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Visit Carbon
Poker
CARBON POKER
BONUS CODE FOR 150%:
BTF750. Our new
Carbon Poker players are now eligible for a private 150%
bonus with a massive cap of $750. This is more than the
standard bonus amount and can only be claimed by players
signing up via our links and using the BTF750 bonus code at
the cashier.
One of the key improvements
Carbon Poker
has made over the past year is to substantially increase its cashier
offerings, especially to US players. The simplest deposit option is
via credit card, which is accepted at an above-average rate and
should probably be your first option. The minimum credit card
deposit is $20. As an alternative, the UseMyWallet option is highly
recommended for its straightforward interface, low fees, and ability
to transfer between multiple poker rooms.
UseMyWallet works as an intermediary
between your credit card or bank account and the poker room. Players
can deposit directly via credit card or check account and then have
the funds transferred to
Carbon Poker
or another poker room. Funds can also be sent back to UseMyWallet
and withdrawn to a checking account. It's an extremely easy and
pain-free process that I can easily recommend personally. This is
usually an invite-only service but our players can simply ask
Carbon Poker
support to create an account for them. A final alternative is the
cash transfer service, which can be found in thousands of retail
locations. Ask
Carbon Poker
support for transfer instructions.
 
Overall:
4.5/5
One of the most pleasant success stories to come out of the poker
market in recent years has to be
Carbon Poker.
With its roots as a gimmicky brand for freeroll hunters
Carbon Poker
has emerged as one of the top players in the US poker market with a
large amount of strong features for more serious players. With US
poker rooms dropping out of the market left and right
Carbon Poker
has shown a sincere commitment to remaining open to US players,
which is important in our rankings. The extremely poor player
quality at
Carbon Poker is also a breath of fresh air from the increasingly
tight tables found elsewhere online.
Besides allowing US players, the
excellent private bonus for our players, improving tournament
schedule, busier cash games, and one of the best software packages
online makes
Carbon Poker one of our top-rated poker rooms in a number of key
categories. The aforementioned bonus has actually been more than
tripled over the standard offer for our new
Carbon Poker
players to 150% with a maximum cap of $750. Depending on your
deposit amount this has the potential to be one of the largest
total dollar bonuses online.
Previously, one of the weakest aspects
of Carbon
Poker was the paltry player traffic, which affected both cash
games and tournament attendance. With the sizable influx of US
players looking for a new home
Carbon Poker
actually now provides some of the highest traffic levels of any US
poker room. Combined with the much looser-than-average player
quality the cash games can be extremely profitable for experienced
players. While it doesn't have the brand recognition of some of the
longer-tenured sites
Carbon Poker
should seriously be considered by players who prioritize easy
deposits, strong software, and loose tables.
Bonus (150%
up to $750) and Promotions:
4.5/5
One of the benefits of going with
Carbon Poker
over other Merge network rooms is the exclusive bonus offer they're
giving to our players. The standard bonus is 100% up to $600 but our
bonus is 150% with a maximum cap of $750. Please note that players
must sign up to
Carbon Poker
via our links and use bonus code BTF750 at the cashier in
order to eligible. The minimum deposit is $10. With the increase for
our players this is actually one of the largest bonuses in terms of
both percentage and dollar amounts online.
The
Carbon Poker
bonus payout terms are fairly straightforward and similar to other
poker rooms. This is a play-through bonus and you'll be paid out
every time you earn $5 in bonus money. With 75 VIP points required
for every dollar of bonus I would estimate that you'll earn between
$2-3 on average at each $1/2 NL table, which is about average
compared to play-through bonuses elsewhere. While small-stakes
Carbon Poker
players may not earn the entire bonus middle and higher-stakes
players shouldn't have trouble cashing out at least most of it,
especially while multitabling.
Other promotions at
Carbon Poker
include one of the better player rewards programs with perks like
converting VIP points to cash, private player support, extra
freerolls, and cash back on your gameplay. Some of the rewards at
Carbon Poker
are especially generous such as a free tournament coupon on your
birthday and the cash back on both side game and poker play. I've
never seen either of those offered at other poker rooms.
