Whether on a riverboat atop the Mighty Mississippi or in the smoky dimness of a mining camp saloon, a lucky draw could turn a broken man into a winner. In the days of the frontier west, poker was king with the mustachioed likes of Wild Bill Hickok, Doc Holliday, “Canada” Bill Jones, Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, and hundreds of others.

In the old west towns of Deadwood, Dodge City, Tombstone, and Virginia City, gamblers played with their back to the wall and their guns at their sides, as dealers dealt games with names such as Chuck-A-Luck, Three Card Monte, High Dice, and Faro, by far the favorite in the wild west saloons.

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Those interested in poker tournament, as opposed to cash tables, will also be pleased to know that every West Virginia online poker room we include offers a remarkable selection of poker tournaments, ranging from exclusive satellites to truly rewarding guaranteed tournaments with prize pools that easily reach $100,000 and more. Find the best West Virginia poker tournaments with our comprehensive list of daily and weekly poker tournaments. Browse through our list of poker tournaments to find the times, days, buy-ins,. Whenever and however West Virginia online poker happens, though, this page will be your best source of information. As more WV poker sites join the party, you will find the very best and latest in details, updates and, best of all, bonuses at West Virginia poker sites. Best Online Sweepstakes Poker. We are a poker league playing No-Limit Texas Hold'em. The league season is generally one half year (Winter/Spring and Summer/Fall) with sessions every 2 weeks on Saturday nights. Paid members of the West Akron Poker League collect points for their play. Points are earned by participating and placing in the tournaments and knocking out other.

The exact origin of poker is unknown but many have speculated that it originated from the 16th-century Persian card game called As Nas. Played with a 25 card deck containing five suits, the rules were similar to today’s Five Card Stud. Others are of the opinion that it was invented by the Chinese in 900 A.D. In all likelihood, the game derived from elements of various gambling diversions that have been around from the beginning of time.

Poker in the United States was first widely played in New Orleans by French settlers playing a card game that involved bluffing and betting called Poque in the early 1800s. This old poker game was similar to the “draw poker” game we play today. New Orleans evolved as America’s first gambling city as riverboat men, plantation owners and farmers avidly pursued the betting sport.

The first American gambling casino was opened in New Orleans around 1822 by a man named John Davis. The club, open twenty-four hours a day, provided gourmet food, liquor, roulette wheels, Faro tables, poker, and other games. Davis also made certain that painted ladies were never far away. Dozens of imitators soon followed making the gaming dens the primary attraction of New Orleans. The city’s status as an international port and its thriving gambling industry created a new profession, called the card “sharper.”

Professional gamblers and cheats gathered in a waterfront area known as “the swamp,” an area even the police were afraid to frequent, and any gambler lucky enough to win stood a good chance of losing his earnings to thieves outside of the gambling rooms and saloons.

Gambling was outlawed in the rest of the huge Louisiana territory in 1811, but New Orleans continued to enjoy the prosperity brought by gambling for more than 100 years. Though the law was passed for the entire Louisiana Purchase, it was obviously not enforced and casinos and gambling began to spread.

As commerce developed on the waterways, gambling traveled up the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, then westward via covered wagons, and later on the railroad. The first written reference in the United States came from Jonathan H. Greer in 1834 when he referred to the amusement as the “cheating game.”

Some of the first gambling dens outside of New Orleans were started on river towns that were popular with both travelers and professional gamblers. It was here that many “sharpers” preyed on these transient people, with their pockets filled with their life savings, on the way to the new frontier. The dishonest gamblers also often ran confidence games and other con artist businesses, in order to gaff the unwary pioneers. A host of companies specialized in manufacturing and selling card cheating devices. One riverboat gambler named George Devol was so proud of his ability to slip a stacked deck into a game that he once used four of them in one poker hand, dealing four aces to each of his four opponents.

It was professional gamblers who were largely responsible for the poker boom. Considering themselves as entrepreneurs, they took advantage of America’s growing obsession with gambling. Though having a high opinion of themselves, the public viewed them with disdain, considering them as contributing nothing to society. This viewpoint was often warranted in many cases, as a large number of professional gamblers often cheated in order to win. To be successful, professional gamblers had to have irresistible personalities in order to attract men to play with them. Often dressing in dandy clothes, their success depended partly on chance and partly on skill, sometimes on sleight of hand, and in the Old West, their shooting abilities. By the 1830s, citizens began to blame professional gamblers for any and every crime in the area and gambling itself began to be attacked.

