SirJono

SirJono

Registering for Carbon Poker was pretty simple, however, I had some troubles depositing onto their website. However, their 24-hour live support was very helpful and guided me through the process. They also assured me I would still get my PokerSource free poker gift credit. I started with a $250 deposit. I wanted to deposit as much as I could and play through earning cash back. However, the support is only for real money players, and doesn't work if you have a low amount of money in your account. Overall 8.5/10 for support.

Navigating the Carbon Poker software is pretty awesome. The site does not have annoying avatars, and currently is a darker, black template that doesn't hurt the eyes. They have a handy mini-table feature for those who want to multi table. One annoying feature is you can't change where your seat is at the table. When I was playing, they didn't have time banks, however they just added them. Sorting games can be a little bit of a hassle, but part of that is because I'm biased towards Full Tilt Poker's layout. 8/10 for software.

Gameplay: My goal for Carbon Poker was to just clear the bonus and get my poker chips and leave the site. In order to do that, I played cash games as I found I could earn the most rake per hour of playing. However, you have to be careful because it's possible to lose your whole bankroll in that time.  You earn points on Carbon Poker by seeing flops: i.e. you must be dealt into a hand and see the flop. Posting a blind earns you nothing. With this in mind, it's beneficial to earn as many points as you can per flop, i.e. play tight and wait for big hands, and try to build the pot, or call in position and hope to hit a big hand.

I was sticking to mostly 25NL on 2-4 tables, and I found the players to be more timid compared to other sites, so I would exploit them preflop with 3-bets. This does NOT earn you points, but it builds your stack and also gives you a looser image, so when you get those hands you are more likely to get paid. After a few good runs I did move up in limits to try .50/1 but that was a little too high, and after a few hands of being on the wrong side of variance, I moved down so I'd be able to complete the challenge.

Tournament action: way too thin for my liking. Most of the time when I was online, there was only 3000 players on. Basically means you can't win a huge return because the tourneys aren't big enough - may as well stick with SnGs. SnG action is alright, but hard to get more than a few games going. Also, you earn points slower than playing multiple cash tables.

As I got near to earning the 900 VIP points, I did loosen up and started seeing more flops to clear the bonus. This resulted in me losing some of my bankroll, but I still finished with a small profit.

Now, I really enjoyed my Carbon Poker experience, so I did withdraw my initial deposit, but kept my winnings on there because I plan to keep playing from time to time. You have to fill out some crazy paperwork if you live in the US to be able to withdraw back to your credit card, but I guess it's just for their protection. Annoying nonetheless. They are also working on adding more deposit options.

Now for my chip review: It does take awhile (several days to a couple weeks) for PS to verify with Carbon Poker and to notify Nevada Jacks. You get an email and get to pick your chip denominations. Put some though into this. I ended up going with 5 colours, but to play most tournaments you really only need 4. Or at least only get a few of the highest colour. I ended up getting a ton of 5k chips, but I figured it'd be like using two different chipsets, since there are 500 after all. Of course if you want to get a set for cash games, they have that option.
After they confirmed my order it took about a week to arrive here.

I think the poker chips are great. They aren't too light, and they have a textured surface that helps when stacking. The sides have a smooth finish that gives a marble looking appearance. The artwork is very detailed, more so than on most poker chips. They aren't clay, but some kind of high quality composite I think. Hopefully you can get an idea from the pictures. The last thing I was very impressed with was the cards that come with the chipset. They are 100% plastic cards, and compared to my Copags are pretty similar. They are a little bit more gloss, but it's a matter of preference what you prefer. They are of good enough quality that if I'd known, I probably wouldn't have gotten the Copags, but saved for another chipset, and still had two high-quality decks of cards. These cards are WAY better than a brand like Bicycle, a popular brand.

PokerSource username: SirJono

State: Arizona

Country: USA

PokerSource is the home of the original Free Poker Money and Free Poker Gifts promotions.  If you want to check out some of same offers SirJono signed up for click here.