BY TOM SOMACH

At Tony G. Poker, the “G” now stands for “Goodbye.”

The popular Internet poker room is the latest to announce that it is pulling out of the U.S. market and banning American customers from playing poker for real money at its cyber-tables.

The reason, according to the poker room, is because of the decision last month by Internet money-transferring service NETeller to pull out of the U.S. market.

U.K.-based NETeller’s move came days after its two Canadian founders were arrested by Federal authorities in the U.S. on gambling and other charges.

Many Tony G. Poker (www.tonygpoker.com) customers in the U.S. used NETeller (www.neteller.com) to electronically send funds to and from the poker room, so NETeller’s decision to quit the USA made it more difficult for Tony G. Poker to pay its American customers, the poker room said.

In an announcement on its website headlined “Tony G. Poker’s hand is forced by the U.S. government,” the Internet poker room explained its decision:

“It’s a very, very sad day for Tony G. There are no options for me to keep the room open to USA players. I feel very sad for all of you good folks in the USA but your government is very aggressive right now and is running loose. NETeller money has been seized from people that have done nothing wrong. Who knows if and when it will be returned to the people it belongs to?

“And where will the government stop in its quest to wipe out internet poker? My legal advice is not to close, but the hosting company in Malta also wants to close the doors to USA players. I could still keep Tony G. Poker going, since I believe poker is a game of skill, but with the USA government on a rampage, happy to freeze the funds of players that only wanted to play poker, that will put everyone at great risk as we have no way to pay our USA players.

“I am just the face in front of the site and can’t do what I would like to do. My hand was forced today and I have no say in this thing, (so)…due to recent changes in the U.S. legislation, we regret that we can no longer continue to allow U.S. players access to our money tables.”

Tony G. Poker is the second major online poker room to exit the U.S. market since NETeller announced its exodus from same.

About two weeks ago, Mansion Poker (www.mansionpoker.com) announced it was pulling out of the U.S. market.

Many other Internet poker rooms announced last year they were pulling the plug on the U.S. market, right after the U.S. Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which banned U.S. banks and credit card companies from doing business with most online gambling sites (horse racing wagering sites are the lone legal exception).

American customers of Tony G. Poker may continue to use the site to play poker for play money.