps tournaments found in the ACR client
3. Play in one of the satellites taking place in the weeks leading up to the event.

I am really tempted to grind the steps tournaments to try and get a cheap seat into this historic event. For more information check out the dedicated Venom webpage.

What Are the Satellites like on ACR?

There are a ton of satellites offered on America’s Cardroom. This is especially true around the time of their big tournament series.

My favorite type of satellite are the step tournaments. I remember making it to the highest step once. My fingers were shaking like a leaf when we got down to the last 4 people. I ended up taking over $1,000 for the event, after only investing about $10! Needless to say, I was thrilled.

Does America’s Cardroom Have Freerolls?

ACR has one of the most generous freeroll offers out there. They have something called “freerolls on demand.”

Instead of scheduling freerolls for specific times, they basically a multi-table sit and go system to start the events. Here are some more details:

• The freerolls begin when at least 270 people have registered
• There are 30 minutes of late registration for each event
• Wait times for each event are typically 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the time of day

Here is where you find the freerolls and what they look like.

New Depositor Freeroll

When you sign up for ACR, you are eligible to play in the $250 new depositor freeroll, which is scheduled for every Saturday at 12:05 PM ET.

Starting a Bankroll Challenge with Freerolls Would Be Fun

In 2018 I did my Spare Change Challenge, where I found change around the house and then used it to grind up a $4,000 bankroll in cash games over a few months.

I think it would be really fun and challenging to do something similar, except start with $0 and grind up the bankroll playing tournaments. If I decide to do it I will document it on YouTube. Anyone interested in seeing that, please comment.

Are There Ever Overlays?

Overlays almost never happen on America’s Cardroom. Most of the time, the guaranteed is exceeded by 10% to 20%. The only time you will ever have a chance to see an overlay is in some of the big events, like the 1,000,000 guaranteed.

How Are the Sit and Go Games?

If you are a micro or small-stakes SNG player, you will have no trouble getting enough volume. However, once you get far above the $20 level the games are hit or miss.

I recommend that you learn to play the heads-up hyper turbos, they run at all stakes pretty much constantly. I even see games running at the $500 buy-in level. However, beware of the sharks.

Are There Jackpot SNGs?

Jackpot poker is alive and well on America’s Cardroom. There are four different buy-in levels to choose from: $2, $10, $25, and $40. You can either have the client register in a particular number of Jackpots to play sets of them, or you can use something called the Maximizer.

What is the Maximizer?

The Maximizer is a feature found within the ACR client that allows Jackpot SNG players to set the number of tables they want to multi-table as well as the buy-in range. It’s actually an ingenious addition to the software.

The tool allows players to “maximize” the number of games they get per hour without having to constantly be registering over and over. How cool is that?

What is a Jackpot SNG?

Jackpot sit and go tournaments are winner take all 3-player hyper-turbo 6-max events. Yeah, I know.. that’s a mouthful.

In short, before each even begins, the jackpot is determined. Once everyone knows what they are playing for, the SNG begins.

What Are Jackpot Sngs Like?

Jackpots are fast-paced mini-tournaments that usually play out in 10 minutes or less each. You start with just 500 chips and the blinds go up every 3 minutes and it quickly becomes push-fold (some players only push-fold for the entirety).

If you are lucky enough to play in one of the top three prize jackpots, there is a prize distribution of 75%/15%/10%. Deals are allowed which, if approved by all players, changes the distribution to 40%/30%/30%. I highly recommend taking the deal!

Here are the top prizes for each level:

Are There Double-Up SNGs?

Double-up SNGs are no longer offered on the Winning Poker Network. I was unable to find out why this is the case so unfortunately, they are discontinued for now.

Double or Nothing Game

While there are no double-up SNGs, there is something called Double or Nothing in cash games.

When you leave a cash game table if you have turned a profit you are given the option of either leaving with your winnings or playing Double or Nothing. Basically, there is a pop-up window that lets you choose either red or black. If your color comes up, you get double your winnings. Otherwise, you lose your profit.

Here’s the problem. It is not a 50/50 proposition. ACR also includes two jokers in the deck, which effectively gives the house a big edge.

This seems like a ridiculous money grab by the site and looks like it is designed to prey on players who may be on tilt or gamblers by nature. Poker is supposed to be a game of skill and ACR has to try and ruin it by adding in a casino game to the mix. This is the worst feature ever created by a poker room and needs to go away.

Does ACR Have Fast-Fold Poker?

