carbon poker blog

The Texas Hold'em of Golf

2008-05-14T22:01:00.000-07:00

This is pretty cool. We all know that the World Series of Poker is a great chance for any amateur player to bust out some moves and walk away with millions in prize money, so someone decided that the World Series of Golf was an equally cool idea. That someone was right.

Well, Golf requires some pretty intense physical skills, and one needs to at least have some skill with a club to have a shot at the title. However, a bunch of poker pros with a heap of spare time on their hands - including Daniel Negreanu, Allen Cunningham and Phil Ivey - will be competing.

It's a $10,000 buy-in event, and each player starts with 10,000 chips. As a no-limit event, players can bet, raise, fold or go all-in on their particular shots. For example, Cunningham and Negreanu may be involved in a pot where both players have made it to the green. Cunningham may be closer to the flag, but Negreanu may consider himself a better putter and raise his bet.

The top 25 places are paid, and it's good to see various game mechanics from poker can be implemented successfully in other sports. If you happen to be in Vegas, head over to the Paiute Golf Resort and check out some of the action!

Poker videos at Carbon

2008-05-13T22:23:00.000-07:00

Starting very shortly, we will be introducing new media to the community here at CarbonPoker. The success of poker in recent years was assisted greatly by the popularity of televised poker, so we thought it's high time to start making some great poker videos accessible right here at our own site!

We have a number of cool new features in the works for video content, so players can enjoy the glory of the poker spotlight while still hitting the tables hard. The plan is to make your secure Player Admin a central hub for video content, where you can check out a whole bunch of online and live action.

For starters, every player should be aware of High Stakes Poker, a televised cash game starring some of the biggest names in the poker world. With pots skyrocketing to hundreds of thousands of real dollars, it is one of the most popular poker shows in the world. Those who haven't had a chance to check it out yet, here's the very first episode from Season 1. Enjoy!

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

WSOP TV schedule released

2008-05-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

The WSOP Main Event final table is being delayed until November, and ESPN is sorting out all its television coverage to culminate in the (almost) live final table on November 11th.

Basically, players can enjoy all the fun of the World Series and win boatloads of cash, then watch the TV coverage soon after the events come to a close. The Main Event will start at the usual date, but conclude when the final table is set and break for over three months. During this time, regular WSOP coverage will air, including the first several days of the Main Event.

The final table will then be played, with a quick edit job for airing the very next day. Stay away from live updates to watch the action as it happens!

Here's the tentative programming schedule:

• July 22 - Event 1: $10,000 pot-limit hold 'em
• July 29 - Event 2: $1,500 no-limit hold 'em
• Aug. 5 - Event 3: $1,500 pot-limit hold 'em or Event 4: $5,000 mixed hold 'em
• Aug. 12 - Event 5: $1,000 no-limit hold 'em with rebuys
• Aug. 19 - Event 45: $50,000 HORSE
• Aug. 26 - Event 50: $10,000 pot-limit Omaha
• Sept. 2 to Oct. 28 - Event 55: $10,000 no-limit hold 'em main event
• Nov. 4 - Event 55: WSOP main event final table preview show
• Nov. 11 - Event 55: WSOP main event final table

Early shot at some WSOP success

2008-05-05T17:01:00.000-07:00

One of our affable players, James "DADuhWEEwah" Darnaby, decided to try his hand at a WSOP Circuit Event at Caeser's in Las Vegas. As a $5000 buy-in event, this was no chump change, and Jim tried a few $550 satellites for a seat, with no luck.

Eventually deciding to just buy in to the event outright, Jim picked up a tough table, including pro Bertrand "Elky" Grosspellier.

The starting stack was 10,000 chips, with blinds at 25/50 and 75 minute levels. The first two levels were fairly uneventful, although Jim ended up at around 12k.

Picking up JJ, the button made it 275 to go and had one caller, and Jim re-popped it to 1025. Both players mucked.

On the critical hand of his tournament, Jim held KK on the button and again made it 1025. A player behind makes it 2700, and Jim goes ahead to push all-in for 11,800. After a snap call, he knew he was in big trouble. His opponents turned over AA, and that was that!

However, Jim had him covered by 525. He doubled up with 67 against K10, and then managed to get AA under the gun all in with an opponent holding AJ. It's a premium position to be in, but the board ran out 10 8 7 9 2. The Aces were cracked with a straight, and Jim said goodbye to his first major live tournament.

Good game Jim - he made all the right moves, but nobody could control the cards. We hope to see him at another WSOP event in the very near future.

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

Mayday approaches, save our souls

2008-04-29T17:37:00.000-07:00

Mayday means several things for Carbon Poker. This month is the launch of a new event, which is similar to our highly successful Christmas Scavenger Hunt. Players will be able to check out their admin to find a list of tasks to be completed and their corresponding prizes. There's thousands of dollars of prizes to be won, all with a stylish theme of impending airborne action!

