Online poker room with new name maintains old popularity among players from North America.

Bovada Poker has won more than its fair share of honors during a relatively short operation lifespan, and today another notch was added to the room’s belt: BestPokerSite.org has selected Bovada as the top site for players from the US.

Selecting the top room for any market is never an easy task, and the editors of BestPokerSite.org considered dozens of factors before ultimately making their decision.  “We looked at software, payment processing, available games, competition –  more factors than I can list” said a BPS editor.  “Ultimately it became clear that Bovada simply had more to offer to players from North America than any other online poker room.”

As the holder of the top spot in BestPokerSite.org’s 2012 Top Site for US Players, Bovada beat out a host of competitors that includes such long-time North American favorites as Carbon Poker and Lock Poker.

Players interested in learning more about the features that Bovada has to offer can either visit the room directly or peruse an in-depth review of the room at BestPokerSite.org.  BestPokerSite.org’s review covers a number of facets, including game selection, traffic stats, details about banking and other relevant information for players looking to choose an online poker room for their poker action.

More about Bovada

Bovada Poker is a fully licensed and regulated online poker room, casino and sportsbook serving thousands of customers daily.

More about BestPokerSite.org

BestPokerSite.org is an online poker portal providing comprehensive information regarding the best online poker sites.  In addition to ranking the top sites for North American players, BestPokerSite.org also has reviews and analysis of the major rooms for European and Asian players.

Media Contact:
Editor
http://www.bestpokersite.org/

###

To call the software upgrade an odds calculator is actually a bit of an understatement.  Not only does it calculate basic odds, but it also serves as a basic equity calculator, a hand replayer, an in-game HUD, an organizer of your player notes and quite a bit more.  In fact, there are over three dozen unique features of the Carbon Poker odds calculator.

Using the calculator is simple.  You just need to log in to your Carbon Poker account and download the new software from your player admin.  Once you do, you’ll have total access to the software upgrade free of charge.  The next time you log on and play real money online poker at Carbon, you’ll have all of the features of the odds calculators at your fingertips. 

Only Carbon, Aced and PDC Poker players will have access to this upgrade; other rooms on the Merge Poker network that share a player pool with Carbon will not be offering this feature.

Of all the features that are packed into the odds calculator, the replayer deserves special attention.  The old hand history function that Carbon Poker offered was always one of the big drawbacks of the software; it was clunky, hard to navigate and even harder to follow.  The new replayer provides a slick graphical format that lets you access a ton of information about the hand and the opponents you faced in the hand.  This makes looking back over your session for review a far easier and more efficient process, especially when compared with the poor functionality Carbon previously offered in this regard.

It’s not all good news; there are a few minor drawbacks to the Carbon Poker odds calculator.  The first is that it is not available for players who use the Mac version of the Carbon Poker software.  The second is that only Texas holdem is currently supported, so Omaha players won’t be able to take advantage of this new upgrade.  Both items are apparently slated for a future version of the calculator, so hopefully Mac players and Omaha fans won’t have to wait much longer to get the great value already available to other players at Carbon.

What is Chip King? How does Chip King work?  It’s actually a pretty simple promotion.  Short version of the story: The more you play, the more you’ll be rewarded with access to exclusive freeroll tournaments. 

We’ll break down the long version of the story below so that players can get a better idea of exactly what value they can expect from Chip King this month at Carbon Poker.  Not active at Carbon?  Be sure to use a Carbon Poker bonus code when you make your first deposit to get the initial deposit bonus.

Playing for Stacks

In this promotion, you’ll literally be playing for stacks –  the more you play, the more chips you’ll have in your starting stack for Chip King freerolls.  The point levels are pretty reasonable, and there’s apparently no cap –  the more VIP points you earn, the more chips Carbon will pump into your stack.

Consistency Matters

While Chip King offers rewards to just about every player, but reserves the best rewards for those willing to put in the hours each week in the month of April.  That’s why Carbon has structured Chip King to focus on 3 individual periods of the month, with a separate freeroll for each.  The longer the period, the greater the freeroll prize.

