The game of poker or playing poker hasn't been outlawed. What the U.S. government did was to put a law onto the books that makes it very difficult to deposit funds into or withdraw funds out of the poker sites. Without going into the details(mainly because I don't what they are), the government has made it illegal for U.S. banks to participate in the transfer of funds for these sites and so the alternatives have made it hard for the smaller poker sites to make a go of it. However sites like Full Tilt Poker, Pokerstars and a few others have decided to continue doing business, and are doing so in a legal manner.