James Bowie

It was during these riverboat gambling heydays that an interesting story occurred in 1832. On a Mississippi steamboat, four men were playing poker, three of which were professional gamblers, and the fourth, a hapless traveler from Natchez. Soon, the young naïve man had lost all his money to the rigged game. Devastated, the Natchez man planned to throw himself into the river; however, an observer prevented his suicide attempt, and then joined the card game with the “sharps.” In the middle of a high stakes hand, the stranger caught one of the professionals cheating and pulled a knife on the gambler, yelling, “Show your hand! If it contains more than five cards I shall kill you!” When he twisted the cheater’s wrist, six cards fell to the table. Immediately, the stranger took the $70,000 pot, returning $50,000 to the Natchez man and keeping $20,000 for his trouble. Shocked, the Natchez man stuttered, “Who the devil are you, anyway?” to which the stranger responded, “I am James Bowie.”

Anxious citizens of these river port towns grew more and more wary of the confidence men that were multiplying so quickly. In Vicksburg, Mississippi, the citizens’ rage had become so increased by 1835, five cardsharps were lynched by a vigilante group. It was soon after this that many of the gamblers moved onto the riverboats, benefiting from the transient riverboat lifestyle.

At the conclusion of the Civil War, America pushed her boundaries West, where the frontier was born of speculators, travelers, and miners. These hardy pioneers had high risk-taking characteristics, making any gambling situation a popular pastime for these rough and tumble men of the frontier. In virtually every mining camp and prairie town, a poker table could soon be found in each saloon, surrounded by prospectors, lawmen, cowboys, railroad workers, soldiers, and outlaws for a chance to tempt fortune and fate.

During the California Gold Rush of 1849 gambling houses sprouted up all over northern California, offering a wide array of not only gaming tables but also musicians and pretty women to entertain the gamblers as they played. It was at this time that dance halls began to appear and spread throughout later settlements. While these saloons usually offered games of chance, their chief attraction was dancing. The customer generally paid 75¢ to $1.00 for a ticket to dance, with the proceeds being split between the dance hall girl and the saloon owner. After the dance, the girl would steer the gentleman to the bar, where she would make an additional commission from the sale of a drink.

A popular girl would average 50 dances a night, sometimes making more a night than a working man could make in a month. Dance hall girls made enough money that it was very rare for them to double as a prostitute, in fact, many former “soiled doves” found they could make more money as a dance hall girl.

As the Gold Rush gained momentum, San Francisco replaced New Orleans as the center for gambling in the United States. Over one hundred thriving saloons and brothels met the sailors and fortune-seeking travelers as they disembarked at the San Francisco harbor and stumbled into the infamous Barbary Coast Waterfront District.

Faro was by far the most popular and prolific game played in Old West saloons, followed by Brag, Three-card-monte, and dice games such as High-low, Chuck-a-luck, and Grand hazard. It was also about this time that gambling began to invite more diversity including Hispanics, blacks, Chinese and women in the games. Three of the more famous women gamblers of this time were Calamity Jane, Poker Alice, and Madame Mustache.

Before long, many of the Old West mining camps such as Deadwood, Leadville, and Tombstone became as well known for gunfights over card games than they did for their wealth of gold and silver ore. Professional gamblers such as Doc Holliday and Wild Bill Hickok learned early to hone their six-shooter skills at the same pace as their gambling abilities. Taking swift action upon the green cloth became part of the gamblers’ code – shoot first and ask questions later.

One such occasion that clearly showed the quick and violent code was when Doc Holliday was dealing Faro to a local bully named Ed Bailey in Fort Griffin, Texas. Bailey was unimpressed with Doc’s reputation and in an attempt to irritate him; he kept picking up the discards and looking at them. Peeking at the discards was strictly prohibited by the rules of Western Poker, a violation that could force the player to forfeit the pot.

Though Holliday warned Bailey twice, the bully ignored him and picked up the discards again. This time, Doc raked in the pot without showing his hand, nor saying a word. Bailey immediately brought out his pistol from under the table, but before the man could pull the trigger, Doc’s lethal knife slashed the man across the stomach. With blood spilled everywhere, Bailey lay sprawled out dead across the table.

Inevitably there were liquored up miners and cowboys who would shoot up the saloons and sometimes the poker winner when they were angered by their losses. Even Wild Bill Hickok, who is mostly known for his heroics and prowess with a six-shooter, took advantage of those abilities when faced with a loss in Deadwood, South Dakota. Shortly before midnight after a night of drinking and gambling, Hickok was playing a two-handed game with a man named McDonald when the stakes began to increase with every card dealt.