There Can be Only One King

Lots of players will see some extra money in their bankrolls thanks to Chip King, but only one will take home the top prize of the promotion.  The top 50 participants from the month’s freerolls will be entered into a 10k freeroll at month’s end where one player will walk away with a few thousand in their account that wasn’t there before.

That’s about the long and the short of it when it comes to Chip King.  One last important note –  you need to opt-in to this promotion from within your Player Admin in order to receive any of the benefits.  Simply launch the Carbon Poker software and click on the “admin” button in the lobby, and then select the promotions tab from your Player Admin to start fighting for the crown today.

This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise; after all, law does tend to lag behind technology, and online poker has simply developed and grown in popularity more quickly that governments have been able –  or willing –  to construct regulatory schemes for online poker.  While some governments have caught up –  think the UK –  and others seem on their way to catching up –  think Spain –  there are still several major markets where online poker is caught in legal limbo (we’re looking at you, United States).

So, can USA players put cash down on the virtual poker tables at Carbon Poker?  What about other rooms on the Merge Poker Network?

First, let’s get something out of the way.  Even though our page and hundreds of others are eager to offer you advice about the qualifying status of various countries vis a vis Carbon Poker, but the best place to get current, valid information on the matter is to contact the room directly and ask.  This is the best approach no matter which of the poker rooms for USA players you may be considering –  don’t waste your time sorting through information that might be out of date or simply incorrect when you could easily head straight for the source.

Back to the original question of the article: Most players is the best answer we can give.  The situation is constantly evolving not only for Carbon, but for the industry at large.  Until that core uncertainty is resolved, expect more of the same in the weeks and months to come.

Lock Poker moved from a flat rakeback deal to a VIP program along with the rest of the Merge Poker Network in mid-2011.  In this article we’ll walk through the basics of the VIP program at Lock Poker.  If you like what you see, remember to look for Lock Poker bonus codes before making your first deposit.

The basics of the program

Lock Poker offers a tiered VIP program based on your monthly play.  The more you play, the higher your tier.  The higher your tier, the better your rewards.  The major difference between tiers is the value you get for daily cash back.

Your VIP status for the current month is based on your play from the previous month, and there is no carryover –  your status resets at the start of the new month.  That’s a bit of a drawback for some players who may prefer the annual model employed by rooms like PokerStars.

How much do you need to play?

The VIP program is based on VIP points earned.  You get 10 points for every dollar in rake you pay.  To hit the bottom tier of the VIP program, you need to earn 1000 points, or pay $100 in rake.  To hit the highest tier, you need to get 50,000 points, or pay $5,000 in rake.

What is it worth to players?

Anywhere from 10% to 35% daily cash back, along with another 10% for point redemption.  That’s a pretty solid rate, especially at the highest tier if you’re also clearing a deposit bonus at the same time.

Carbon Poker (read a Carbon Poker review) recognizes the beauty of guaranteed tournaments, and that’s why they’ve packed their tournament schedule with event after event featuring a guaranteed prize pool.  You’ll find tournaments at a wide array of buy in levels, and you’ll also find a nice mix of games and formats in the guaranteed tournaments schedule.

You can view the complete schedule by logging in to the Carbon Poker software and choosing the Tournament tab.  From there you can either look for tournaments described as Guaranteed, or you can use Carbon Poker’s filtering system and icon system to identify those tournaments that offer a guaranteed prize pool to players.

What kind of tournaments are we talking?  Here’s a snap shot from the daily schedule:

$200 Guaranteed Deepstack Turbo Freezeout –  NLHE, $1 buy in

$5,000 Guaranteed Freezeout –  NLHE, $55 buy in

$400 Guaranteed – PL Omaha HiLo –  PLO H/L, $6 buy in

As you can see just from those examples, there really is something for almost every sort of player in the daily selection of guaranteed tournaments offered by Carbon Poker.

If you’re already gotten the first deposit bonus at Carbon, the guaranteed tournament schedule is also available at most other Merge poker sites like Lock, RPM and others. 

That’s because all rooms on the Merge network share the same player pools for cash games and tournaments (with a handful of minor exceptions), so you can move from room to room to take advantage of promotions without really ever leaving the place you’ve come to love playing at.