America’s Cardroom has not yet added fast-fold poker. This is really surprising to me. Perhaps it has something to do with the Beast rake race?

Is There a Play Money Option?

Play money games are not that active on this network. There are usually 5 to 15 play money games running at a time on ACR. Stakes range from 5/10 all the way up to 1,000/2,000. However, 100/200 is usually the highest stake that runs.

How Are the PLO Games on America’s Cardroom?

PLO games up to 5/10 do run on ACR. During the most active time of night you can even mass multi-table Omaha at small stakes.

Just be careful, they actually mix No-Limit Omaha games into the client. There’s nothing worse than trying to just pot it, and instead going all-in for 200 big blinds.

Is Mobile App Gaming Possible on America’s Cardroom?

While coming in a bit late in the game, mobile gaming has finally been added on the Winning Poker Network. You can now play on any Android, i-Phone, or tablet.

The cool thing is that you don’t even have to download an app. You will instead play on a mobile web browser. However, you can make a shortcut and put in on the desktop of your phone or tablet so that it feels like you have an app installed.

My Impressions of ACR Mobile

So, I decided to take the America’s Cardroom mobile app on a spin with my Android. When I logged in, I was a bit confused as to why I was immediately taken to Jackpot poker.

So I clicked on the menus and found out that there were no cash games or tournaments of any kind. Just Jackpots.

Needles to say, I was a bit disappointed. I was actually looking forward to potentially being able to play an MTT in bed sometime. Instead, I was left with only one option.

Personally, I am not the biggest fan of Jackpot poker. Hopefully ACR will soon add more options to the lineup of mobile games. At least Sportsbetting was included. <rolls eyes>

How Mobile Poker Works on ACR

The good news is, that the games are really easy to play and the software is pretty dang smooth. The fold, call, and raise buttons are large and easy to select without the chance of error.

I was actually really pleasantly surprised at how good the interface was. I have played mobile on a couple other sites and neither of them even comes close to the Winning Poker mobile experience.

The maximum number of games that you can play at once on mobile poker is 4.

There is even a chat box in case you want to ridicule your opponents. However, the chat covers the entire screen so you cannot play and talk at the same time. Not that you have enough time anyways in fast-paced Jackpot Poker.

How Does Multi-Tabling Work with Mobile Poker?

For obvious reasons, the tables cannot be tiled on a mobile device. There, the solution is for ACR to stack all of the tables on top of one another. For those of you who have mass multi-tabled in the past, this should feel right at home.

Whenever it is your turn to act on a table, it pops up in front. I didn’t experience any problems or missed hands while playing, so that’s a good thing.

Overall, I really like the direction ACR is going. I just wish they would add in cash games at least. This would go a long way in potentially making the games softer on the site.

Mobile Requirements

• Android OS 6 or higher is required
• iPad 3 or iPhone 5 or higher are required
• An account at ACR

How to Play America’s Cardroom on iPhone

To play, just go to https://www.americascardroom.eu/ and click on the “Mobile” tab at the top. A link to the mobile app will be provided.

What Is 6+ Hold’em?

6+ hold’em is a new game that plays almost just like NL Hold’em, save for a few key diferences.

• Also called short-deck hold’em, the 5s, 4s, 3s, and 2s are removed from the deck.
• The lowest card is now a 6, the low straight is now A6789.
• The hand ranking order has now changed to the following order: High Card, Pair, Two-Pair, Straight, Trips, Full House, Flush, 4 of a kind, Straight Flush, Royal Flush. That’s right, a flush now beats a full house and 3 of a kind now beats a straight.

Strategic Differences

Due to the rules changes and lack of small cards, there are two major changes one must account for in coming up with a 6+ strategy.

1. Equities tend to run much closer together in 6+ than they do in normal Hold’em. Similar to Omaha, very strong hands are not as strong as they are in regular NLH.
2. Ties happen quite a bit more often in 6+ poker. In regular Hold’em, ties happy about 7% of the time. In 6+, it’s more like 11%.

What these differences mean is that there is a lot more parody among the top 20% of starting hands. This leads to more action both pre-flop and post-flop. Factor in the fact that flushes are hugely powerful, and it makes for a really exciting and action-packed game.

I have yet to play 6+ poker, but have been quietly working on a strategy on the side. Once I give the games a go, I will make sure I update this review.

Are Casino and Table Games Offered?

