I’m sure you get the picture!
What I wanted to do here is to have an objective look at this US-friendly Poker site and ask the question of whether it is worth joining… I will look at a few aspects of this network and take it from there. This will be based on the biggest site on the Merge Network – Carbon Poker.
First Impressions / Software
While there are a few annoyances, such as navigating around tournament lobbies when you have more than one multi-table tournament running at the same time – in general the software is very good. The lobby navigation is clear and easy, with color coding for different games making them easy to search. Tables / game play are nice too.
The special extra that Carbon / Merge offer is the animations at the tables. These range from short animations of smileys (clapping, wiping sweat off of the brow drinking and so on) through to more interesting short animations including a shark, donkey and headbanging panda. Some people love these and some people hate them. One thing that they definitely do for this site is to keep the recreational players happy, and any experienced poker player will tell you that a happy fish is a very profitable opponent indeed!!
Personally, I find the animations damn annoying!
Game Selection
Well, this is not the pokerstars of old, you will find a nice choice of lower 50c / $1 blinds cash games, and a diminishing selection above this level ($5 / $10 runs regularly). The PLO games are getting more popular, though again are lower buy-in.
Tournaments are the best that US players will find, with a lot of smaller guarantees in the $5 to $20 buy-in range. The ‘Sunday Major’ is a $109 buy-in $100k guaranteed on Sunday afternoons… though there are not many guarantees that come anywhere near this in the normal schedule. SNGs are good up to the $11 level.
My view on the games, well, it’s the biggest US selection available… though not quite the Stars / Tilt of old!
Lots of articles today all over the web proclaiming the joy that is the re-opening of the Merge Poker Network to US players… one thing these stories have in common is that they are all very keep to tell you how great this network is, and *by the way* if you would not mind clicking my link and using my bonus code so my *cough* independent recommendation can get me a nice fat check… haha.
I’m sure you get the picture!
What I wanted to do here is to have an objective look at this US-friendly Poker site and ask the question of whether it is worth joining… I will look at a few aspects of this network and take it from there. This will be based on the biggest site on the Merge Network – Carbon Poker.
First Impressions / Software
While there are a few annoyances, such as navigating around tournament lobbies when you have more than one multi-table tournament running at the same time – in general the software is very good. The lobby navigation is clear and easy, with color coding for different games making them easy to search. Tables / game play are nice too.
The special extra that Carbon / Merge offer is the animations at the tables. These range from short animations of smileys (clapping, wiping sweat off of the brow drinking and so on) through to more interesting short animations including a shark, donkey and headbanging panda. Some people love these and some people hate them. One thing that they definitely do for this site is to keep the recreational players happy, and any experienced poker player will tell you that a happy fish is a very profitable opponent indeed!!
Personally, I find the animations damn annoying!
Game Selection
Well, this is not the Pokerstars of old, you will find a nice choice of lower 50c / $1 blinds cash games, and a diminishing selection above this level ($5 / $10 runs regularly). The PLO games are getting more popular, though again are lower buy-in.
Tournaments are the best that US players will find, with a lot of smaller guarantees in the $5 to $20 buy-in range. The ‘Sunday Major’ is a $109 buy-in $100k guaranteed on Sunday afternoons… though there are not many guarantees that come anywhere near this in the normal schedule. SNGs are good up to the $11 level.
My view on the games, well, it’s the biggest US selection available… though not quite the Stars / Tilt of old!
Promos / Bonuses
You can get a nice 200% welcome bonus + free $11 SNG token with my bonus / coupon code PBKLUB – the question I’d like to cover here is how well you will be looked after once this is cleared and you are on your own.
Well, the VIP club has filled the gap which appeared when rakeback disappeared from this site – my view is that this is generous, though a little complicated with a mix of levels, escalating points multipliers, cash bonuses and daily cash rewards and so on… very good indeed if you can make it to the higher levels though.
Reloads are plentiful – as are one-off promotions and offers, which are often based on sporting or seasonal events and involve races and challenges. You will also find a bad-beat jackpot and tournament / SNG leaderboards.
You’ll be well looked after at Carbon alright… it might take you a little while to discover all the different aspects of this though.
Summary
Well, its hard to disagree with the masses that this is a great option for US players and those worldwide. The biggest and best choice of games is what does it for me!
Check out Carbon Poker for yourself now – and don’t forget coupon code PBKLUB for your 200% match + $11 SNG token.
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