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Visit
Absolute Poker
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Overall:
4.5/5
Bonus and Promotions:
5/5
Fish Rating:
 
2.5/5
(fish sans backbone)
Tournaments:
4/5
Software:
4.5/5
Payouts:
4.5/5
Customer Service:
3.5/5
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Absolute Poker Bonus
Code for 100% bonus + $10 free:
BTFBONUS
ePassporte can be used at
Absolute
Poker by U.S. players for instant deposits by
credit card or checking account. I can recommend the ePassporte
service from personal experience. Another new method for this site
is Add-Funds, which is a very easy way to fund your account via
credit card. When you purchase credits from add-funds.com, you're
given an account number to provide the poker room. This process
takes just a few minutes and most credit cards are accepted. If
yours isn't, try calling your bank and letting them know the charge
is genuine.
Also accepted are cash transfers, which takes a few
extra minutes but is a reliable method. One easy way to make a cash
transfer is to visit a 7-11 store, which has transfer machines at many of their locations. Paper alternatives include
cashier's checks mailed directly to the poker room. If you have any questions about
deposits, please don't hesitate to contact us or the
poker room.
Overview:
4.5/5
Absolute Poker
has typically offered large deposit bonuses, and I commend them for
upping it to a $250 maximum through our site. They aren't terribly stingy about
cashing it out, so it is a bonus that you can earn at the middle
stakes. I
was initially drawn here because of the huge deposit bonus, and
I've been pretty impressed overall with their package. They offer a pretty
good range of tournaments and a bunch of freerolls to play as a
second table.
The competition at
Absolute Poker tends to be tighter than average, but
I find the players easy to dominate. During prime hours, you can find full
ring games for fixed-limit and no-limit up to the $5/10 level. Including their software and high
traffic,
Absolute Poker is a solid site that we now like a lot more
following their decision to welcome US players to the tables.
Bonus (100%
up to $500 + $10 free) and Promotions:
5/5
I'm giving
Absolute
Poker a top
score for the $500 signup bonus, which includes a special offer of
$10 free instantly on any deposit. Keep in mind that you'll
need to use bonus code BTFBONUS at signup to be eligible for
the extra $10. The 100% bonus goes into your
bonus account and you can gradually release it into your cash
account by playing raked hands.
Players earn $5 of bonus for every 30 raked
hands (at least 50c rake). Essentially, this means that each pot will
have to be at least $10 to secure a raked hand credit. This shouldn't
be a problem for the middle or high stakes player, but low limit
Absolute
Poker
players should look for tables with higher average pots in order to
earn hands for your bonus. The next best promotion here is the
$3,000 new player freeroll which has a worthwhile prize pool.
Other promotions at
Absolute
Poker include multiple
freerolls every day, a cracked Aces giveaway, and a Royal Flush
Jackpot. The freerolls are very popular but I recommend they
increase the blind speed to cut down on time. It simply isn't worth
the effort to play for 6 hours to win $20.
Fish:
2.5/5
Overall,
Absolute
Poker tends to run tighter
than many of its newer counterparts. Flop percentages are usually
under 30% and pots at the lower limits are usually fairly small. As
the stakes increase, it seems that the pot size opens up a bit, but
the tight play continues. The best word to describe these players is
timid, rather than tight.
Similar to other tighter and more consistent sites,
you can take advantage of the players at
Absolute
Poker as often as possible. Why
not raise every time from late position with any sort of hand if
they won't play back? If your opponents have been playing tight and suddenly
throw in a massive reraise you can know to get out of the hand. These players are
mostly predictable and I've done pretty well here overall. Of
course, always stay aware of the potential draws and make your
opponents pay
if they're going to play them.
Tournaments:
4/5
The tournament choices are pretty good
at Absolute
Poker. They offer a good number of low buy-in tournaments, but I
find their big tournament satellites to be very good here.
Typically, the number of players isn't very high for these
multi-table satellites, which gives you a much higher chance of
actually earning the entry.