America’s Cardroom has just about every possible Casino style game you can imagine. This includes:

• Table Games with 5 different types of blackjack as well as roulette, craps, three card poker, and more.
• Slots of every variety with 29 games to choose from.
• Video Poker including all the common favorites, 8 games total.
• Specialty Games from Keno to Bingo
• Live Casino Games make for a virtual experience, like you are actually sitting in a casino.
• Tournaments with a variety of games offered do happen occasionally.

How Is the Casino?

The funny thing is, I had a really difficult time finding any mention of the casino on the America’s Cardroom website. However, there is a tab located on the client that takes you to the browser based casino.

From the lobby, it was easy to navigate to whatever game I wanted. When you click on a game, a new browser window will pull up and it may ask you to update your Adobe flash player.

I dabbled a bit in a few games and found that there was a bit of lag at times. I’m not sure if it was on my end or the casinos, but I thought it worth mentioning.

I am mostly a poker player so if you have more information about how the casino works on ACR, please leave it in a comment below.

Is Sports Betting Possible?

Yes, you can bet on sports on America’s Cardroom. There is even a “live betting” feature.

Once again, you will not find much info (beyond a FAQ) on the website itself. You will have to click a tab in the client.

What Games Can I Bet On?

Just about every game is available. I have included a screenshot of the Sportsbetting lobby.

How Does Sportsbetting Work?

The software operates really similarly to every other major site I have seen. It’s easy to place bets, once you get back the initial learning curve.

I do not do much Sportsbetting, but I can tell that this site should meet any betting needs you might have.

Software & Client Info

Of all the poker sites in the world, the Winning Poker Network has my favorite software. It is fast, functional, and not the worst looking around. It also integrates very well with Table Tamer, which I use to manage my tables for multi-tabling purposes.

You Can Completely Customize Your Experience

There are a lot of ways to customize your experience at ACR. Here are a few of the features. Here are the different options you have:

Table Options

Table options allow you to:

• Turn chat on or off
• Engage auto-switch between tables and auto-timebank
• Turn off annoying advertisem*nts and hand hints
• Adjust or turn off sounds
• Set preferred seating

I really like how they let you take control of your setup. You see only what you want to see.

Skin Customization FeaturesandThemes

ACR allows you to hoose from a plethora of looks.

Table Skins

There are 22 “stock” table backgrounds to choose from. You can also upload or alter your own custom themes. Here are a few of the standard choices:

Card Deck Skins

There are 8 different decks to choose from as well as 11 backing colors. There are four 2-color decks and four 4-color decks:

Auto Buy-in and Auto Top-Off

Being able to automatically buy-in to tables and top off your stacks is a key feature for multi-tablers. America’s Cardroom obliges in this regard makes specifying when and how to buy-in and top off stack easy.

What Are the Maximum Number of Tables That Can Be Played at a Time?

Speaking of multi-tabling, you can play up to 24 cash game tables at once on ACR. There is no maximum for Tournaments or SNGs.

What Are the Typical Game Speeds Like?

The effective hands per hour can be quite slow on America’s Cardroom. This is due to the over-abundance of people playing 16+ tables and then constantly time-banking and taking forever on their actions

While this can be annoying if you are playing 4 tables or less, the good news is that you can flag these players as mass-tabling bots and adjust to them accordingly.

In order to maintain your desired hands per hour, I just recommend adding in one more table than you usually play on other poker sites. So, if you typically 4 table on BetOnline and play about 240 hands per hour, simply load up 5 tables on ACR and you will likely be in the same range.

Multi-Tabling Features and Options

Organizing your tables is fairly easy even without table management software. You can tile or cascade your tables and refresh your setup anytime you want. The “view” options are located in the upper left corner of every table.

You Can Fit a Lot of Tables on One Screen

Most poker site have awkward table sizes that don’t get small enough to fit a lot of tables. ACR appears to have had multi-tablers in mind when they designed their software.

Whether you have a cool three monitor computer setup, or just play on a 15″ laptop, you will likely have plenty of room to operate. Just look at how much smaller the tables get compared to the standard size.

Even more awesome, is that the minimum size is not hard and fast. If you use a program like Table Tamer to set up your tables, you can set the table sizes to go even smaller. Theoretically, you could tile 24 tables on a 15″ monitor. Of course, they’d be like postage stamps and you wouldn’t be able to see the action.

The point is, ACR’s software is very flexible.

Are Short Stacks Allowed?

If you are a short stacker or CAP stacker, ACR is a decent option for you. Standard tables have a 40bb minimum and only a 30 minute rathole timer.