When the hand was complete and the middle of the table piled high with money, McDonald showed his hand, displaying three jacks. To this, Hickok responded, “I have a full house – aces over sixes,” then threw his hand face down upon the table. However, when McDonald picked up Hickok’s hand, he exclaimed, “I see only two aces and one six.” Wasting no time, Wild Bill drew his six-shooter with his right hand and replied, “Here’s my other six.” Then he flashed a bowie knife with his left hand, stating, “And here’s my one spot.” McDonald immediately backed down saying coolly, “That hand is good. Take the pot.”

By the end of the 19th century, gambling had spread like wildfire through the many mining camps, multiplying as the gold and silver hunters spread across the West, searching for new strikes. It was about this time that both states and cities started to take advantage of these growing ventures by taxing gambling dens and raising money for their communities.

It was also during the late 1800s that many towns and states across the western frontier began to enact new laws against gambling. Attempting to gain new levels of respectability, the laws primarily targeted the “professional gambler” more than gaming in general. Some types of gambling were made illegal, while limits were established on others. Initially, anti-gaming laws were weak and had little real effect on gambling, as they were difficult to enforce, establishments simply introduced new variants, and penalties were light.

Faro gambling card game about 1900.

However, the laws were gradually strengthened and ironically, Nevada was one of the first states in the West to totally make gambling illegal in 1909. Other states soon followed suit and true to the worst fears of the Puritans, gangsters combined liquor and gambling in the cities of New York, Cleveland and Chicago during the 1920s.

By the time construction on the Hoover Dam was underway in 1931, Nevada relaxed its gambling laws and casinos once more began to flourish. By 1939 there were six casinos and sixteen saloons in Las Vegas. As automobile traffic increased and people began to travel more for leisure, Las Vegas began to boom into the gambling Mecca it is today.

Over the years, poker has evolved through legitimate casinos and backroom games to its many present variations. Over the last decade several states have reintroduced gambling in limited formats and the fastest-growing gambling opportunity today doesn’t even require you to leave your home, as you log onto your computer to tempt the fates. Carefully regulated by gaming laws, poker is now the most popular card game in the world.

© Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated November 2019.

“If you’re playing a poker game and you look around the table and can’t tell who the sucker is, it’s you.” –– Paul Newman

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West Virginia online poker is on its way!

In a time when meeting up for a poker game is becoming increasingly difficult, many poker players would like to be able to turn to their mobile devices and computers and play the game they love. For West Virginians, their day of jubilee is fast approaching.

Online poker has always been the lowest priority on online gambling expansion list. To that end, there are certainly some issues that poker operators will have to hammer out before they can launch.

Whenever and however West Virginia online poker happens, though, this page will be your best source of information. As more WV poker sites join the party, you will find the very best and latest in details, updates and, best of all, bonuses at West Virginia poker sites.

Best Online Sweepstakes Poker:

Is online poker legal in West Virginia?

Yes. By virtue of the passage of the West Virginia Lottery Interactive Wagering Act (H-2934) in March 2019, most forms of online gambling became legal under West Virginia law. The bill specifically legalized online poker as part of the expansion.

When will online poker launch in WV?

It is hard to know exactly when we expect WV online poker sites to launch. However, the initial timeline estimated online poker would debut in West Virginia in late 2020 or early 2021.

Whenever a gambling expansion occurs, there is always a lag time between the law and the promulgation of rules by which the overseeing body will administer the practice in the state.

West Virginia’s gambling authority is the West Virginia Lottery. The name of the bill reflects the fact that all gambling in the state is, in a sense, an extension of the lottery itself.

By the wording of the law, lottery officials were compelled to issue “emergency” rules by July 2020. The word “emergency” in this context is more to indicate that the rules themselves are temporary, rather than any kind of inherent time pressure.

Regardless of what their definition of the word was, lottery officials have already submitted and are moving forward with their set of temporaryrules. However, the state’s plans to take its sweet time in issuing licenses and getting underway have been dashed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The outpouring of business and interest in online poker as the result of land-based poker’s temporary hiatus has inspired regulators and operators to push forward as quickly as possible. Thus, statements from regulators are guiding our estimates for the timeline of online poker’s launch in West Virginia.

Best poker apps in WV

Of course, until they launch or announce their plans, we won’t know exactly which apps will be the first to market. However, given that online poker sites must partner with an in-state casino in order to do business, we do have some indication about which sites might have the inside track.

BetMGM Poker

The first obvious choice to launch an online poker site in West Virginia is MGM. The casino giant has already launched its BetMGM sportsbook product in conjunction with The Greenbrier, so an expansion would seem to make sense.

In all likelihood, MGM will simply integrate its online poker software into the existing product. It’s just not clear how soon the company will do so.