General traffic for
Absolute
Poker tournaments is huge
for their freerolls, but not extremely high for normal tournaments.
Even though their freerolls are very popular, I'll only open them
occasionally as a second table to my current tournament or ring
game. The reason is that the prize pool is usually only $50, and
2000 people almost always enter them. Unfortunately, the tournament
is run at a normal pace, so you will probably be playing for 5 or 6
hours to win that top prize.
If you're interested in freerolls at
Absolute
Poker consider playing events
that require Absolute Points, as the cash prize is higher and the
number of players is lower. Overall, the middle stakes buy-in events
attract an average amount of players but the low-limit events are
popular.
Software:
4.5/5
The
Absolute Poker software package runs very well and is
user-friendly, in my opinion. This is another site that allows you
to upload your own avatar, which helps to add a personal touch to
your spot at the table. Another really silly thing that I like is
the virtual "snack bar" you're offered at the table. You can view
their menu and pick out a snack or drink, which is promptly
"delivered" to the table next to your seat. It seems like players
rarely use this feature, but I think it's entertaining. For some
reason, this feature has been disabled for now which disappointed
me. What am I supposed to do if I crave the old pixelated hot dog?
Absolute
Poker also improved the hand history
feature, which now shows a full table graphic for each hand. The lobby provides all the necessary
information for ring games, including hands per hour and percentage
seeing the flop. The games actually run very
quickly, which is important to me. Typically, hands per hour at a
full ring game runs over 60-65 - a respectable rate.
US Payouts:
4.5/5
Absolute
Poker
offers two of the easiest payout methods for US players: ePassporte
and paper checks via standard mail. Either way is straightforward
and allows you to receive payouts quickly. You will need an
established ePassporte account to withdraw electronically. However,
once you have your account in the system withdrawals are received
within 24 hours. Paper checks are also processed for free.
Customer Service:
3.5/5
The customer service at
Absolute
Poker
is only via e-mail and I often wish they would respond quicker.
Sometimes you'll only have to wait 10-15 minutes for
a response but other times I've had to wait several hours.
Player Traffic
Absolute
Poker is very centered around shorthanded ring games, but during
peak hours they do usually have at least one or two full tables
going on (which I greatly prefer) at limits up to $5/10. They
usually show up as having over 10,000 players online but that is a
somewhat inflated number due to the freebie hunters packing up the
freerolls. Tournament traffic is good for smaller events, and their
satellite traffic remains somewhat low meaning you won't need to compete
against as many players but there will be fewer prizes available.
Best Features
 Big deposit bonus. This does require a
fair amount of raked hands at a certain level, so bigger players
will certainly earn more of it. Smaller players should multi-table
to take advantage of this.
Lots of shorthanded games. If you like
this type of table you'll find plenty of them at this site.
Fast software. Game speed can run as
high as 70-80 hands per hour, so you can get in more hands in less
time.
Game Selection: Hold 'em,
Omaha, Stud
Limits: Limit: 2c/4c up to
$50/$100 No-Limit: 10c/25c up to $5/$10
Deposit Methods:
NETeller, ePassporte,
AddFunds, Click2Pay, Central Coin, major credit cards, MoneyBookers, Instadebit, and bank drafts.
Minimum Deposit:
$20
Tips: As with any
site, sometimes you will be up against a table full of tight
players. Keep an eye on the cards they show down. If they are
consistently strong hands, you will know that you can safely fold
your mediocre hands against their raise. Tighter players also tend
to be more observant of you, so I suggest playing an unpredictable
style and raising at times with drawing hands like suited
connectors.
Absolute
Poker also
gives you plenty of information before you choose which table to sit
down at. I always look at statistics such as percentage of players
who see the flop and average pot. If the flop % is low and the pots
are high, you'll usually have to go through several raises to see a
flop. On the other hand, with a high flop % (40 or 45%) and small
pots (20 to 30 times the Big Blind), you'll usually run into a lot
of cheap flops and calling stations. Usually, tables at Absolute
tend to be the former.
Visit Absolute Poker
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