Solution for Party and US players.

[Shroomy]

I have pretty much figured out a solution for those people in the US who wish to continue to play at sites that do not allow US players.

The solution is only for how to not be recognized as a US based IP address. It doesn’t address how you would get an account as a user that is registered in a different country.

The solution is to set up a VPN server to act as a tunnel for your TCPIP traffic.
The clients (aka players) will simply start a VPN before starting party poker. Note that from the time you start the VPN, all your traffic will be going through the VPN server in the remote location. So all your applications that require network access should still work but they will all be routed through the remote server. (so if you say open a google web page the request goes to the vpn server, which requests the page from google then back to you, so it adds a little overhead)

I have tested the solution with a VPN server in the states, but plan to get a foreign hosting company to host the vpn server (most likely as a virtual server for cost purposes)

If anyone else wants to copy the setup, Ill post the details later when I get the little details worked out. But I’m using openvpn from http://openvpn.net and anyone with some decent network experience could probably do it their selves pretty easily and quickly

What I am wondering is if anyone would be interested in using/sharing this solution to help offset the cost? Or if any of the several good IT guys here wanted to be backup admin and use it for free. It would have to be limited to 10 people or so due to IP constraints, you can’t have everyone appearing to be coming from the same IP address so I will get an unique address for anyone who uses it. I think I can split everything up among 10 people for about $15-$20 each per month.

I haven’t worked out a bunch of details yet, like the best way to assign IP’s or how to split the costs or get the $$ and stuff. But I figured Id see if anyone is interested first, and also to let anyone else try the same solution if they were interested, since I got the idea to begin with from the other posts here.

BTW the one thing I am worried about is someone attempting to run the party client without starting the vpn first. If anyone can think of a way to prevent this, please reply.

Also while your party traffic is secure by design, any other non encrypted traffic could theoretically be intercepted by whoever controls the VPN server (but it can be today by your isp, and a ton of other people) of course I have no desire to know what you are typing on AIM, or whatever, but you should be aware that it is possible (just like its possible without a VPN)


last thing, right now I think that this is legal, but I need to look into it more. If it is not, obviously I am not getting involved with it.

[Murd0c]

No one is going to do that. Party is dead anyway.

[rvg72]

The problem is that you need the fish to have an easy way to play at party (or any other site). I don't think many people are concerned about being able to find a way to play - they are concerned that the average, lousy player will not be able to figure it out.

rvg

[runstop]

Yes, and afaik (I'm Canadian) the law doesn't make _playing_ illegal, but makes the transfer of money illegal for US players. So VPN/Tunneling, etc doesn't make a difference if you have no $ to play with.

My 2c.

[SamIAm]

Even if you can find a way to get around the IP ban, why would you want a casino where everybody there has had to find a way around the IP ban?
-Sam

[Shroomy]

I pretty much agree with you guys, I was more interested in it as a technical project.

And now I think it may also be illegal under the wire act, so ignore the post.

[NL Newbie]

I found a easier solution, POKERSTARS!

[Percula]

While using a VPN tunnel to reach a site will work until someone decides to block your access to the VPN...

From a strictly technical point of view... The average player aka the fish can bearly use a web browser, now you want them to use a SSL VPN. Not too many "fish" are capable. While an SSL VPN can be a LOT easier to use than a IPSec VPN it is still far beyond the technical capability or understanding of the average person.

From a strictly practical point of view... It really doesn't matter unless you can prove to Party (or whatever site) that you are not a resident of the US. It's not like Party has ever asked anyone to varify who they are before allowing a significant cash out, player to player transfer or large deposit. Not too mention that the vast majority of the fish are not going to be there soon. You would be better off just following the fish to PS or FTP or UB or where ever they end up schooling to.

[mikechops]

I am interested in playing on Party. I figure Party are going to lose a lot of US fish, but there are still a ton of fishy Europeans. I had an alternative solution low-tech solution.

1. Get a phone service with unlimited long-distance to Canada.

2. Sign up with AOL (Canada) (or Canada on-line or whatever)

3. Play over a dial-up connection.

This solution isn't nearly as sexy as OP's. I haven't used dial-up for nearly 10 years. I am not sure it is sufficiently reliable. However, this does seem almost bulletproof.

[DuderinoAB]

You guys this is completely idiotic. You're going to go to all this trouble to play at the 15th biggest site on the net that has the worst cs in the industry?