Carbon Poker

WannaTalkPoker's Review

Games Offered

1.They have the normal games:
LIMIT/NO LIMIT HOLD'EM with the stakes ranging from .02/.04 (no points at this level) to $50.00/$100.00.
LIMIT/POT LIMIT/NL OMAHA with the stakes ranging from .05/.10 to $30.00/$60.00
STUB/H-L/RAZZ with stakes ranging from .01/.02/.10 to $25.00/$50.00
**5 CARD DRAW (THATS RIGHT I SAID 5 DRAW) with stakes ranging from .05/.10 to $1.00/$3.00 LIMIT and POT LIMIT
as well as
2.BADUGI, TRIPLE DRAW, and MIXED GAMES.

Frequent Player Reward System

Four-Point Review

OK, I know it has taken me a while, but here is my (Chevywyld) review of CARBON POKER. I have been playing there for several years and overall its a great site. Here are some specifics:

1. OVERALL APPEARANCE - I like the look: it's comfortable to look at for hours on end (face it, that's what we all do at one point or another) with no big gawdy avatars like other sites, just small clip art mostly.

2. PLAYER VOLUME - They have a pretty small user base which to me seems like you play less fish, river rats, and jerks. Don't get me wrong, they are everywhere, but when you only have 5,000 online as opposed to 50,000 it just seems better to me. With this lower player base its easier to get into the FREEROLLS (and they have plenty) and easier to navigate through them.

3. DEPOSIT BONUS - They have an INITIAL DEPOSITOR BONUS of 100% and entry into a $1,000 FREEROLL. The requirements to clear the bonus are: $1 paid per 250 comp points, with the bonus paid in $10 increments. Remaining bonus expires on withdrawal. You get 1 comp point for every raked hand you play at the .25 blind levels, you get more points for higher stakes. Plus you get 3 comp points for the 2.20 SNGS and up from there. It is pretty much like the others in that aspect.

4. FEATURES -
QUICK START: Sometimes you just want to get right to a table, no searching through the client looking for the game type, table type, stakes and then finding a table that isn't full. For these moments they have integrated a 'Quick Start' feature.

RABBIT HUNT(ONE OF MY PERSONAL FAVS): While this is not allowed in casinos, tournaments, and other sites, at CarbonPoker they've put this power in the hands of the winner. So if you win a hand unopposed, you can choose to rabbit and see what cards would have come. This can be a great way to show your opponents your bluff, and to show them they really had you beat. Of course, you might just end up showing your opponent that they made the right call with the lay down. The only penalty is that you have to show the table what your hole cards were.

SHOW ONLY ONE CARD - Whether you're laying down your hand to a big bet, or if no one called your bet, if you really want to keep your opponents on their toes and get in their head, then use the old “expose one card” mind trick.
Other poker rooms allow you to show both your hole cards, but at Carbon Poker they go one further and allow you to show either both your cards, or just one card.

INTEGRATED "BUDDY LIST" i.e. CONTACTS - Say you are at a 5/10 NLH table with a complete CALLING STATION, you don't want lose this guy EVER. Just click his name and tag him, make notes, and add him to your CONTACTS LIST. Then you can find him the next time you are running low on funds.

5. PROMOTIONS - The first one right off the bat is the NEW PLAYER promo all new accounts get entry into 30 days worth of NEW PLAYERS FREEROLLS (4 a day) $50.00 payed out over 10 spots, 400-600 average participants.
Next, directly copied from Carbon's site, several of the other promotions:

$50,000 Freeroll
On the last Sunday of every month at 15:00, CarbonPoker.com will run a $50,000 Freeroll that is open to all players who earn 5000 comp points so far in the current month.

$10,000 Freeroll
Every Sunday at 15:00 (except the last Sunday of every month), CarbonPoker.com holds a $10,000 freeroll for players that have earned at least 2500 comp points in the previous 159 hours prior to the tournament start time.

$2,000 Freeroll
Every Saturday at 15:00, CarbonPoker.com holds a $2,000 freeroll for players that have earned at least 1000 comp points in the previous 72 hours prior to the tournament start time.

