Carbon Poker VIP Bonus Review

Carbon Poker is a US-facing site on the Merge Gaming Network. New U.S. players are now accepted again effective October 13, 2011. However, new players from Washington D.C. and the states of Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, New York, and Washington will still not be accepted.

Carbon Poker uses the average contributed method when accumulating points towards the VIP Program. This means that each player who contributs money to the point will be allocate an equal number of VIP Points. Players may only have one rakeback account on the Merge Gaming Network. Players can have multiple accounts on the Merge Gaming Network, but can only receive bonus on the site if you have been inactive on the site for at least 60 days.

The 47% VIP that can be earned at Carbon Poker is done through Cash Rebates and VIP Point exchanges. The more you play, the higher status level you will achieve. VIP players at Carbon Poker can also exchange VIP Points for cash in addition to the cash rebates. Other perks of the program include special bonus offers, birthday gifts, sidegame rebates, event invitations and Carbon junkets.

The chart below details the number of VIP Points required to achieve each status level each month, the equivalent rake required and the value that the program provides players in the form of Points to Cash exchanges.

Carbon Poker VIP Program
Status	Qualificiation	VIP Point Exchanges	VIP Pt Exchange Rate	Cash Rebate	Total Return
Earth	250 ($25)	$3/500	6%	6%	12%
Wind	750 ($75)	$7/1,000	7%	7.50%	14.5%
Fire	3,000 ($300)	$16/2,000	8%	10%	18%
Water	10,000 ($1,000)	$22.50/2,500	8.8%	15%	23.8%
Ether	2,500 ($2,500)	$50/5,000	10%	35%	45%

Do not use Carbon Poker Refer a Friend program when you sign up as it will prevent you from receiving rakeback.

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Carbon Poker Summary:

Carbon Poker is often referred to as the flagship site on the Merge Gaming Network, which is considered by most to be a medium to large poker site. The USA-facing site grew substantially in 2010 and 2011 due to some fairly large sites joining the Merge Gaming Network and their continuing acceptance of US players, where they are the number one site to accept players from the US.

The software features some very unique attributes such as table accolades, rabbiting cards, the ability to show opponents only one of your cards and "Deal It Twice" tables. This provides players with a fun playing experience slightly different than other sites. Bad Beat Jackpot tables compromise much of the cash game action. At the Sit N Go tables traffic is healthy and at MTT, daily and weekly guaranteed tournaments such as the $50k weekly keep players coming back.

Carbon Poker offers to 47% VIP and a 150% up to $750 sign-up bonus to RakeTracker players. They are also very generous with the reload bonus offers, frequent cash promotions and VIP Program, which all add significantly to total return. Also popular are special VIP promotions, Royal Flush and Bad Beat promotions. Players also have the ability to use VIP Points for use in MTTs and VIP Point exchanges.

Deposit and Withdrawal Methods
Method	US Option	Deposit	Withdrawal	Notes
checks	Yes	No	Yes	Fees are dependent on VIP status
Visa	Yes	Yes	No	Low Success Rate for US players
Click2pay	Yes	Yes	Yes	Existing accounts
Cash Transfer	Yes	Yes	No	Local Transfer
Neteller	No	Yes	Yes
Skill (Moneybookers)	No	Yes	Yes
Click2pay	No	Yes	Yes
echeck	No	Yes	Yes
Visa	No	Yes	Yes
Mastercard	No	Yes	Yes
EcoCard	No	Yes	Yes
ClickandBuy	No	Yes	Yes
Paysafecard	No	Yes	No
Entropay	No	Yes	No
Instadebit	No	Yes	No
Giroypay	No	Yes	No
Netcents	No	Yes	No

Player to Player Transfers: Yes- available by clicking "cashier" and then "Transfer." Minimum transfer amount is $5.

Attributes:

Network:

Merge Gaming

Established:

2005

USA Accepted:

Yes

EU Licensed:

Yes

Jurisdiction:

Malta, Kahnawake

Public Company:

No

Operator:

Merge Network

Accounts on Multiple Skins:

Allowed, but you must be inactive on the 2nd account for 60 days to receive bonuses.

