Can I Just Connect Over VPN?

Update Oct 2011: PokerStars Cracks Down on Players Using VPN to Conceal U.S. Location – it seems Stars ar continuing to act forcefully to prohibit players from using VPN. Read more on pokerfuse.com.

So, VPNs. This subject is now popping up and being discussed in public (2+2 thread), so I wanted to cover this in detail. The tldr version: It’s technically possible, but probably a lot harder than you think, and you run a high risk. I will explain what VPN is, and why I strongly recommend that you don’t try it. But for those who still want to try, I will give a few pointers below.

A quick explanation to those who don’t know: A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, allows you to securely route your internet connection through a server. There are many possible benefits to doing this. Corporate VPNs may allow you to access intranet data or email; they offer increased security when using insecure public hotspots; allow you to get around web access filtering from your country or ISP; give you increased anonymity whilst browsing; and – what is most relevant to US poker players right now – if you tunnel through a computer in another country you will appear to any service or website you access that you reside in another country.

However this is really only one part of the equation. To do this playing poker, you need to demonstrate that you actually reside in your destination country. This means showing proof of address. And it means that you have an online wallet or bank account that matches that country. And to open a Moneybookers account, this needs to be connected with a real-world bank account in the same country. And it’s not easy to open a bank account. Usually it requires proof of residency or citizenship.

And of course, you will be running a very high risk with your online account. Pokerstars and Full Tilt decided to comply with the DOJ and stop offering online real money poker play to US residents. Therefore if you try and get around this block through a VPN, you will be in direct violation of the terms of service and risk forfeiting your online bankroll if discovered.

PokerStars have recently added a 'USA FAQ’, and on the list it states, “Can I use a VPN? No. Real money play is not allowed from within the US under any circumstances. Players who attempt to play for real money from inside the US with the aid of VPNs or other technical workarounds may lose their playing privileges and/or funds in their account.*”. So you will now be explicitly breaking the terms laid down by Stars and will be risking the funds in your account.”

If you use a public VPN service – say BetSecure.net (note: there is no reason to choose specifically a service that is targeting the gambling community) – PokerStars could block all betsecure.net IP addresses and ban those who connect through it. Or perhaps you forget one time to connect through VPN and fire up the PokerStars lobby. Of course they may not choose to do anything, and instead turn a blind eye. Only time will tell to see how they react; but it’s a high-risk gamble.

So as you can see, I don’t recommend you try a VPN to get around the US block. There are, however, many legitimate uses of VPNs. I have used a VPN service to improve security whilst using public hotspots. As a UK citizen but resident of Spain, it’s also had a few other advantages: I connect through the UK when using online banking, as connecting through a Spanish IP address may raise security flags. It also allows me to access BBC iPlayer.

So for those still interested in VPN, I will give a few recommendations from my personal experience. I strongly recommend you use a service that uses OpenVPN. OpenVPN is an independent, open source application for PC, Mac, linux and other platforms, that offers secure SSL connection. It means that you are protected against your traffic data being snooped – which is a serious consideration when using a public VPN service. Without this you would need to have complete trust on the VPN service – but as OpenVPN is open source and independent, it removes that requirement. I repeat, *do not use any VPN service that does not offer connection through OpenVPN.

A second very important consideration is reliability, especially if you plan to play poker through VPN. There is now an additional failure point. No public VPN will offer the same uptime that you get through connecting directly, and you will see a reduction in connectivity speed as all your data is encrypted and routed through some other point in the world. However a reliable and fast provider is essential.

I used StrongVPN.com and the times I’ve used it (not much) reliability has been good and speed has been acceptable. However I did have one major problem: I couldn’t connect to Full Tilt. My guess is that the IP address I connected to had been banned by FTP; perhaps some scammer or bot user had used StrongVPN in the past and used the same server; or perhaps FT blocks everything through StrongVPN anyway (although there are legitimate reasons to use VPN, a service that offers anonymity and security will certainly attract a higher incidence of those trying to cheat or scam).

I could have changed the StrongVPN to another server (they offer dozens in the UK, US, and countries throughout Europe), however I was concerned in general that I didn’t want to associate my account with an IP address that potentially had been used for illegal activity. So for now, I have stopped using the service when playing poker.

And this underlines the major problem that I highlighted above: using VPNs is inherently risky. Risky in the connection, risky for using a public service, risky for sharing IP addresses with others that may be using the service for more nefarious activities.

So if you are still interested in playing poker over VPN, my advice is: understand the risks, then run your own VPN server. Get VPS hosting in your destination country with root access, and read up on setting up an OpenVPN host on tha server. Or find a geek to do it for you.