$1,000 Freerolls
Every Monday through Friday, CarbonPoker.com holds a $1,000 freeroll for players that have earned at least 1000 comp points in the previous 72 hours prior to the tournament start time.

Monday - 19:00
Tuesday - 13:00
Wednesday - 19:00
Thursday - 13:00
Friday - 19:00
* official CarbonPoker.com time
$500 Freeroll for New Depositing Players
Make an initial deposit at CarbonPoker.com and you will gain a coupon valid for 14 days entry into our daily $500 Freeroll for New Depositing Players.

Monday - 19:15
Tuesday - 13:15
Wednesday - 19:15
Thursday - 13:15
Friday - 19:15
Saturday - 13:15
Sunday - 13:15
* official CarbonPoker.com time

$50 Freerolls every 4 hours
Open to any CarbonPoker.com member.


Score a Royal Flush with your pocket cards on any real-money Texas Holdem ring game at CarbonPoker.com and you will receive a bonus of 100 x the big blind!

That means you can win a cash bonus of $1,000 cash, just by getting a Royal Flush on a table with $5/$10 stakes!

Royal Flush Bonus Qualification:
Only available for real money Texas Hold'em ring games (not tournament hands)
Both Hole Cards must be used
Player must win hand / pot with the Royal Flush (no rabbit hunts)
Must be submitted within 48 hours from hand completion
Bonus Terms & Conditions:
Bonus equivalent to 100 x big blind ($1,000 Maximum Bonus)
You must earn 100 comp points per bonus $1 before withdrawal .

There are several other promos, and new ones all the time, but I will let you discover them for yourselves.

6. GAMES/STAKES - They have the normal games:
LIMIT/NO LIMIT HOLD'EM with the stakes ranging from .02/.04 (no points at this level) to $50.00/$100.00.
LIMIT/POT LIMIT/NL OMAHA with the stakes ranging from .05/.10 to $30.00/$60.00
STUB/H-L/RAZZ with stakes ranging from .01/.02/.10 to $25.00/$50.00
**5 CARD DRAW (THATS RIGHT I SAID 5 DRAW) with stakes ranging from .05/.10 to $1.00/$3.00 LIMIT and POT LIMIT
as well as
1.BADUGI, TRIPLE DRAW, and MIXED GAMES.

Oh yeah i give this site 4 out of 5 stars. I feel like every one should check it out for just the NEW PLAYER FREEROLLS if nothing else.

Absolute Poker

WannaTalkPoker's Review

Games Offered

A full menu of games and limits are running around the clock, including 6 player max tables, great micro limit games and no limit games. From $25/$50 all the way down to .02/.04, games offered include: Texas Hold'em, Omaha High, Omaha Hi/Lo, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo, One on One, and Tournaments.

Absolute Poker has THE most real money and freeroll tournaments online. This poker room is a great place for tournament action, including Single Table, Multi Table and one of the very few online poker sites to offer Private tournaments to its real money players. The sit & go no limit Holdem fun tourneys are extremely popular, along with 40 daily freeroll tournaments.
Absolute Poker also has a Tourney Leader Board feature. This is based on a point tracking system designed to rank the top tournament players using place of finish, number of tournament entries, and buy-in as factors determining points earned for single and multi table tournaments. This showcases Absolute's top tournament players on weekly, monthly and yearly basis. The winner of the Tournament Leader Board each week receives the opportunity to play in the Mark Seif $1,500 heads up shoot out freeroll. Absolute Poker offers players the chance to attend major poker events world wide. Running daily are qualifiers for the monthly Satellite events where you can win your way to the 2005 World Series of Poker and the WPT - World Poker Tour.

Absolute has recently begun offering blackjack games, as well, for those poker players looking to take a break from the rigors of the poker table. This has been an incredibly successful program for Absolute, and we look for it to expand in the coming years!