The origins of our Mayday promo lend from the distress signal of the same name. Here's a few fun facts about Mayday usage:

- The signal is universal - any personnel capable of receiving such a message over a radio broadcast will understand its meaning. This means you won't be entirely lost for words while adventuring in Machu Piccu or something.

- When a Mayday broadcast is being transmitted, it is forbidden to take up radio traffic for any other non-emergency communication. That handy radio-based deep sea pizza delivery network you set up with the chaps on dry land will have to wait until Johnny Nautical gets out of his sinking vessel alive.

- Don't name your aeroplane "Mayday". The air traffic controllers will have a hard time figuring out what you're going on about when calling for help. "Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is mayday in mayday!"

- May Day also happens to be the name of a holiday which celebrates the social and economic achievements of the labor movement. YAWN. Mayday is at its best when used in a daring action-hero situation, preferably one involving Sam Jackson.

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

A new WPT champion is crowned

2008-04-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

Much to the chagrin of the spectators at the Bellagio, Tom "Durrrr" Dwan didn't make the televised final table of the WPT Championship, where he would have been sporting yet another wacky hat.

On the plus side, the final table included Gus Hansen, 2007 Aussie Millions champion and poker legend. He was also set to take out the title, coming into the final table as the chip leader.

Afetr knocking out Cory Carroll, the second in chip counts, Gus rocketed to an almost unstoppable lead. In heads-up play, David Chiu held approximately 4 million chips, where Gus was sitting pretty on 23 million. The title was all but his.

Well, after a lengthy heads-up match including several double-ups, David Chiu came back to win the title and over $3,300,000. On the final hand, Gus had a ten and eight for two pair, where David held a pair of Aces with a flush draw. Gus moved all in on the turn, and David called. The river was another Ace, and David eliminated Gus Hansen in second place!

Congratulations David and Gus!

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

A tropical time at the WPT Championship

2008-04-20T21:24:00.001-07:00

Heh. Apparently online pro Tom "Durrrr" Dwan lost a prop bet to a friend of his, Alan Sass, and was obligated to wear a funny hat throughout the entire WPT Championship, running right now at the Bellagio.

The final hat was chosen to be this nifty number, complete with a giant purple feather and fruit. How can he be nervous when he looks as stupid as that!

He won't be going home anytime soon, either - at the conclusion of Day 1B, Durrrr sits near the top of the chip counts with 120,000. Good luck!

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

Our biggest Caribbean Stud jackpot ever!

2008-04-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

After only recently reporting that our Caribbean Stud jackpot has been paying out thousands of dollars left right and center, along comes a player to win the whole thing! We're defying all odds to pay out as much cash as possible, and ureadmnweepagain has won a grand total of $72,025.47!

Donna was ecstatic with her massive win, as you can plainly see! For a jackpot bet of just $0.20, a win of 72k is not a bad profit at all.

As a forum and poker room regular, there couldn't be a more deserving winner. It shows that dedication and the right choices at the right time can certainly pay off, and for Donna this means winning the biggest jackpot in Carbon Poker history.

You can play Caribbean Stud at Carbon Poker for as low as $1 per hand, with a $0.20 jackpot bet. You need to make sure you put that jackpot bet in every hand, because you don't want any Royal Flush hands being unpaid!

Congratulations again, and may all your hands be Royals!

-- Phil @ Carbon Poker

The Bluff League comes to a close!

2008-04-17T19:25:00.000-07:00

After several months of tough competition, the Carbon Bluff League has now come to a close. We teamed up with Bluff Magazine to organize this league, to award three WSOP seats for 2008! First place was to receive a $10,000 Main Event buy-in, and second and third picked up a $1500 seat each.

The Bluff League ran from October until April, with a $10 buy-in tournament running every Wednesday night. With points being awarded for placing in each tournament, the player with the highest points at the end of the league would win a $10,000 Main Event seat.

Over 400 players played at least one Bluff League tournament, with the added incentive of receiving $25 instant cash for eliminating the current first-place leaderboard player. All the points were adding up each and every week, and the stars of the Bluff League began to emerge.

Although it was a close race in the early beginning, Jazzer12 took the top of the leaderboard and maintained his momentum throughout. Points were awarded based on number of participants in each tournament, and Jazzer12 finished the series with a grand total of 2833 points. A number of players were within reach of catching up, but couldn't pull off a last minute win to snare the first place prize.

Each winning player over the course of the league was awarded a Bluff League Champion accolade, so these players are not to be underestimated if you see them at your table. The Bluff League brought some incredibly tough players to the field, as evidenced by the very last land of the final Bluff League tournament:

With blinds at 1500/3000, SirYangZi completed from the small blind and Gobleracin89 checked his option in the big blind. The flop came down 5d Tc 9h, and SirYangZi instantly moved all in. Amazingly, Gobleracin89 made the call with 5h Jd, holding nothing but bottom pair with a mediocre kicker! Worst of all, SirYangZi was on a stone cold bluff, with nothing but a seven or eight for a gutshot straight able to save him. The turn and river bricked, and Golberacin89 became the final Bluff League Champion with an amazing call.