Also, short tables occasionally run that have a 20bb minimum. There are also 30bb CAP tables as well.

If you decide you want to play a short stack on ACR, you can get a free basic short stacking strategy by signing up for my newsletter.

Is There a Straddling Feature?

Straddling is allowed on cash game tables. There is a box on the bottom right of the table that can be toggled on and off. I know about this because I have accidentally had it turned on many times. Really annoying.

Do HUDs Work on Poker Site?

America’s Cardroom allows full HUD use. All major tracking software programs fully work and integrate very well with the poker software.

Many poker sites have moved more toward a recreational model, where the site has taken steps to try to protect weaker players from being preyed upon by sharks.

The Winning Poker Network is still all-in on the old-fashioned model that allows full opponent tracking and HUDs. There is also wait-listing and all of the traditional features that strong players use to seek out fish.

Even so, recreational players are not typically as poor as they used to be. There is a huge amount of information out there along with starting hands charts, free lessons, and inexpensive training.

Therefore, the poker economy isn’t quite as susceptible to being destroyed by all the money quickly going to the top due to horrid play.

The Writing Is on the Wall

I do expect WPN to make some changes in the future to make it harder for elite players to table select. They will have to if they want to compete with some of the newer sites that really appeal to recreational players who enjoy a more relaxed and fun environment.

I mean who wants to get 3-bet constantly and pounded relentlessly post-flop? Passive “friendly” poker is just much more fun for most players.

Social Features

America’s Cardroom does not have any special social features beyond the standard chart window. In fact, this network probably has the least amount of chatter on tables. This is a really bad sign as it indicates there are lots of competent players focusing on their games and not on the social aspects of poker.

Contrast that with Ignition poker, which has a really active and vibrant chat window at all stakes. This is something that WPN should definitely strive to fix. They really need to improve the atmosphere for recreational players and stop only catering to hardcore players.

It’s not like they have to stop catering to the regs. All they need to do is add in a special bonus here and there for their losing clients. Or, just create some kind of special effects when a big hand is made. Ignition has nailed this feature and could teach a lot of networks a thing or two on the subject.

Promotions & Added Value

While ACR is lacking in social features, they go over the top to offer rewards to their players. Unfortunately, it’s a very top-heavy system that is only really lucrative if you generate a ton of rake. I would like to see a more even distribution across all players.

Here are ongoing promotions that you can take advantage of on America’s Cardroom:

• 200% Cryptocurrency first deposit bonus when you make your initial deposit using one of the numerous Cryptos. I recommend Bitcoin. It’s surprisingly easy to get set up and with recent Paypal integration, moving money around just got even easier.
• 20 Days of Free Cash when you first deposit. During the first 20 days on the site, you will receive free cards that can be redeemed for cash. It’s worth $50 total, which is awesome for building that initial bankroll.
• Numerous Freerolls both when you sign up and on a daily basis.
• VIP Benefits for those that opt out of rakeback. It’s very similar to the Pokerstars “Supernova” reward system.
• 27% rakeback for those that choose that route. I recommend taking this option unless you play a ton of volume and produce a lot of rake.
• The Beast rake race is a weekly reward given to those that produce the most rake for the week. Rewards range anywhere from $100 to $2,500 including entry into “The Cage” which is a tournament that allows you to keep whatever cash you have on the table, if you make it to the end.

What is the beast?

The Beast is really just extra rakeback for the highest volume players on the site. The highest reward you can get is $2,500 and the lowest is $100. About 5 or 6 people get the top reward each week. Another 10 or so get a $1,000 reward.

I used to grind the Beast back a couple of years ago, taking as high as 3rd place a couple of times. The extra bonus was nice, however, the volume of play necessary to get there will cause serious burnout if you aren’t careful. I have a lot of respect for the players who are near the top week in and week out.

How the Beast Works

The concept is very simple:

• Whenever rake is generated on a cash game table, a portion is it is siphoned into the Beast “pot”.
• When you generate rake, you earn 1 Beast point for every $.02 that is fed into the pot.
• The weighted contributed rake method is used to calculate rake.
• The race runs from Saturday at midnight until the following Friday night.

Beast Improvements

In 2014, changes were made to the Beast. Before, the system was extremely top heavy. In fact, the top earner could earn in excess of $5,000 a week. The changes spread out the earnings across a broader spectrum of players.

In my opinion, this was a huge step in the right direction. Even though, at the time, it hurt the profit I was making each week. I hope that WPN makes more improvements like this in the future.