Frequent Player Reward System

Absolute's Rewards Loyalty Program is probably the best in the business, with the points building up quickly, and good for a multitude of uses, from redeeming bonuses to special ARP tournaments and even entering their VIP program, which takes the whole thing to a higher level, with even better deposit bonuses, and more.
Here's what Absolute has to say about their Rewards Points(RPs):

" RPs are easy and quick to earn and are awarded 2 different ways.
1.For hands played at real money ring games
1 Point for every hand played in a REAL money ring game that has collected at least the minimum rake ($0.50)
2.Tournament buy-in fees.
4 Points for every dollar in tournament buy-in Fees. Please note that tournament fees are now collected as a 9% of the total of the prize pool and that Rewards Points will be based on the fee collected rounded up to the closest whole number. For example, a $10 tourney will generate $0.90 in fees, and will earn 4 points.
3.4 Points for every dollar in tournament buy-in in single table. Sit and Go's ($10 $1 tournament would earn 4 points) AR Point Tourneys award points to the winners.

Currently, you can redeem your RPs for ARP tourney entries. Don't wait, register for an Absolute Rewards tourney now by clicking on the "ARP" sub-tab on the main "Multi Tournaments" tab in the Absolute Poker lobby and start winning REAL money. The AR Store offers a wide array of authentic Absolute Poker apparel and hot items which you can purchase with your RPs!
Start redeeming your points now!"

Using Absolute Reward Points

Considering how many ways ARPs can be used, it's deceptively simple to do so. There are links to the store all over the site, and an entirely separate section of ARP tournaments players can register for at any time.
Absolute continues to pioneers the player rewards system.

Four-Point Review

OVERALL ***

Absolute Poker is a great place to play. They offer everything the average poker player would want. Omaha, seven card stud, pot limit, no limit and limit Holdem. They have single table tournaments and multi-table tournaments starting frequently. It offers different stakes in all forms of poker. The atmosphere is friendly and the people that you run into are usually more helpful than other sites.

AESTHETICS **

Absolute is pretty good. They have some good features, like snacks you can bring to the table, and I really like the option to have your own custom avatar. Their overall basic look is sort of dark and… umm… robotic? Mechanical? Some may like this theme, I’m not a huge fan. To each his own. --Recently, Absolute offered the ability to change your table "skin" to something more appealing. In fact, they even tell you how to design your own...this is a huge leap forward in online poker rooms in general, and a large improvement over their original scheme.--

POPULATION ***

This is the most difficult factor for all poker rooms. Population is the key. There are times that it is tough to find a full table in the ring games, but overall, it’s very accommodating. I believe this is a good size poker room to get the game you want going, but not overcrowded that you find yourself lost. --The player population at Absolute has increased considerably since this review was first written. At times, it seems as though you can't find a seat at a table for the levels you seek...overall, it's become easier to find a table you want.--

LEVEL OF PLAY *

Though I am never one to accuse, and I personally do not believe this or any similar story, I have heard more stories about suspicious deals and iffy river cards at Absolute over any other site. I feel the level of play is a factor in this element. There are a lot of people holding a lot of cards well after they should be. With the proper changes in the game, everyone can maintain or improve profitability against excessively weak players. There are a lot of weak players in this room, if you can successfully play into them you can maintain a great profit. --Apparently a lot of reasonably competent players have come to the same conclusion about Absolute in recent months. While the level of play remains roughly the same, keep your eyes peeled for the occasional shark in your fishin' hole.--

USABILITY ***

There are a few key features on a poker room that I look for. One is the use of auto-bet button. Do they have a post and fold button for tournaments? Do they have a fold to any bet button for ring games? I like both these buttons. Absolute now has a 'fold to any bet' button, and seem to be adding new buttons as the demand requires.

"Find a friend" is another option I love to see. Absolute has that ability to look for one specific person.

