BY TOM SOMACH

One of the best American poker players in the world now has an Internet poker room that snubs Americans.

Doyle’s Room (www.doylesroom.com), an Internet poker room fronted by Texas poker legend Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson, has just announced that it is pulling out of the U.S. market.

The decision by Curacao-based Doyle’s Room to no longer allow U.S. customers to play poker at its site does not come as a complete surprise, as more and more online poker rooms are making that announcement in response to anti-online gambling legislation passed by the U.S. government last year.

That legislation–the Unlawful Internet Gambling Prohibition Act or UIGEA–made it harder for online poker players and other online gamblers from the U.S. to fund gambling sites by clamping down on the mechanisms used to fund the sites, such as banks and credit card companies.

As a result of UIGEA, many online gambling sites banned U.S. customers, and so did many e-wallets used by Americans for funding online gambling, such as NETeller (www.neteller.com).

Online poker sites Tony G Poker (www.tonygpoker.com) and Mansion Poker (www.mansionpoker.com) recently announced they were banning Americans.

Previously, Internet poker rooms Party Poker (www.partypoker.com), Paradise Poker (www.paradisepoker.com), Pacific Poker (www.pacificpoker.com), Titan Poker (www.titanpoker.com), Celeb Poker (www.celebpoker.com), Poker Room (www.pokerroom.com), CD Poker (www.cdpoker.com), Hollywood Poker (www.hollywoodpoker.com) and Canbet Poker (www.canbet.com), among others, pulled the plug on the U.S. market.

“In view of the passage of UIGEA and the cessation of operations by NETeller and other payment processors, the management of the Doyle Brunson Poker Network has reluctantly decided not to permit online real-money play by U.S.-based players at DoylesRoom.com,” a Brunson flack said.

U.S. customers of Doyle’s Room have the option of withdrawing their monies or being transferred to the poker rolls of Full Tilt Poker (www.fulltiltpoker.com), an online poker room that still welcomes U.S. business, he said.

Doyle’s Room was a popular online poker room with Americans because Doyle Brunson, a 10-time World Series of Poker (WSOP) champion, didn’t merely sell his name to the room in exchange for a stipend–he actually came online at the site and Average Joes could play against him or his son, Todd, also a champion poker player.

The decision by Doyle’s Room to ban U.S. clients begs an obvious question–What about Doyle?

If he–or his room–now believes it is illegal for Americans to use the site, why wouldn’t it likewise then be illegal for an American (Doyle) to run the site, or endorse it, or front it, or whatever the exact terminology is for what Doyle is doing?

Don’t bet on Brunson addressing that issue any time soon.