What is Sit & Crush?

Sit & Crush is a progressive rake race that runs every week. Anyone that plays in sit and go’s is eligible to win bonus money if they generate enough rake.

Basically, it’s the SNG version of the Beast. The top prize is $1,250 and about 80 to 90 players win at last $50. Usually, 3 players get the top prize.

There are 4 payout tiers:

How Sit & Crush Points Are Earned

For every $1 you pay in fees, you get 5 reward points that go towards your leaderboard ranking.

What Are America’s Cardroom Rank Points?

When you generate rake, you earn VIP “Rank” points and “Combat” points, which can be used in exchange for cash and/or prizes. If you move beyond the first rank, the Combat points are gained at a faster rate as you progress up the ranks.

There are 6 different ranks: Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Colonel, General, and 5-Star General. These basically take the place of the, now defunct, Pokerstars Supernova ranking system of BronzeStar, ChromeStar, SilverStar, GoldStar, PlatinumStar, Supernova, and Supernova Elite.

Here is a short video explaining the VIP system:

Highlights:

As you gain ranks, your Combat point multiplier increases. What this means is that for every Rank point (RP) that you gain, you get additional spendable Combat points as your ranks increased. Here are the multipliers:

If you do not earn enough RPs to maintain your current rank, you will be demoted the following month to the level commensurate with your RP total.

Medals of Achievement

In addition to the standard VIP points system, there are also additional rewards given out during the first 100,000 RPs gained each year. These are called Medals of Achievement.

This is exactly the same thing Pokerstars did as well. Basically, it’s an extra $1,200 given out as players make their way to the rank of General.

You first start out by getting $10 rewards. Then at 5,000 RPs you start getting $50 every 5,000 points. Past 50,000 RPs you get $100 per 10,000 RPs. At 100,000 RPs you get the final Medal of Achievement, worth $200.

In my opinion, this is one of the smartest parts of the VIP program. It’s something that every single player can strive for, not just the mass multi-tablers.

Are There Ever Reload Bonuses?

To celebrate special events or milestones, ACR does occasionally offer reload bonuses. They are usually in the 50% up to $200 range. They usually announce reloads on their Facebook page or via promotional email.

They Sometimes Give Free Money to Inactive Players

At least half a dozen times over the years, ACR has sent me an email telling me they have loaded free money into my account. It usually ranges from $25 to $50. Needless to say, free money without having to release it is really nice.

Is There a Bad Beat Jackpot?

The Winning Poker Network does not offer a bad beat jackpot as of the time of this writing.

Rake Rules

As is standard with most other poker sites, no rake is taken before the flop nor in uncalled pots. This works the same in both No-Limit Hold’em and Omaha games.

America’s Cardroom uses a weighted contributed rake schedule to calculate rake. This is based on the limit of the table and the number of seats. The rake is 5% and capped at $3.00 max.

America’s Cardroom Rakeback Program

When you sign up through Automatic Poker, you will automatically be entered into the rakeback program at ACR. For the vast majority of players it is a much better deal than the VIP program, especially if you are a low volume occasional player.

Don’t worry about it if you suddenly find yourself playing a ton in the future. ACR allows you to make a one time switch from rakeback to VIP.

I highly advise you to go with the rakeback program, unless you already know you are going to be a high volume player.

How Much Rake Do I Need to Generate to Make the Vip Program Better?

By my calculations, you need to generate at least $700 a month in order for the VIP program to surpass 27% rakeback. That’s a lot of rake.

Just to give you some perspective, this is the number of hands an average player would need to play per month to achieve $700 rakeback.

Note: This is based on my own experience, your mileage may vary. In case you are wondering, my VPIP/PFR was 24/21 over a 120k sample size.

Also remember, you have to grind this many hands every single month to maintain the VIP benefit. With 27% rakeback, you can take time off and never lose any benefit.

Who Is the Target Audience on America’s Cardroom?

The site is mostly geared toward professional poker players and serious amateurs.

ACR is one of the few holdouts from the days of the “rakeback pro.” Most other sites have taken drastic measures to appeal to more recreational players. Even so, the Winning Poker Network is not completely deaf to finding more sustainability in their poker economy.

Through minor adjustments to their rewards program, more people are now included. Even so, they still have a long way to go in my opinion. Of course, the site is doing just fine with what it is doing right now. I just think they can do better.

Should I Play on America’s Cardroom?

