Full Review of Carbon Poker
Summary of Carbon Poker
Carbon Poker is one of the new poker sites that have done very well right from the start and has established a position on the online poker scene. Carbon is on the Merge Gaming Network which, although recently launched (Feb. 2007), was actually built around the former player base of Poker.com.
Thanks to this, there's already good player volume on the network. Since it welcomes all U.S. players, it's also growing very quickly.
Game play on Carbon Poker is generally fairly loose, with lots of new players, and there are definitely opportunities here to make good money for someone who knows what they're doing. The software is actually very good, and there are a range of unusual games to please all of us who have grown just a tad holdem overfed.
Promotion-wise, Carbon Poker has stuck to the basics so far. Beside the really nice sign-up bonus at $550 and 200%, a refer-a-friend bonus and a royal flush bonus (up to $1,000) make up the majority of promo offers.
However, Carbon recently also added a new monthly $50,000 comp point freeroll and a $20,000 Sunday guarantee. Good value.
Regular satellites for big live events like the Aussie Millions and various World Poker Tour tourneys have made the agenda.
Bonuses are s released in chunks of $10. Each bonus dollar takes 250 earned comp points. This might appear a bit on the hefty side, but keep in mind that one single raked hand that you play can give you up to 10 comp points.
Promos should only get bigger with time as this strong little guy keeps building muscles and fan club.
Poker Traffic
Player volumes are moderate but growing. At peak hours you'll usually find about 350 cash game players (as of February 2008), but with this being one of the few networks that accept U.S. players those numbers can only be expected to rise.
Like we said above, most action is still in no-limit hold'em, but numbers are gradually growing for the more unique games as well. Those are hard to get by on most other poker sites.
Even though Carbon Poker accepts U.S. players, peak hours tend to occur during the European evening zone. Use this information to your advantage.
Software & Graphics
The poker client is one of the real highlights of the site. The vector-based images make for very crisp and clear graphics, even when multi-tabling with minimum-sized windows. The software is very comprehensive, offering more or less all the functions a player could wish for.
Among the more original functions are the "rabbit hunt" feature – the ability to see the river card after everybody folds on the turn, and the "show one card" feature that lets you show just one of your hole cards after the hand, so you can really toy with your opponents’ minds.
Multi-table play allows for eight tables at once, a pretty satisfying number, and it works nicely too.
The statistics functions at Carbon are good and adequate. But not being able to export hand histories to the hard disk is a great setback, probably the single one point where Carbon actually disappoints us. The replay feature is good though, so you’ll have no problem examining your played hands.
Game Variety
Game variety is another strong suit at Carbon Poker. Craving a Badugi tournament? You'll actually find one at Carbon. Except for Badugi, Razz, Five-Card Stud, Five-Card Draw are also on the table, as well as Deuce-to-Seven Triple Draw – both A-5 and 2-7!
That being said, most of the action is still found in the no-limit Hold'em rooms and particularly at the lower limits. Of course, Seven-Card Stud Hi and Hi-Lo and Omaha Hi and Hi-Lo are also available.
Various stakes are on hand that should fit all wallets, from 1¢/2¢ up to $100/200. Most games can be played heads-up, shorthanded or full-ring. There’s plenty of action in both cash games and tournaments. Tournaments come as multi-table as well as sit-and-gos.
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Carbon Poker is definitely not about copying other successful sites – only their success.
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