Tonygpoker.com no longer accepting U.S. play

Tonygpoker.com is no longer accepting real-money play from U.S. customers because none of their e-wallet services will process U.S. transactions, according statement on its Web site Monday.

"It's a very, very sad day for Tony G," Tony Guoga wrote in his blog. "There are no options for me to keep the room open to U.S. players. I feel very sad for all of you good folks in the U.S. but your government is very aggressive right now and is running loose."

None of the financial processors used at Tony G Poker allow transactions to American banks and his Malta-based hosting company wants to shut off U.S. play to prevent future withdrawal problems.

NETeller, the primary e-wallet for American players at Tony G Poker, stopped accepting U.S. transactions three weeks ago after the arrests of its co-founders. Since then, Guoga said he has been meeting with his legal advisors to find a solution, but none have presented themselves.

"My legal advice is not to close, but the hosting company in Malta also wants to close the doors to USA players," Guoga said. "I could still keep Tony G. Poker going, since I believe poker is a game of skill, but with the USA government on a rampage, happy to freeze the funds of players that only wanted to play poker, that will put everyone at great risk as we have no way to pay our USA players."

There is more bad news for U.S. players who have funds in Tony G Poker accounts.

The only way to withdraw fund is to send money to Tony G directly, then wait until the Web site's support staff transfers your money to an account at Full Tilt Poker, Poker Stars, or Ultimate Bet, according to an letter being e-mailed to all of Tony G Poker's American account holders.

First, U.S. players must uninstall their current software and download the latest version at www.tonygpoker.com/download .

Once this step is completed, the player must transfer their funds to player id "Tony G" and send a message to support@tonygpoker.com detailing the transaction.

Once customer support sorts through all of the withdrawal requests, U.S. account holders will have their money sent to one of the three sites listed above. If a player does not have an account at one of these three sites, they must open one to receive their money, according to the Web site.

U.S. players looking for more information should visit the Tony G blog at www.tonygpoker.com .