ACR Poker Review: Crypto Gaming and High-Stakes Tournaments
It’s been a couple of decades since the online poker boom, following Chris Moneymaker’s historic World Series of Poker (WSOP) win off an $86 online satellite tournament. Today, online poker remains a popular pastime for casual gamblers and aspiring pros seeking to repeat Moneymaker history.
One of the leading online poker providers right now is the super popular ACR Poker. Formerly known as Americas Cardroom, the site underwent a rebrand in 2023 and aims to make poker accessible to players everywhere, offering high-stakes tournaments and poker events for players of all levels.
Most recently, ACR Poker held one of its headline tournaments, the Online Super Series (OSS), ending on March 31st. Players from around the world competed for a share of the $25 million in guaranteed prize pools. Some of the series’ headline tournaments include the $1.5 million GTD and $6750,000 GTD Main Events.
There are also different Multifight tournaments for players of all levels, such as the $75,000 GTD, which had a $5.50 buy-in. Meanwhile, the OSS features more micro- and low-stakes tournaments, with buy-ins starting at just $0.11.
As such, ACR Poker remains the preferred destination for poker players and enthusiasts today. Below, we’ll look at some of the key features ACR Poker offers, from flexible cryptocurrency support to access to exciting, high-stakes tournaments:
Crypto support
Online poker has come a long way since the early 2000s. One of the ways online poker providers try to stand out from the market nowadays is by integrating emerging technologies, such as cryptocurrency and the Blockchain.
Today, crypto has become a popular payment method for online casinos, thanks to the added security, speed, and convenience compared to traditional fiat currency. ACR Poker offers different crypto payment methods for both deposits and withdrawals.
The site accepts over 60 different types of crypto, including popular coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as alternative coins like Litecoin and Tether. To help players save costs, crypto transfers at ACR generally have no fees, bar a small miner’s fee in some cases.
Previously, Phil Nagy, CEO of ACR Poker, emphasized the importance of gambling-related businesses adopting crypto payment methods, lest they risk being left behind. Nagy describes crypto as a faster, cheaper, and better payment method and takes pride in ACR Poker being a trailblazer and early adopter of crypto back in 2014.
Online poker tournaments
Crypto support aside, ACR Poker is also well known for its various online tournaments. Above, we mentioned the Online Super Series, but the site already has a series of more online poker tournaments ready to keep players occupied.
This includes fast-paced Lightning PKOs, and the $12 million guaranteed Dual Venom tournaments. The latter offers chances for the best players to secure a $2,650 seat for free through the Venom Vault and Venom Fever Satellites.
In February, ACR Poker also introduced a new tournament schedule designed to elevate the poker experience for players. Based on player feedback, the site has expanded its number of tournaments by 129% and enhanced its variety of low- to mid-stakes events for less experienced players. Weekly guaranteed prize pools have grown by 15%, totaling over $9.2 million.
ACR Poker helped increase efficiency by shortening tourney run times, with some going for as fast as an hour, so players don’t need to spend all day grinding virtually at the tables.
Security policies
As a leading online poker site, ACR Poker prioritizes player security. This includes prioritizing sensitive and private player information, as well as having protocols in place for preventing malicious acts by bad actors and cheaters.
Currently, ACR Poker’s flexible defensive plan includes using Captcha to prevent the use of bots that gather live game data. The site also actively records gameplay to spot any fishy patterns of behavior, including the potential use of virtual desktops and remote access tools, which ACR Poker is actively cracking down on.
When suspicious activity is detected or reported, an immediate investigation is triggered. The suspected account is temporarily deactivated during this period until the investigation concludes.
This investigation includes extensive gameplay and hand history reviews, as well as studying the video recordings of the player’s sessions to watch for repeated behavior.
Online poker community
Finally, aside from providing varied online poker experiences and ensuring safe and secure payments, ACR Poker has also heavily focused on building an online poker community that celebrates high-stakes professionals as well as aspiring players learning how to play and succeed at online poker.
The aforementioned Chris Moneymaker signed a deal with ACR Poker in 2021, spearheading the site’s team of ACR Pros. Aside from Moneymaker, ACR also introduced its own collective of poker streamers called the Americas Cardroom Stormers. This is a long list of poker players and enthusiasts from around the globe who stream cash games and poker tournaments on Twitch daily.
For players who are just starting and learning the ropes of specific poker variants and rules like Texas Hold’em, staying tuned to ACR Poker’s offering of ACR Pros and Stormers is a good way to learn useful and applicable poker strategies.
Ultimately, poker players seeking competitive online tournaments and a chance to sit at high-stakes tables will find lots of exciting opportunities at ACR Poker. The integration of cryptocurrencies also makes online gaming faster, more convenient, and more secure.