Finally, our new
Carbon Poker
players also earn entry in 14 private new depositor freerolls with
$500 prize pools each. While I usually don't bother with massive
crapshoots for miniscule prizes the field for these is much smaller
than typical freerolls as it is limited only to new depositors.
Overall,
Carbon Poker
has a very strong promotional system that combines our increased new
player bonus with a unique VIP program for regular players.
Fish:
5/5
One of the top draws of playing at
Carbon Poker
is the extremely poor level of competition, especially in comparison
to the largest poker rooms that house thousands of full-time
grinders. Professional (or those who like to think of themselves as
professional) online players tend to avoid
Carbon Poker
and the Merge network due to its lack of long-term reputation or
humongous tournaments. As a result, the rest of us can enjoy tables
largely filled with casual calling stations and outright maniacs.
The community feel of the
Carbon Poker
software lends itself to a more relaxed playing environment where
players gamble more often on weaker hands simply to stay in the
hand.
The average table numbers at
Carbon Poker
are indicative of soft play with flop percentages averaging 25-30%
at full 9-handed no-limit tables and average pots usually ranging
between 20-25 big blinds. Those numbers are at least double the
monolithic poker rooms, displaying one of the biggest benefits of
staying away from the big boys. Unfortunately, we're in an age of
online poker where players are becoming longer-tenured and more
educated about strategy with substantially fewer brand-new players
entering the game. The result is an increasing amount of smarter
tight play around the game.
Carbon Poker
largely bucks that trend with a new-player-friendly atmosphere and
certainly earns our top Fish Rating.
Tournaments:
4/5
The tournaments at
Carbon Poker
are still a bit of a work in progress but still comprise a solid
overall schedule. The historical lack of player traffic have
hampered the number of big tournaments but the increased player
numbers of late have certainly helped.
Carbon Poker
offers about 15-20 daily guarantees with prize pools ranging from a
few hundred dollars to $7,500. Some of the best values include
$2,000 guarantees with a $3-5 buy-in, a $7,500 with a $20 buy-in,
and a $3,000 guarantee with a $10 buy-in. There are also a number of
rebuy and add-on events, although I'm not a fan of that format.
There are typically at least 8 or so tournaments per hour during peak
times.
The big weekly tournament at
Carbon Poker
is a $100,000 guarantee with a $100 buy-in. While there are certainly
bigger prize pools elsewhere this tournament is still attractive for
a few reasons: you can get it over with in a few hours of time,
there is an overlay of several thousand dollars when less than
500 players show up for the guaranteed prize pool, and you'll have
less players to withstand to get into the money.
Carbon Poker
also offers bounty tournaments, in which half of your buy-in serves
as a bounty for the player who knocks you out. Bounties add a twist
to the strategy and allows players a chance to at least break even
without even getting into the money.
Carbon Poker
may not be the first choice for serious tournament players yet but
they do host enough guarantees and events throughout the day to hold
the interest of mid-range players.
Software:
4.5/5
One of the gems of
Carbon Poker
that often seems to get overlooked is the unique software package.
While the bird's-eye view and table graphics are standard online
poker fare, spending a bit more time playing here uncovers a number
of interesting features that I'm surprised haven't become industry
standards. Starting on the functionality side
Carbon Poker
employs the commonly used filter system to allow only specific game
types to show up in the lobby, making it easier to find your desired
game. Multiple tables can also be tabbed similar to your internet
browser to avoid having your entire monitor filled with cascading
windows.
Carbon Poker
is also one of the very few sites to support Macs with their own
native client.
Each
Carbon Poker
player is able to choose a custom player image and, interestingly,
display trophies or stars next to their screen name for tournament
wins or, in the case of stars, for a growing player history. While I
almost always disable player chat
Carbon Poker
persuaded me to allow it by offering a number of animated emotes for
different situations. It has no consequence on the gameplay but it
just adds a bit of interest to be able to play with the emoticons
between hands.