Restricted Countries:

Australia, France

Restricted States:

District of Columbia, Kentucky, Louisana, Maryland, Missouri, New York, Washington

Mobile Version:

No

Download Versions:

Windows, Mac

No Download Vers.:

No

Website Languages:

English

Email:

support@carbonpoker.com

Live Chat:

Yes- in client

Phone Help:

No

Carbon Poker VIP Help:

Contact Us

Carbon Poker Software

Multi-tabling:

Unlimited

Features:

Resizable tables (616x488 min, full screen max), auto-rebuy, personalized seating, custom avatars, rabbit hunting, expose one card, accolades, animated smileys, many multi-table modes, time bank

Hands per hour:

62- NL Hold’em Full Ring, 78- NL Hold’em Shorthanded, 62- Fixed Limit Hold’em Full Ring, 78- Fixed Hold’em Shorthanded

Client Languages:

English

Mac Friendly Client:

Yes- dedicated download

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Carbon Poker Bonus Details

Bonus: 150% up to $750
Referral Bonus Code: PAS750
Clear Rate: 75 VIPs per $1 of bonus money.

Earning VIPs Points: Players earn 10 VIP Points for every $1 in contributed rake at cash games and tournaments. Points are awarded to players equally based on the number of players who contribute money to the pot.

Additional Terms: The bonus will release in $5 increments. The bonus expires after 90 days. Depositing for other bonuses while clearing the sign-up bonus will expire the original bonus.

Carbon Poker Account Specific and Reload Bonuses

Carbon Poker is fairly liberal with the reload bonuses that they offer, usually offering one or two a month. Clearance terms vary anywhere from 10 VIPs per $1 to 100 VIPs per $1 of bonus money. The lower clearance reload bonuses are much rarer but obviously provide fantastic returns. The standard reload bonuses are cleared at a rate of 75 to 100 VIPs per $1 of bonus money, which is not stellar, but they are a nice perk that adds to player's total return.

Occasionally, a Carbon Poker bonus will offer players instant bonuses as well, which go directly into player's accounts to play with. Players can withdraw the bonuses once the minimum requirements have been met.

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Rakeback Equivalents -- Cash Games
Cash Games	Full Ring	Shorthanded
Sign-Up Bonus RB Equivalent	13.3%	13.3
Adds to VIP Program	13.3% (60.3% total)	13.3% (60.3% total)

Rakeback Equivalents -- Tournaments
Tournaments	Full Ring
Sign-Up Bonus RB Equivalent	13.3%
Adds to VIP Program	13.3% (60.3%)

Games

Carbon Poker offers a wide variety of games on the site. No Limit and Fixed Limit Hold'em are the most popular games on the site. Tables run at the No Limit Hold'em tables up to $5/$10, with over 75% of the traffic at the shorthanded tables. Limit Hold'em action is less robust, although they tend to have games available sporadically up to $5/$10. Pot Limit Hold'em action, on the other hand, is somewhat dry. Limit Hold'em table limits range from $0.02/$0.04-$50-$100.

The second most popular game at Carbon – Omaha -- features No Limit, Pot Limit and Fixed Limit versions of both Omaha and Omaha Hi/Lo. The majority of the Omaha action can be found at Pot Limit Omaha at limits up to $2/$4. There are tables available for play at most Omaha games from $0.02/$0.04-$50/$100, with minimal activity at the higher limits.

Carbon Poker also offers a large variety of additional games. Stud games, for instance, come in Pot Limit, which is quite unusual for Stud. 5 Card Stud is also available, although action is sparse. A variety of Draw games are available including A-5 and 2-7 Triple Draw. Badugi is available up to $1/$1 and mixed game options include HORSE, SHOE, RASH, HAR and HA.