PokerStars WV

The other frontrunner to launch an online poker site in WV is PokerStars. Thanks to a merger between parent company Flutter Entertainment and FanDuel, PokerStars now has an in-state connection at the Greenbrier as well. The undisputed king of online poker in the world is, no doubt, interested in expanding its profile as far as it can.

The only hurdle to launches from both of these companies is the law itself. Each of West Virginia’s five casinos are permitted only one online poker skin, so both of these titans could not exist as extensions of The Greenbrier.

However, given the rapidity with which partnerships can form, there’s no reason to assume that one of these companies would be unable to jump ship to another homegrown casino location’s license.

Tim West Poker

The other four casinos in the state have yet to indicate a preference for a poker distributor yet. Although they will likely do so in the near future, online poker in West Virginia is not the slam dunk that it might be elsewhere.

Why WV online poker is problematic for companies

Given the imminent nature of the launch of online poker sites in West Virginia, you might think that there’d be a bigger rush to secure a spot in the market from online poker operators. However, West Virginia’s low population creates an undeniable hurdle for these companies to negotiate. The reason why online poker is lowest on the priority list is due to the liquidity requirement that the game possesses. In other words, it is absolutely essential for a certain number of people to play online poker in order for an app to remain a viable business product.

Because West Virginia’s population is not terribly high, there are concerns that it may be difficult for WV poker sites to field a player pool at all. Even if they manage to get going, keeping a steady stream of new customers may prove untenably challenging.

This undeniable problem could be part of the reason that online poker sites have not simply rushed into the state in search of partnerships. However, if West Virginia could manage to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement and share its liquidity across states, there might be more of a groundswell of support.

So far, the state has appeared ready to do so, but a new interpretation of the Wire Act remains under debate in federal court. Until the case is resolved, and favorably so for the states, West Virginia online poker will have to stand on its own, for better or worse.

How online poker in West Virginia will work

When online poker finally launches in West Virginia, the first thing to do will be to download the app to your phone.

Most of the top poker apps will have dedicated options for both iPhone and Android users, and the procedure will be mostly the same as for other types of apps. However, before they begin the process, Android users will need to allow for unknown source downloads due to Google’s ban on gambling apps in the Google Play Store.

One quirk for poker sites that does not happen with WV online casinos and sportsbooks is the preference to download full clients to their laptops or desktops. Because of the nature of online poker and the logistics for multi-tabling, players often need, for lack of a better term, more space.

How to deposit and cash out quickly

After registration, you will need to get some money into your new poker account. Look for a button that says “Cashier,” “Deposit” or something else to indicate the banking section of the site.

Now, like all online businesses, poker sites rely upon players being able to move money in and out of their poker accounts quickly. So they have a vested interest in making the process as painless as they can. Thus, there are usually several options to make a deposit, and you should choose the one that works best with your financial situation.

Typical deposit methods include:

• Credit or debit card
• Electronic check/ACH
• Electronic wallet (PayPal, Skrill, etc.)
• Online banking/wire transfer
• Money order/paper check
• PayNearMe (via 7-Eleven)
• Cash at the land-based casino cage

One thing to note about credit cards, however, is that many banks refuse to process transactions with gambling websites. Even some larger banks, like Bank of America, Chase, and Wells Fargo will flatly refuse to let a request go through.

Even if your bank does approve a deposit to a poker site, it may consider the transaction to be a cash advance. As such, you may find yourself on the hook for some heavy fees, so make sure to check your terms of service before you attempt to deposit with a card.

Finally, if you have a poker bonus code to enter, you will need to do so when you sign up or make your deposit. There will be an optional space on the deposit page to enter the code, but be careful to enter it correctly, as the codes must be both specific and case-sensitive to activate their bonuses.

How to play online poker in WV

Once you’ve created and funded your account, you will notice that the vast majority of games available online will be for no-limit Texas Hold ’em. The most popular poker game in the world retains its stranglehold in the virtual sphere, and, with the exception of an occasional pot-limit Omaha game, it will be the only game in town — especially if traffic is low.

Most poker sites offer the following types of poker games for you to play:

• Cash games — The value of chips is equal to their monetary value, and you can buy in for as much or as little as you like within a certain range. You can also rebuy any time you like, and come and go as you please.
• Tournaments — You pay a set fee to reserve a place, and each player is issued the same value of chips to start. The chips have no direct relationship to their monetary value, and you play until you either lose all your chips or win every chip in play. Winnings are awarded based upon the order in which players are eliminated, with the last to remain receiving the biggest payout.
• Sit-n-gos — A form of tournament in which the number of entrants is strictly defined beforehand, and the game does not begin until that exact number is met. Because the number of players is predetermined, the prize amounts are known from the beginning of play.

