Myself I've been gaming just over 5 years online. Some of our visitors though like yourself have been gaming for a lot longer.

The US laws are very stringent. Which is odd seeing as Nevada ie Las Vegas is the gaming capital of the world.

Your also might want to have a look at this article: http://www.onlinecasinoreviewer.com/casinocity.htm

I can't see much changing though whilst the Bush Administration is in power.

That said there are many online casino and poker portals which allow US based players to register.

I started off with blackjack and then progressed onto online poker. I've not played poker in a card room before though. But I play it quite a bit on the net. Royal Vegas Poker is great, but that's only my opinion