Tables are available with 2, 6 or 9 seats at most games. Stud tables, like many other sites, have 8 seats. Bad Beat Jackpot tables, which are very popular at Carbon Poker with jackpots frequently over $100k, are available from $0.50/$1.00-$5/$10. Deal It Twice tables are offered at the $0.50/$1.00-$1/$2 tables.

Hold'em
Hold'em	# of Seats	Offered	Available*	Types
No Limit	2,6,9	$0.02/$0.04-$50/$100	Up to $10/$20	Bad Beat, Deal It Twice
Pot Limit	2,6,9	$0.05/$.10-$25/$50	Limited
Fixed Limit	2,6,9	$0.02/$.04-$50/$100	Up to $5/$10	Bad Beat

Omaha
Omaha	# of Seats	Offered	Available*	Types
Pot Limit	2,6,9	$0.02/$0.04-$500/$1000	Limited
Fixed Limit	9	$0.10/$0.20-$30/$60	Up to $2/$4

Omaha Hi/Lo
Omaha Hi/Lo	# of Seats	Offered	Available*	Types
Pot Limit/No Limit	2,6,9	$0.02/$0.04-$10/$25	Up to $0.50/$1.00
Fixed Limit	6,9	$0.10/$0.20-$25/$50	Limited

Hold'em
Hold'em	# of Seats	Offered	Available*	Types
No Limit	2,6,9	$0.02/$0.04-$50/$100	Up to $10/$20	Bad Beat, Deal It Twice
Pot Limit	2,6,9	$.05/$.10-$25/$50	Limited
Fixed Limit	2,6,9	$.02/$.04-$50/$100	Up to $5/$10	Bad Beat

Stud
Stud	# of Seats	Offered	Available*	Types
Hi	8	$0.10/$0.20-$25/$50	Limited
Fixed Limit	8	$0.10/$0.20-$25/$50	Limited
Fixed Limit	8	$0.10/$0.20-$25/$50	Limited

Other Games: Pot Limit 7 Card Stud, Pot Limit 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo, Pot Limit Razz, Limit 5 Card, Pot Limit 5 Card, Limit 5 Card Draw, Limit 2-7 Lowball, Pot Limit 2-7 Lowball, Limit A-5 Lowball, Pot Limit A-5 Lowball, Badugi, HORSE, HOSE, RASH, SHOE, HAR, HO, HA

Multi-Table Tournaments

Carbon Poker claims to offer over $3 million a month in guaranteed tournaments. Some of the more popular tournaments include a $30+$3 $10k tournament on Saturdays and a $10k held daily at 10 PM ET. The premier tournament on Carbon Poker is the Sunday $50k guaranteed held at 4 PM ET each week. On certain weeks, the guaranteed tournament moves up to $100,000. Satellites are available for the $100+$9 tournament starting at $11 or even via a freeroll. Players can buy-in directly to many Carbon Poker tournaments when using VIP Points at a rate of $0.01 per VIP Point.

Carbon Poker offers direct qualifiers to some of the largest live poker tournaments from around the world. Players can choose to qualify via a live event for as little as $2.20. Notable live events that Carbon Poker offers satellites to include the Aussie Millions, World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour, World Poker Tour and the Asia-Pacific Poker Tour.

The various types of MTTs offered on Carbon include standard offerings such as Deep Stacks, Rebuys, Turbo, Rebuy and Add-On, Shoot Outs and less standard tournaments such as Bounty and All In/Fold. Players can enter many of the tournaments through Late Registration.

A very nice feature of the tournament software is that players are able to see if EV that exists for tournaments that are running. This is done by double- clicking on a specific tournament in the lobby

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Carbon Poker Featured Tournaments
Name	Buy-in	When	Gtd.	Sat	Notes
Sunday $100k Gtd.	$100+$9	4 PM ET/20:00 GMT	$100k	Yes
Saturday $10k Gtd.	$30+$3	2 PM ET/18:00 GMT	$12.5k	Yes
Daily $10k Gtd.	$30+$3	10 PM ET/02:15 GMT Daily	$7k	Yes	Rebuy and Add-on

SNGs

Carbon Poker offers their Sit N Gos in a variety of games including various forms of Omaha and Hold’em; however, almost all running games will be found at No Limit Hold'em. During peak times, players should be able to find short-handed action up to $100+$9 and 10-seater action up to $20+$2. Tables are available all the way up to $5500+$80, so higher buy-in games will occasionally get going.

