If you play online poker a lot, there’s a good chance you play at a site like Full Tilt Poker or PokerStars. If you’re American, you have no other choice. But for Europeans, there is Party Poker, Titan Poker, Cryp sites, etc. In general, it is best to play at the non-US sites when possible than the US sites.

Ease of Competition

The main reason to play at the non-US sites is that the games are easier. A higher percentage of Americans are sharks than are Europeans. This is because it is more difficult for Americans to deposit and withdraw, so only the faithful continue to play. Also, Americans have been playing poker longer. The fish have been weeded out and only the sharks remain.

Less Scandals

Most likely this won’t be a problem with Full Tilt or PokerStars, but US sites have been plagued by scandals. The most well-known is the cheating scandal that happened at UB/Absolute. One person had a ’superuser’ account and was able to see everyone else’s hole cards. He won $20 million cheating this way. Something like this is less likely to happen at a European site since many of these sites are publicly traded companies and have more media attention. In contrast, the US-facing outfits are all very closed-off.

Also, with the US sites, there is always the fear that they may be shut down by the US government. While unlikely, it could happen. The most clear case is BetonSports, which was a sports betting outfit that took US bets. When their management was arrested and BOS shut down, no one got paid.