There are other types of games you may encounter, particularly on some of the larger sites. One of these variations is the jackpot sit-n-go, in which you will sit with two other players in a winner-take-all contest for a randomly determined prize. These tournaments increase the big blinds at blindingly fast intervals and involve quite a bit of luck.

Another type of online poker game you may find is a fast-fold game. This version of a cash game will shuttle you to a new hand at a different table the second that you fold the previous hand, so it is a way to play even more hands than at a typical table. However, you sacrifice the ability to learn your opponents’ tendencies in this variant, and the winning hand will tend to be higher in rank than a typical cash game.

Online poker bonuses

One major difference between live and online poker rooms is that there is a much greater chance to find a bonus, promotion or spiff online than there is in the retail setting.

There are several types of poker bonuses available once the West Virginia poker sites are live. They include:

• No deposit bonuses — The site deposits cash or bonus dollars, which are playable onsite, into your account, and you don’t have to do anything beyond register for an account or enter a specific promo code.
• Deposit/match/reload bonuses — The poker site will match all or a portion of your deposit amount, thereby adding an extra percentage into your account once you complete the deposit.
• Freeroll tickets — Instead of receiving cash or bonus money, a site may elect to issue you tournament tickets or entries into special free tournaments.
• Loyalty programs — For your play, you will receive points or credits in a loyalty program or system. These systems award prizes and perks to players who play often, and give preference to those who place the highest aggregate bet totals.

One thing to note is that some of these bonuses come with a few restrictions. One type of restriction is known as a playthroughrequirement, which mandates that players play for a certain amount of time and pay a certain amount of rake before they can receive their bonus money as bona fide cash. Usually, bonuses with playthrough requirements on poker sites will release the cash in incremental amounts.

The other thing to keep in mind is that many playthrough requirements will also come with a time limit. So, after a certain point in the future, any unredeemed funds from your bonus account revert back to the poker site. One thing to consider before you opt into a bonus is how feasible the timeframe is for your lifestyle — very few poker bonuses are worth putting in the extra hours and affecting the attention you give to other life commitments.

One other thing to keep in front of you is the fact that there may be some crossover opportunities between poker and the other types of online gambling in the state. Keep your eyes peeled for those, especially if you enjoy playing in online casinos or betting on sports through your mobile device.

West Virginia online poker quirks

The West Virginia Lottery approved its emergency rules for online poker in May 2020. Thus, the regulatory agency became able to begin approving online poker operators for setting up shop in the state at that time.

However, the rules, as released to the public, indicate that there are some specifics that will make playing in West Virginia a bit different from in other locations.

For one thing, the rules require that seating at online tables be randomized as a default position. Although players can request specific seats at a table, they will have to sit at specially sequestered tables with other players who chose that option. Otherwise, typical players will only be able to choose their preferred table, not their position at it.

Of course, this rule is designed to limit the chances for bum hunting in the state. Seat selection is one of the more predatory activities in all of poker, and state officials are clearly worried that a shark-infested player pool will drive off all the recreational players — especially if the sharks can set reminders and target them.

This requirement is much more common overseas than in the US, so its inclusion into the WV Lottery rules is unusual. Nevertheless, the rationale for the rule makes some amount of sense.

Other quirky notes in the West Virginia rules include a requirement for hand histories to be available for the last five hands or more, a concrete ban on bots of any kind and a provision for sites to pay celebrities to play as a promotional item.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the rules mention that “reciprocal agreements” with other jurisdictions are allowed provided they do not run afoul of federal or state laws. In other words, West Virginia is leaving the door wide open for the state to join the MSIGA, but the federal court battle over the meaning of the Wire Act will have to be resolved before the state moves forward with the plan.

Live poker in West Virginia

All five of West Virginia’s casinos maintain poker rooms. They range in size from the two tables at the Greenbrier to the 18 at Mardi Gras. So, to be clear, you can play poker at any of the following locations:

You can play no-limit Texas Hold ’em no matter which casino you choose. However, other games are sporadically available, depending on where you go. They are:

Limit hold ’em

• Hollywood Casino Charles Town
• Mardi Gras Casino
• Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack

Poker West Of Loathing

Pot-limit Omaha

• Hollywood Casino Charles Town
• Mardi Gras Casino
• Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack

Omaha 8 (High-Low)

• Hollywood Casino Charles Town
• Mardi Gras Casino

Seven card stud

• Hollywood Casino Charles Town
• Mardi Gras Casino
• Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack

West Poker

It’s possible that Wheeling Island also offers Omaha high-low. The casino information only lists Omaha, though, so you may want to double-check if you’re really in the mood for the split-pot game.