Double Up -- Double Up or Nothing as they are more commonly called --are quite popular on the Merge Network. Carbon Poker also offers Sit N Gos in Turbo and Bounty varieties. With Turbo contests, the blinds will go up every 4 minutes. Most standard SNGs will have levels going up every 7 minutes.

Sit N Go tournaments start with buy-ins as low as $0.60, called “Fast Fifty SnGs” and move all the way up to the $5500+$80 Turbo heads-up tables (not available for the faint of heart). All-in or Fold tournaments provide players with an interesting way to gamble with little skill involved. At the Carbon Poker SuperTurbo Sit N Gos, blinds increase every 3minutes.

Carbon Poker’s Bounty Tournaments, denoted with a green dollar sign, take a percentage of the prize pool as bounties on the heads of all players. This is often 50% of the total prize pool, but can be anywhere from 10%-100%.

Carbon Poker Rake Schedule

Carbon Poker Rake Schedule
# of players		2-3	4-5	6-10
Fixed Limit	Up to $1/$2	$0.01 per $0.20, $1 max (5%)	$0.01 per $0.20, $1 max (5%)	$0.01 per $0.20, $1 max (5%)
Fixed Limit	$2/$4 and Up	$0.01 per $0.20, $1 max (5%)	$0.01 per $0.20, $2 max (5%)	$0.01 per $0.20, $3 max (5%)
No Limit	All games	$0.01 per $0.20, $1 max (5%)	$0.01 per $0.20, $2 max (5%)	$0.01 per $0.20, $3 max (5%)

Example: At a $1/$2 fixed limit Hold'em game with 6 players seated and dealt cards, $0.01 in rake would be taken for each $0.20 in the pot up to a total of $1 in rake. Once the pot reaches $20, no further rake is taken. "5%" represents the % of the pot that is raked from the table at the time the rake is taken. Because many pots do not end up being raked (i.e. if no flop is seen) or if the pot is in between rake levels, effective rake levels are lower.

VIP Points/Store

VIPs earned in real money cash games and tournaments can be used to purchase items in the store, enter regular SNGs or MTTs, or purchase cash bonuses if you are a VIP player. The value of a VIP Point when exchanging for cash or for tournaments is $0.01 per VIP Point (or the equivalent of 7% in rakeback). See VIP Program for additional details. If you are a VIP player, this is the way to go as the rate in the store is not nearly as good.

Carbon Poker VIP Store Sample Rates
Item	Points	Value
iPad 16 GB w/Wi-Fi	75,415	$ 0.0079
iPod Nano 16 GB	29,780	$ 0.0060
iPod Touch 32 GB	59,110	$ 0.0050

Carbon Poker VIP Program

With Carbon Poker no longer offering rakeback to new players, Carbon Poker's VIP program is now the primary reward system on the site. Players can earn up to 47% VIP at the highest VIP status level. The rate comes from daily cash rebates (up to 35%) and VIP Point exchanges for cash (up to 12%). Players can also use VIP Points for tournament entries. VIP status level is determined by the number of VIP Points earned on a monthly basis. Other perks of the program include special bonus offers, birthday gifts, sidegame rebates, event invitations and Carbon junkets.

The chart below details the number of VIP Points required to achieve each status level, the equivalent rake required and the value that the program provides players in the form of Points to Cash exchanges.

