URounders Club: A Private Poker Club On Your Smartphone

At this very second there’s a poker game potentially being played in the palm of your hand, and you probably don’t even know it.

Right now, virtually everyone can play poker directly on their smartphone. Indeed, never has poker been so easy to access, as fast-paced, and more fun to play.

Thanks in part to URounders Club, a fast-growing private online poker site that’s hosted on a convenient smartphone app available to almost everyone, poker players from all over the world can now log in, sign-up, and immediately begin playing popular games such as No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and another variant called Five-Card Omaha.

Typical buy-ins range from as little as $4 all the way up to $4,000. Right now the most popular deposit amount is $10. The user-friendly URounders app not only enables participants of all skill levels to play cash games and tournaments, but Open-Faced Chinese Poker as well. Forget about hauling around bulky laptops and fumbling with tablets, at URounders, you play poker much like at a real casino at any location with a phone signal. Waiting in a long line? Sitting around in a restaurant? Waiting to board a plane? Bored at home? There’s an easy solution. Sign up at URounders and log in. The cards play exactly the same and the money you can win spends every bit as good.

URounders is the creative brainchild and now the smash success of Eric Graul, a true visionary and hard-working industry insider, who initially started out as a novice gamer nearly 20 years ago. He was an avid Magic: The Gathering enthusiast and like many successful poker players who made the crossover, Graul was quick to see the link between the two sophisticated card games and apply skill sets that, at first glance, had seemingly disparate requirements in strategy. Graul, who proudly served in the U.S. Marine Corps for six years (he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan for three of those enlisted years) and previously worked as a government contractor, saw something few others were noticing: huge demand for poker remains and the smartphone is certainly the most accessible delivery system for games ever invented. Accordingly, gaming — and more specifically poker — began to take up more of his time and really captured his attention.

Graul was on his way to becoming a real Rounder.

“About three years ago I started hearing about these private poker clubs being played on your smartphone where you had to know somebody to get in,” Graul said. “I started looking into it more closely. I quickly discovered that the games were really good. Soft, I mean. I could really see the potential.”

Because most of the stakes were low and the apps (at the time) weren’t as good as today, Graul went back to mainly playing on U.S.-based online poker sites, and grinding out a modest living. But the fascination with the more accessible phone-based apps he’d experienced earlier had certainly captured his attention. His next goal was to get more involved and create something new based on what he initially experienced — and then improve upon it.

The URounders’ concept was born and the mission statement was written.

“We are poker players who got fed up with the way the ‘big sites’ were running things and wanted to create a better player experience where they could trust the people behind software,” their official website page says. This being a not-too-subtle reference to integrity issues brought about by serious problems in the past with online poker games. But it went deeper than trust and winning back online poker players to a new and better opportunity.

“We wanted to give micro-stakes players a chance to actually improve and move up through the stakes by offering rake up to 5 times lower than other online sites. We want players who work at their game to earn a profit and minimize the expense of new players learning the game. We strive to maintain a healthy balance of player types and skill levels,” the official URounders site states.

As for numbers and popularity, URounders is already up to more than 4,100 players (and growing fast). At any given time, there are 20 to 25 games actively going when you log on. Although action is concentrated with North American players, increasingly, URounders finds that new players are joining the club from many other countries and getting into the game. The easy access to a phone app makes this a potential poker boom all over again. After all, who wouldn’t rather be playing poker on their smartphone when looking for fun and a possible way to win some money?

Online poker apps including URounders are entirely legal in most U.S. jurisdictions since they are essentially private clubs, just like any normal fraternal organization. Just as a group of friends might gather and play a private game in someone’s home, the online app attracts players with a similar interest (playing poker) and provides an accessible platform for buying in and cashing out. However, just as most online poker players elect to maintain money in their poker bankroll for future sessions, cash exchanges are not nearly as common as in brick and mortar cardrooms. Deposits and cashouts can be done via major credit cards ApplePay, Zelle, Skrill, and cryptocurrencies.

One of the many novelties of URounders is the integral bond between poker clubs that join together and form a much larger union. The union, consisting of many clubs with numerous individual poker players, honors one another’s financial transactions. Think of it as a sort of poker Block chain. This means that individuals exchange funds on a peer to peer basis. Unions are critical to the much larger network, since not only are funds transfers facilitated but player pools increase substantially. Hence, the action and variety of games from which to choose gets better and better with more players.

Not only is the future bright for URounders, but there does also appear to be a better chance at upward mobility.

“One interesting thing about the clubs is the rake is different than online sites,” Graul said. “Players at the site really get stuck due to the high rake when playing micro stakes. They can’t get the win rate to move up. The rake is astronomical in relation to the stakes. But at URounders, we cap the rake on the smaller games. So, beating the game for a profit is theoretically much more possible for many more players.”

Here’s a really simple and informative link to a short video that shows how URounders (and the entire concept) works. It’s a perfect explanation for those who know little about playing poker on an app:

Just like in online poker games, URounders allows all players to select their own screen name, create a personal profile, and even post an image or photograph. Registration is quick and easy. Right now, URounders even offers new players deposit bonuses (up to 200 percent!), free play of $25, and the chance to win additional perks and prizes through their V.I.P. program. New incentives are added regularly.

There are also plenty of informative resources available to players who are new to the concept or are simply curious and want to know more, including a very helpful Facebook page with hundreds of followers.

For more information, download the app, and get started playing poker right on your smartphone.

Looking ahead, Graul sees significant growth potential. URounders is actively in the process of expanding and setting up operations within a licensed jurisdiction (Costa Rica) where players can be fully protected in a regulated environment. “We all want to have a safe place to play poker," Graul said. “Players have to feel secure and be confident their funds are protected and the games are honest.”

Thanks to URounders, you can play poker right now and 24/7 from just about anywhere so long as you have a working smartphone. The games are good, it’s quick to sign up, and easy to get started.

Hey, poker players. Can you hear me now?

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