It’s called America’s Cardroom but Americans can’t use it.

Now that’s about to change.

An Internet poker room that dropped out of the U.S. market is dropping back in.

America’s Cardroom (www.americascardroom.com), one of the first poker rooms on the Net, served the American market for years before cutting it off late last year, after the U.S. Congress passed the anti-online gambling legislation the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA).

But, the company now says, it’s about to welcome the U.S. market back.

“The reason America’s Cardroom stopped serving the U.S. market is because the company that provides our poker software did not want its software used by the U.S. market, after UIGEA passed,” a spokesman for America’s Cardroom told PokerHelper.com.

“So we had to pull out of the U.S. market,” the spokesman said. “But now we are in the midst of changing software providers.

“Our new software provider has no problem with the U.S. market, and once our new poker software is fully installed, tested and operational we will once again be accepting customers from the USA.”

The spokesman said the new U.S.-friendly poker software would be fully in place—and U.S. customers back in the fold—in about two weeks.

The changeover, however, is taking a little longer than expected.

A note that had been posted on the America’s Cardroom website until Friday morning had said the new poker software would be in place on Jan. 1, 2007.

A new note just posted on the America’s Cardrom website Friday afternoon now says the new poker software will be in place on Feb. 15, 2007.

The America’s Cardroom spokesman had no explanation for the six-week delay in changing software.

After the UIGEA was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush last fall, many Internet poker rooms—including America’s Cardroom—stopped marketing and advertising in the USA and accepting American clientele.

America’s Cardroom, however, now appears to be the first Internet poker room to reverse its ban on USA players and accept them once again.

America’s Cardroom is located in San Jose, Costa Rica, Central America.

It is affiliated with CRIS (Costa Rican International Sports), an online sports betting site also based in San Jose.

CRIS (www.betcris.com) was one of the first Internet sportsbooks in operation, going online in the mid-1990’s.