If you want to grind a ton of tables and maximize the amount of reward money you make, then ACR might be perfect for you. I do recommend that you invest in good table management software if you decide to play here.

You will also need one of the major software tracking programs so that you can use a HUD. Most of the regs employ complicated HUDs and you will be at a big disadvantage if you don’t use one.

However, if you like to take it slow and play 4 tables or less, you would likely be much better served with the higher win-rate you would enjoy on one of the other two US facing sites, namely Ignition and BetOnline.

Why Should I Trust Your Opinion on America’s Cardroom?

I am a real player who has been around the game for over 10 years. I am a best-selling poker author and have spent countless hours teaching and researching better ways of playing poker. I have learned what it takes to win on every poker site and am giving that information away for free to anyone willing to listen.

I have played literally millions of hands on just about every poker network out there. Through hard work, I have managed to become a decent winner along the way. Here is the graph from my brief play in 2018.

A Brief History of America’s Cardroom

America’s Cardroom was launched in 2001. It was first part of the Yatahay Network, which was rebranded in 2012 as the Winning Poker Network was launched.

In 2011, ACR had aquired Doyle’s Room, which had been named for the famous poker player and been embroiled in a scandal where it violated some gambling laws.

ACR is now one of the highest traffic poker sites in the US and currently #9 in the world.

Suggested Strategy

In order to win at America’s Cardroom, you will need to learn how to identify the weaknesses of the regs and target them specifically based on their tendencies.

I suggest adapting your HUD to be able to profile your opponents based on their playing style, level of aggression, and willingness to fight for the blinds.

Keep in mind that there are not many fish on th site above 25NL. Therefore, you cannot just sit back and play like a nit and let the collective mistakes of the other players win for you. The rake will eat you alive as your red line plunges if you do this.

You will need to play a semi-LAG (loose-aggressive) style, somewhere in the 25/20 range and get in there and mix it up with the regs.

Game Select or Perish

My biggest piece of advice is to actively table select. Try to keep the tighter players on your left and the rest should take care of itself. It’s really important to keep those easy stealing earnings flowing into your account. If you do that, you will be way ahead of the game.

How to Download America’s Cardroom?

Downloading ACR is really easy. Just click on the button below and you will automatically download the client and get the rakeback deal. If you prefer VIP, just let support know and they will hook you up.

America’s Cardroom Summary

There is no better time to get into online poker than right now. The games are still beatable if you work hard on your game.

With really good customer service and sleek, dynamic software, ACR is a site designed to allow players to maximize their rewards. This is especially if you play a lot of volume.

With the limited choices in poker sites today, America’s Cardroom is a really solid option. It’s, in fact, the best option if you want to use a Hold’em Manager or Pokertracker HUD. Otherwise, go with Ignition Poker if you want more fish or BetOnline if you want to find a balance between the two poker models.

I give this site a thumbs up and recommend it to most players.

Final Thoughts

I don’t get much time to play anymore and instead write about poker and try to find ways to improve the lives of poker players. My goal is to give honest reviews about poker products and sites.

A Quick Note About Affiliates

It took me a lot of hours (actually nearly a week) to write this detailed review. I honestly only try to include the main points and the things I want to know before joining a new poker site. I purposefully left out any of the standard “fluff” that most other reviews include, likely just to bolster their word count.

I truly want you to have all the information you need in a one stop shop. If I missed something, please let me know in the comments and I will get it added.

So, if you appreciate my honesty and the hard work I’ve done please click on one of the signup links in this review. That way I get a few pennies from the poker site for my efforts. It would make my day. 🙂

Jim

If you have heard all you need to know and are ready to play, then click the link below to claim your sign-up bonus. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables!

Related Questions

Is it legal to play poker online? It has actually never been illegal to play online poker in the US, save for Washington State and Kentucky. The UIGEA only made it illegal for banks to do business with online gambling sites.

Can you still make money playing poker? You can definitely still make money playing poker. There are thousands of professionals who prove that every day. I still make quite a bit of money with the limited playing schedule that I keep. It does, however, take more work now than it did a few years ago.

Are America’s Cardroom and Black Chip Poker the same? ACR and BCP are technically two separate entities, but actually the same. I have called customer support on both sites and always seem to talk to the same people. In fact, they always ask me “are you an America’s Cardroom or Black Chip Poker” player. The good news is, you can have an account on both sites. I play on ACR when I want to do high volume and take advantage of the VIP rewards and BCP when I only play sporadically, to get the 27% rakeback.