Other different features of the
Carbon Poker
software include rabbit-hunting to see the results of folded hands,
the ability to only show one card, and winning percentages during
all-ins. Along with the quick game speed of 60-70 hands per hour for
9-handed tables it just feels like one of the most cohesive and
interesting software packages out there. It doesn't get a whole lot
of attention from players but I would confidently say that the
Carbon Poker
software is one of the top few in online poker.
US Payouts:
4.5/5
A couple of years ago the payouts at
Carbon Poker
were a constant source of frustration for me. There is never an
excuse for payouts via electronic withdrawal methods such as
UseMyWallet to take more than 24-48 hours yet
Carbon Poker
took at least a week to process them. Fortunately,
Carbon Poker
now seems to have learned that quick payouts are essential to keep
players loyal to the poker room. Electronic withdrawals now seem to
only take 12-24 hours and checks only take a week or two to arrive.
Customer Service:
4.5/5
Falling short only in terms of telephone
support
Carbon Poker
does provide live support in the form of chat when you don't feel
like waiting for an e-mail reply. Generally I've found the
representatives to be knowledgeable and be able to help with minor
issues while I wait. E-mail would be the next option with reply
times typically being within an hour or two. Supposedly, the new VIP
program allows for special priority support for the higher tiers.
Player Traffic
With the recent explosion of traffic of
US players looking for a new home
Carbon Poker
may have finally turned the corner on the biggest thorn in their
side: player traffic. Online player numbers have been exceeding
10,000 and the once-sparse cash games have been filling up. While it
won't equal peak times at the largest networks
Carbon Poker
usually draws about 10-15 active cash games at each level up to $1/2
NL with a few active tables at higher stakes. Some of the larger
tournaments draw almost 1,000 players with everyday guarantees
drawing at least several hundred.
Best Features
Open to US Players. With poker rooms leaving the market seemingly
every other day
Carbon Poker
is one of the top few sites remaining for US players.
Large exclusive bonus. The bonus percentage is increased to 150% for
our players with a very large cap of $750.
Loose Tables. The quality of active games will always be more
important than the quantity. For players coming from the stuffy
mega-sites
Carbon Poker
is a haven filled with inexperienced players.
Interesting Software. With little innovation in online poker
software over the past few years
Carbon Poker
stands out with unique little touches like all-in winning
percentages and rabbit-hunting.
Game Selection: Hold'em,
Omaha, Stud, Draw
Limits: Limit: 2c/4c up to
$20/40 No-Limit: 2c/4c up to $10/20
Deposit Methods:
NETeller, EcoCard, UseMyWallet,
MoneyBookers, Clickandbuy, Bpay, Lobanet, Instadebit, Webmoney,
Giropay, Click2Pay, and major credit cards.
Minimum Deposit:
$10
Tips: If you've
studied poker strategy for long you already know that the strongest
hands in Texas Hold'em win much more often against fewer opponents.
The odds simply favor a random hand drawing out on premium pocket
pairs when more and more hands get involved in the pot. With the
loose-passive (calling-station) style of play common at most
Carbon Poker
tables you might consider a more specific strategy for thinning out
the field and retaining the strength of your dominant hands. While
most poker strategists call for a standard rise of 3-4x the big
blind pre-flop in no-limit Hold'em I often increase my range to 4-6x
the big blind at
Carbon Poker.
This larger raise makes passive players
at
Carbon Poker
have to pay a bit more attention before blindly calling with a
garbage hand. A slightly larger raise also provides the benefit of
building the pot that much higher for what you presume will be a
winning hand. If you're going to vary your raise amounts it's
important to mix in those larger raises into some of your
non-premium hands to avoid telegraphing when you have a big hand.
While it may seem counterintuitive to discourage action with a
premium hand like pocket Aces or Kings your average winning
percentages skyrocket when less opponents are involved. At looser
sites like
Carbon Poker
make it your goal to build the pot quickly from a small pool of
opponents.
Visit
Carbon Poker
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