That date?  February 26^th.  The event?  Carbon Poker is hosting a $25k Freeroll with a whopping $5k going to first place.  That’s not a bad prize for an online poker real money tournament, let alone a freeroll.

As indicated by the word “freeroll”, there is no cost to enter this tournament.  However, you can’t just register for it either.  You need to “win” your way into the $25k freeroll if you want to have a shot at the $5k for the winner.

There are two basic qualifying paths for the $25k Freeroll: Daily qualifiers and VIP qualifiers.

Daily qualifiers will run in the lobby three times a day up until the $25k Freeroll plays.  You can find them at 13:30, 17:30 and 21:30 server time; to confirm the schedule, simply log in to the Carbon Poker software and click on the tournament tab.  Once in the tournament section of the lobby, navigate to the scheduled tab and the “special” sub-tab.  In each qualifying freeroll 10 players will receive seats into the $25k Freeroll, and entry into the qualifiers is completely free.

You can also win your way to the $25k Freeroll via VIP qualifiers.  These are tournaments that restrict entry based on the number of VIP points you have earned so far in a given day.  For example, the final VIP qualifier of the day runs at 22:30 server time and is only open to people who have earned 500 or more VIP points by that time.

While the $25k Freeroll isn’t the only value you’ll currently find at Carbon Poker, it’s one of the best.  Be sure to log in this February and take your shot at a real rags-to-riches story.

If the network model seems confusing, just think of it this way: Each individual skin –  like Carbon Poker –  is a door leading to a poker room.  Each door can be branded in any way imaginable, and the area leading up to the door can also be branded and customized. 

Behind each door, however, is the same poker room.  Make sense?

Ok, it makes sense now.  But why does it matter to you?  Well, each skin may lead to the same poker room, but the bonuses and promotions they offer are not so identical.  As anyone who plays online poker real money games will tell you, promotions are a huge part of a serious player’s bottom line.  Since you are allowed to have multiple accounts on the Merge Network, shopping around for the best skin isn’t a bad idea. 

Below are a few of the premier Merge skins that you might want to consider if you’re planning on moving away from Carbon Poker:

Lock Poker:  With a large stable of online pros and additional games beyond poker, Lock is a popular choice for players looking for an additional account on the Merge platform.  Their VIP program is similar, and you’ll find some unique bonuses like a higher deposit bonus and other goodies.

Aced Poker: A relatively new brand on the Merge Network, Aced is gaining attention for great customer support and innovative promotions.  You’ll also get access to additional gaming products playing at Aced.

RPM Poker:  Known primarily by high-volume players, RPM offers good value through their VIP program, high-level customer support and serious bonuses for high-volume players.

Grab a bonus and play poker

To help you get started, you will find that there is a rather healthy PKR Poker bonus on offer for players. Even though the PKR site manages to stand out from the crowd with its 3D graphics and interactive style of play, players still want to know if they enjoy a site. Some people may not like the graphic intensive game play on the site and may prefer a more basic looking game of online poker. The beauty of the online poker industry is that there is something for everyone but the PKR site definitely manages to stand apart from its rivals.

It is only natural that some online poker players may think that PKR are trying to use style over substance to impress fans but this is certainly not the case. A quick read of any PKR Poker review will inform people that there is a high quality of games on offer from the site. The game play is smooth, aided by the download option, and if you enjoy the interactive elements of poker, you will definitely be in your element here. Being able to influence the outcome of a poker hand or event by getting into the mind of your opponent is a great feeling and some players excel at this more than others.

Play poker the way you want

These players will definitely get a kick from the PKR site but it is hoped that there will be something for everyone on the site. The good thing about the computer graphics is that you can still shut out most of what is happening on screen and purely focus on the cards. For some players, this is exactly how they will approach a poker game in real life and this online poker game will appeal to all the different personalities of poker players.

Being able to make the most of your natural playing style is the next big thing for online poker sites and this site is a step ahead of the rest. There are still some things on the PKR site that will not please everyone but it is fair to say that the perfect poker site is yet to be created and in all likelihood, it never will be created. However, the PKR site is a perfect example of how poker sites are changing and will give a good indication of what is to come in the next wave of online poker sites. With great graphics and gameplay, this is a site that should appeal to all poker lovers.