Online Poker

Launched in 2006, Carbon Poker is the flagship room of the quickly growing Merge Poker Network. Carbon has a real community feel and it's players seem to be very loyal to the unique software and gameplay features not found elsewhere.

If you like freeroll tournaments, you will love Carbon Poker, as it runs more freerolls than any other online poker room. As an extra bonus to Poker.com visitors, all players that sign up at Carbon from a link here at Poker.com are eligble entry for 14 days into the daily $500 freeroll. Be sure to use bonus code POKERCOM when you join.

Carbon Poker is now licensed with the LGA (Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority) so European players can now receive their a full tax break on their winnings.

Not happy with just giving away seats to live events Carbon Poker regularly runs successful monthly promotions such as rake races and their annual Summer Championships that run concurrent to the World Series of Poker.

If live seats are your thing you are not forgotten in this room especially with their focus on Australian events. Carbon Poker makes a special focus of the PokerNews Cup, APPT and Aussie Millions all in Australia. Winners are not just left to their own devices on these trips, extra attention is paid to make sure its very special holiday rather than just another live event.

They also have several jackpots that are regularly building including a Caribbean Stud jackpot and a bad beat jackpot that has climbed to over $1,000,000 in recent months. They also offer a Royal Flush bonus pay 100 times the big blind for any Royal Flush.

Carbon Poker is offering Poker.com visitors an amazing 150% up to $750 bonus. It is released in increments of $10 as you play and earn Carbon Poker comp points. This coupon also awards an entry coupon giving you access to the daily $500 freeroll for 2 weeks.

Use the exclusive Poker.com bonus code POKERCOM if you make a deposit to ensure you receive the full 200%.

Carbon Poker offers Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo, Razz, 5 Card Stud, 5 Card Draw, Ace to 5 Lowball, Duece to 7 Lowball and Badugi. They also run several mixed games of HORSE as well as casino games including Blackjack, Roulette, Video Poker, Caribbean Stud, Backgammon and its latest addition Euchre.

The variety of games at Carbon Poker is amazing, unfortunately it 's not always easy to find a game going at every stake. For example, if you want to play some 5/10 badugi, you might want to take some friends with you!

With software developed in-house by a tight design team, Carbon Poker's software is ahead of the curve and offers several unique features not seen at any other online poker room. While 'Run it twice' can be a little gimmicky the real standout features are 'Rabbit hunting, and 'Show one card'. Show one card is great for when you have taken a pot unopposed with a weak kicker, you can show just your kicker and leave everyone at the table guessing.

Play at the Carbon Poker tables is kept clean with a all the important information easily at hand. A really nice feature of the tables is the use of vector graphics, so everything remains crisp no matter what size you like you prefer to resize the client window to.

A very popular feature with a lot of players are the animated emoticons, triggered by certain words in the chat box. My favorite is violin, when you type violin into the chat box a little emoticon pops up and plays a little violin, perfect for when players are having a lot to say about a hand they just lost!

Accepting US players allows Carbon Poker to continue to build on its player base, and at the time of this review there were over 8000 players online, but most of the action is on medium to low stakes tables. The only language offered is English.

Lower player numbers mean lower guarantees however this also means lower entrant numbers so you can expect some great starting value here. There are also some great value free rolls for players who meet certain comp point requirements. There is a $50,000 freeroll on the last Sunday of every month for players who earn 5000 comp points in that month, and every other Sunday there is a $10,000 freeroll for players earning 2500 comp points in the previous 159 hours. For players just starting out there is a daily $500 New Depositing Players Freeroll. Make a deposit and you can play in this tournament for 14 days.

Recent additions to the Carbon software has allowed for some other interesting tournaments with Shootout and Bounty tournaments now featured.

They also run several live event satellites, with a strong focus on events in Australia such as the Aussie Millions and the APPT. Several players have won their way to WSOP and other live events for as little as $1 thanks to their satellite structure.

Players earn comp points for every raked hand they are dealt into in ring games at Carbon Poker and set amounts are also awarded for eligible tournaments. These points are used to earn sign up bonuses, reload bonuses and tournament entry coupons, and can also be used to make purchases from the Carbon Poker Comp Points Store.

A new feature to CarbonPoker, any player who sits down first at any real money ring game table will earn double Comp Points during a session with at least four players. Get the action running from heads-up to four-handed, and from that point you earn double Comp Points for every hand with four active players.

Carbon has a strong community focus with a popular forum for its players, a regularly updated blog and now a new poker videos section on their site.

Carbon recently revamped their VIP Program to a cashback program giving all VIP players up to 60% cashback. 35% daily from the new Ether program, 12% via the points for cash exchange and an additional 13% from the initial deposit bonus.

As a smaller room Carbon Poker punches above its weight when it comes to payment options.

The cashier offers eWalletXpress, Click2Pay, Visa, Mastercard, Wire Transfer for deposits and cashouts via eWalletXpress, Click2Pay and checks.

Cashouts via cheque can be on the slow side, but other options have always been received in a reasonable time. For long term players, they will even turn on 'instant withdrawals' that send your cashouts to an e-wallet immediately.

Players at Carbon Poker can access 24 hour support via email to support@carbonpoker.com. All 'real money' players get an extra level of support via the live chat function which is available in the player admin. Support is only available in English at this time.

There is always the Carbon Poker forums for support from fellow players as well, with plenty of forum members always on hand to give help and advice.

Carbon Poker is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, a world leading gaming regulatory organisation based in Canada. Their random number generator has been tested and certified by Gaming Associates on behalf of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission as a part of the licensing process. Carbon Poker's player support website has been issued a Thawte SSL certificate and trusted site seal, this ensures players personal information is protected and that our website is validated so they may transact safely and securely.

We have met the owners and staff of Carbon Poker and watched them grow from one room to an entire network (Merge Gaming). We have a lot of faith in their integrity and a good relationship with them, so they get 4.5 stars.

It all comes down to player traffic for Carbon Poker. It doesn't matter how great your software looks or how many great games you have, if there isn't action at the tables it all goes to waste.

They could probably do with some more languages for software to really become competitive.

While the tables may not all be full they look great and are fun to play. And the extra features really add to your online poker experience - you will find yourself missing them if you go from playing at Carbon to another poker room.

If you are a mid to low stakes player that speaks English - then Carbon is an awesome place for you to play!

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