A Brief History

Carbon Poker [an OSP affiliate] has been in operation since mid 2005 under the name poker.com. In 2007, the name was changed to Carbon Poker.  It is an independent on-line poker room (no affiliations to larger, more established sites). Carbon Poker is a U.S. friendly site.

What Do We Think?  (The Pros)

Carbon Poker is a relatively small site with fewer players than the “big boys”.  If you want to jump into a cash paying freeroll, you probably won’t have to worry about entering within the first couple of minutes once registration begins.  But they do fill up, so don’t wait too long.  Speaking of freerolls, Carbon Poker offers a lot more direct cash pay-out (not satellites or points) games than any other site I’ve seen.  And you won’t have to wait all day for one either, they have them as often as once an hour.  So, if you’re looking for a place to start building a bankroll from scratch, this is probably one of the best available.

Their design is pretty slick, it’s what you’re used to seeing but at the same time, it’s not.  What probably sets them apart is the availability of emoticons in the chat area where you can show everyone at the table exactly how you’re feeling.  Not that I’d ever recommend doing that, but it does bring an interesting air to the games.

If you’re looking to get away from the run of the mill poker games (Texas Hold ‘Em, Omaha, Stud), Carbon Poker offers a pretty wide variety (2-7 Triple Draw, Badugi and mixed games like HORSE).  And for the Sit n Go player, they offer Double or Nothing tournaments, paying you double your buy-in if you can outlast half the field.

Carbon Poker offers an instant $25 referral bonus when your friends sign-up, something the “big boys” simply don’t offer (they make you play for every penny).  And their other promotions, bad beat jackpots, large prize-pool tournaments, etc., are exactly what you’d expect to find.

What Do We Think?  (The Cons)

In my opinion there’s a bit of room for improvement. Carbon Poker’s stylized site is clean, but not necessarily the easiest to navigate.  I didn’t find the interface very intuitive; it took me a while to find the Sit n Go tables.  I just never noticed the second row of tabs that came up.  I suppose being used to the larger sites can make you jaded.  Along those lines, their tournaments aren’t color coded and I found myself in games that I didn’t expect, more than once.  Something that me simply reading certainly could have solved, but displaying the game type with more prominence couldn’t hurt either.

As far as game play goes, I found the action somewhat difficult to follow.  While the play moves (a definite plus), I really had to concentrate to see who’s turn it was and how they were playing.  The action indicator colors and highlights just don’t seem to be eye-catching enough for me. They replace your action bar with site advertisements when you’re not in a hand.  Not that that’s a bad thing, I don’t mind being alerted to offers and promotions that I may not have known about.  But, since I leave my cursor down in that area, it makes it very easy to accidentally open your web browser when you’re trying to get a read on your opponents. And finally, having to constantly select my favorite seat every time I’m moved to a new table is just plain annoying.

Overall?

I’d say give Carbon Poker a try for yourself (don’t forget your bonus code ONESTOPBONUS).  While I think they could use a few tweaks here and there, it’s a solid, small site.  They update their software frequently, so don’t be surprised if some of the changes I suggested above aren’t there sooner rather than later.

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