Carbon Poker

Carbon Poker is a relatively new player on the online poker market, but it's very clear it’s determined to succeed offering massive promotions, quick withdrawals and great software. Residing on the increasingly popular Merge Gaming network also allows them to accommodate U.S. players – a great advantage and something helping them grow quickly.

Games at Carbon Poker are definitely on the looser side, with many inexperienced players taking their first shot at online poker. The loosest tables tend to be the low and micro stakes, but the more unusual games can also prove to be very profitable.

Games offered are Texas Hold'em, Seven-Card Stud Hi and Hi-Lo, Omaha Hi and Hi-Lo, H.O.R.S.E. and other mixed games, Razz, Five-Card Stud, Five-Card Draw, A-5 Lowball, 2-7 Lowball and Badugi. Hold'em and Omaha are the dominant games offered in tournament format, with only a few tournaments running in Badugi and Draw Poker.

The traffic volume is in the lower segment of the industry, but the popularity of both Carbon Poker and the Merge Gaming network is rising fast and the number of active players is increasing daily. Real-money player statistics as of March 2010 show 500 ring-game players at peak hours and 2000 tournament players at peak hours.

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Bonus Code and Promotions (8)

Exclusive $$500.00 bonus at 200% match for new players who sign up at Carbon Poker through a Pokerlistings link.

Exclusive Carbon Poker bonus code for PokerListings players: PL200

Enter code PL100RE when making your next deposit to receive a 100% match reload bonus up to $500 exclusive to PokerListings players.

Bonus Payout: Each dollar of bonus at Carbon Poker requires 250 comp points, and is released at $10 for every 2500 comp points. It may sound like a lot, but every hand played can award up to 10 comp points. To clear the bonus faster, try cash tables over tournaments.

Loyalty Program/Promotion

Carbon Poker offers players a comp point program awarding points for participating in real-money play. A player earns between three and 10 comp points per hand, depending on the level of blinds or the limits.

For each dollar of tournament fees, 10 points are awarded. Comp points are used to track eligibility for bonuses, special tournaments and other exclusive offers.

> Sign up through a PokerListings link and receive a $1000 bonus at 200% deposit match

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Tournaments and Freerolls (6)

Carbon Poker offers a pretty wide variety of tournaments with mostly low and medium buy-ins and the largest regular buy-in $109.

Carbon Poker offers relatively few larger tournaments, probably because it's still building its player base. Carbon Poker does offer a monthly $20,000 guaranteed tournament that has become pretty popular and proves to be very good value.

A nice idea that might catch on with other sites: Carbon Poker offers ladies only tournaments every other day or so, usually in the $200-$400 guarantee range. Buy-ins are small ($1 or $2) and rebuys are also sometimes offered.

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Software and Graphics (8)

Carbon Poker shares a player base and software with the Merge Gaming network. Overall, the software is strong - particularly graphics-wise - and the stats functions are good, although the hand-history export is just an xml file and needs a special program to read it.

Carbon Poker has good functionality and a real richness of player information, with clean and crisp tables and a solid mini-view function. The Carbon Poker software also supports play at up to eight ring-game tables simultaneously, either as stand-alone windows or in mini-view.

The tables are relatively small and easy to understand and the vector-based graphics are for the most part crisp and clear making for a decent multi-table experience. It is a bit hard though to read text and buttons clearly with four or more small tables scaled, even on a 22" monitor.

Overall though, design is simple and easy to understand, and runs smooth. The lobby is easy to navigate and all parts of the software are user-friendly, even for beginners. The web interface for all player administrative tools (changing passwords, player icon etc.) is pretty smart, offering lots of good information and access to support, store, etc., in a web-based format instead of trying to cram it all in the software.

Carbon Poker offers some unique functions, including a mini-view, a "rabbit hunt" feature allowing players to see the next card in the deck for a folded hand, and an "expose one card" function. Players can also attach trophies to their avatar to show tournament wins.

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Soft Competition (8)

Carbon Poker offers some pretty profitable games for skilled poker players. Many of the players at Carbon Poker are relatively new to poker, and the games are fast and loose. The low- and micro-stakes No-Limit Texas Hold'em tables tend to offer the loosest games.

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Support (8)

Carbon Poker offers good support options with both e-mail and live-chat available. The support quality is good and questions are answered in a timely manner.

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Deposit Withdrawal Options (8)

Deposit options: Visa, MasterCard, Neteller, EcoCard, Moneybookers, eWalletXpress, PIC-club, Click2Pay, ClickandBuy, Wire Transfer, EntroPay and iBankG.  

Withdrawal options: Neteller, EcoCard, Moneybookers, eWalletXpress, check, Click2Pay (preferred option).

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