Carbon Poker VIP Program
Status	Qualificiation	VIP Point Exchanges	VIP Pt Exchange Rate	Cash Rebate	Total Return
Earth	250 ($25)	$3/500	6%	6%	12%
Wind	750 ($75)	$7/1,000	7%	7.50%	14.5%
Fire	3,000 ($300)	$16/2,000	8%	10%	18%
Water	10,000 ($1,000)	$22.50/2,500	8.8%	15%	23.8%
Ether	2,500 ($2,500)	$50/5,000	10%	35%	45%

Additional Perks:

Level	Weekly Freerolls	Birthday Coupon	Event Invitations	Check Withdrawals
Earth	$10,000	$5.40	No	$20
Wind	$10,000	$11	No	$15
Fire	$10,000	$33	No	$10
Water	$10,000	$60	Yes	$5
Ether	$10,000	$109	Yes	Free

Bad Beat Jackpots

Bad Beat Jackpot Snapshot
Largest Seen Jackpot	Coming soon
Minimum Qualifying Hand	7777x
Jackpot Rake	$0.50
Jackpot %/Next Jackpot %/Admin fee %	70/20/10
Loser %	50%
Winner %	25%
Remaining Table %	25%

Carbon Poker offers progressive Bad Beat Jackpot tables at Limit Hold'em tables of $1/$2-$5/$10 and $0.50/$1.00-$5/$10 at No Limit Hold'em. To qualify for a Bad Beat Jackpot at eligible tables, a player must lose with Quad Sevens. When a jackpot is hit, 70% of the prize will be awarded with 50% of the paid amount going to the loser, 25% to the winner and 25% to the rest of the table. 20% of the non-paid amount will be used to reseed the next jackpot and 10% is taken by Carbon Poker as an administrative fee.

Carbon Poker takes a $0.50 jackpot drop from every pot in which there is a rake. Both the winning and losing hands must contain both hole cards. Both players must also be active at the end of the hand it must go to a showdown. Players sitting out will not be eligible for a prize.

Royal Flush Bonus

Get dealt a Royal Flush at any real money Texas Hold'em table at Carbon Poker and receive a bonus of 100x the size of the big blind up to $500. Both hole cards must be used and the player must win with the hand/pot with a Royal Flush (rabbiting does not count). Players earning the prize must submit to Carbon Poker support and claim the bonus within 48 hours of the completion of the hand. At a "Deal It Twice" table, only the first hand will count towards this promotion. Allow 48 hours for the bonus to be credited. You must wait 10 days to withdraw your Royal Flush bonus.

$20,000 Tournament King

Carbon Poker offers two Multi-table leaderboards as part of the Tourney King promotion, which pays a combined $20,000 in cash and prizes each month. The tournament leaderboards are divided by buy-in size: a Low Limit Leaderboard for $0-$19.99 and a High Limit Leaderboard for buy-ins of $20 or more.

Leaderboard position is determined according to a formula that consists of average buy-in cost for the tournament, total number of participants, entrants, final placing and a final table bonus. Be one of the top 250 MTT players in each of the leaderboards during the month to receive access to a special tournament, which will be held on the second Sunday of the month following the leaderboard results. Chip stack amounts will vary according to your position on the leaderboard.

High Limit Leaderboard (for players at buy-ins of $20 or more): Tournament will give away over $13,000 in prizes, split between the top 50 players. Top prize is $3,000

Low Limit Leaderboard (for players at buy-ins of $0-$19.99). Tournament will award $7,500 in prizes, split between the top 50 players. Top prize is $1,500.

Monthly SNG Leaderboard

Monthly SNG Leaderboards
Leaderboard	Total Prize	Winners Paid	Prize Range
SNG Monthly	$10,000	25	$100-$2000

Carbon Poker awards their top Sit N Go players with a total of $10,000 in monthly cash prizes. SNG Leaderboard Points will be determined using a formula that takes into account position, buy-in fee and a streak bonus, which awards multiple wins in a row. In addition to the main leaderboard prizes, Carbon Poker will award players with the longest winning streaks according to the chart below.

Streak Bonus Prizes
Place	Prize
1st	$750
2nd	$500
3rd	$350
4th	$250
5th	$150

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