UltimateBet

WannaTalkPoker's Review

Games Offered

Ultimate Bet offers a wide variety of games: Holdem, Omaha, Stud, Triple Draw, Pineapple, Heads Up tables, and more, with well populated tables, at all limits. Plus, they have the lowest limits in the business. As they say on their homepage, "Since most of us don't have excess wads of cash lying around, we provide the web's lowest limit tables. At our 1/2 cent tables, ten bucks will last you a lifetime. For those of you who are rolling in $100 dollar notes we also offer the highest limit tables to satisfy the high roller hunger for high stakes games."
For the same reason, they also boast the largest selections of tournaments anywhere in the world. Daily, weekly, and monthly tournaments totaling $3,000,000 a month guaranteed!

Frequent Player Reward System

The RAI$E System

UltimateBet offers the next level in online poker rewards programs with RAI$E.
Get better rewards faster when you play with UB.

RAI$E is UltimateBet's brand new player appreciation program that gives those that play at our online poker tables the rewards they deserve With RAI$E, you'll find it easier than ever to earn valuable rewards that go a cut above most other online poker rooms. From playing poker to Phil Hellmuth to getting the chance to fly a fighter plane, this new poker loyalty program gives you rewards above and beyond the norm.

The main difference between RAI$E and other poker rewards programs is the way that RAI$E grows with you. As you progress through the program's five levels, you earn more points for better rewards, faster. Get to the upper levels of RAI$E and you'll get exclusive access to free poker tournament play, amenities that are go above and beyond the norm, and even the chance to go to some of the best live events in the world of poker. Find out more about RAISE's benefits and the five different levels of the program.

With RAI$E, UltimateBet players earn more points, faster. This means you can get access to some of the top-flight gear offered in the UltimatePoints Store™. Choose from a constantly-expanding selection of awesome electronics, exceptional lifestyle products, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences that only UltimateBet can bring you.

Their new UltimateAuctions™. site lets you use the points you earn playing poker with us in an entirely new way. With UltimateAuctions™, you get to bid on new and unique items that include sports and music memorabilia, entry into tournaments, travel to exotic locations, and more. Winning an UltimateAuction™ allows you to get more for the points you've earned with UB.

In addition to the UltimatePoints Store™ and UltimateAuctions™, UB also give players the option of converting the points they've earned into cold, hard cash.

Find out more Details about the RAI$E system on UB's Site!

Four-Point Review

OVERALL ***

UB has the advantage of time-tested software, a sizable player base, and a wide variety of game choices. The game play is intuitive, with almost everything you might be looking for in an online poker experience, and the software continues to grow to this day.

AESTHETICS ***

UB's room is cleanly designed, with a slightly three dimensional scope to it. Of interest is that wherever you choose to sit, your seat is always centered at the bottom of the screen, so you don't have to think much about where you are if you're multitabling. You can pick and choose your room backgrounds, so if you find the look getting a little stale, you can always back out to a fresher look. The chip sounds are a little "harsh" for my tastes, but that can be toggled on and off at your leisure. All game information, such as pot size, and the cards themselves, are clearly defined and attractively presented.

POPULATION ****

As already mentioned, the UB network is a sizable one, and the games are nearly always well populated, and you can easily find a game at your preferred level at almost any given time.

LEVEL OF PLAY **

The sheer size of the network pretty clearly implies a balance in player quality. While you're never guaranteed to find a fishin' hole, there's always a likelihood of finding one. It's highly advisable to take your time selecting your table at UB. Look for the right flop percentages, then scope out the competition for a few rounds. While it may be frustrating having to wait for your game, the payoff will be well worth it, once you find that magic table you were looking for. Also, pay attention as the texture of your table changes. If you selected properly, your fish are probably all slowly busting out, and being replaced by new players. When your table tightens up due to player changes, you might want to go looking for another. Remember, for every fish, there's a very good player who can threaten your stack.

USABILITY **

Very intuitive interface, with the usual bells and whistles, although I have grown used to having a "fold to any bet" button, or the like, and it is notably missing here. However, as a result, I tend to watch the rounds a little closer, which helps in my table selection. Note taking abilities are a plus, as well as hand histories, although I lament the fact that I cannot access my last 10 hands from the main menu, only while sitting at that particular table.