With the points now awarded, we have out top ten on the leaderboard. Jazzer12 stayed on top of his game the whole way, and we wish him and our other two $1500 tournament winners best of luck at the 2008 World Series of Poker!

FINAL LEADERBOARD

1 Jazzer12 2833
2 BluffMagJeff 2451
3 Prolific1 2061
4 TheOmen111 1765
5 quesswho 1688
6 OldDogNewTrick 1687
7 Bud0518 1677
8 UM9xnc 1670
9 ScottE51 1588
10 etalons 1583

WPT bracelet winners?

2008-04-16T20:18:00.000-07:00

The WSOP has always been very successful because of its popularity (resulting in increased prize pools), and the prestige of winning a World Series of Poker bracelet. The bracelet is a symbol of poker prowess, and players can be defined in two categories - those who have a bracelet, and those who don't!

The whole bracelet theme seems to be pretty popular, so the World Poker Tour decided to jump on the bandwagon. In a ceremony on April 21 (coinciding with the current WPT Championship), the WPT is going to award a bracelet to each of its winners over six seasons, coming to 96 players.

Getting bonus stuff after already winning a WPT event would be very cool. On the other hand, the WSOP bracelet is such an iconic symbol in poker, it's hard to associate the same jewelry item with the WPT.

The bracelet winners will probably be quick to throw on their new prized possession and hit the tables at the 2008 $25,000 WPT Championship, starting on April 19.

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

Pirates of our Caribbean

2008-04-15T23:12:00.000-07:00

This month has been kind to our dedicated Caribbean Stud players. In less than two weeks, we have given away over $21,000 in jackpot prizes!

The winners forkliftterror, calgon73 and milleke all won jackpot payouts of just over $7000 cash, each for winning with a Straight Flush. Our Caribbean Stud tables pay 10% of the jackpot for a Straight Flush, and 100% for a Royal Flush. We gave away a $55,000 Royal jackpot not long ago, but clearly plenty of players are due for a nice cash injection.

Before the two-week winning streak, xpander1216 and nate1874 each picked up over $5500, also by winning with a Straight Flush. Massive congratulations to all our big winners!

The more players hitting the Caribbean Stud tables, the higher the jackpot will rise. Our tables start at 20 cents, so a payday of thousands wouldn't be such a bad profit at all!

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

The Bounty Graveyard Grand Finale

2008-04-14T17:49:00.000-07:00

We've now come to the end of the Bounty Graveyard. Now, this might seem a little morbid to some players, but we have had a couple of extreme killers throughout the second week. In fact, it's more brutal than we could have ever expected!

After the first week of play, Rafael19 was the first-place champion, having picked up 525 bounties over the seven days. During the second week, two newcomers stepped into the fray and took bounty hunting to a whole new level.

Schyzza completely dominated the entire field, and even eliminated several players five, six and seven times each in separate tournaments. In seven days, the total bounty count was 811. All lost their tournament lives at the hands of Schyzza.

One other player came close. Stuck333 managed to score 794 bounties over the week, which would have been a champion effort if Schyzza wasn't in the mix! The third-place weekly winner is Godoy84, with a comparatively lowly 407 bounties - though realistically, this is also very impressive. The top three win cash prizes of $300, $200 and $150 respectively.

Out Bounty Graveyard was a huge success, with over 4000 players taking part in a bounty tournament throughout the second week alone! Congratulations to all!

Top Ten winners:

1. 811 Kills - Schyzza
2. 794 - Stuck333
3. 407 - Godoy84
4. 354 - bigrich804
5. 313 - Sharapova69
6. 313 - buzinez
7. 297 - alijoli
8. 273 - 2fast443
9. 253 - fixn2win
10. 218 - dillusional

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

More Sunday Shenanigans

2008-04-13T22:12:00.000-07:00

The latest Sunday 20K Guaranteed was very interesting, with a few newcomers to the final table and a lengthy battle for the first place prize.

228 players were present for the five hour tournament, and the final table was a long hike, despite the rising blinds. It finally came to heads-up play with LeroyPaige and RaginAZN the last two players standing. Only eight hands were to separate the two players from their prize money!

With the big stack and playing the part of the bully, RaginAZN shoved all in with KQo, and LeroyPaige took his chances against at leat two overcards, holding pocket Deuces.

The match was all but over on the flop, when it came down K 4 5 rainbow. LeroyPaige needed a Deuce or runner-runner straight to pick up the win, but the Kings held up and RaginAZN picked up $5400 for first place!

The CarbonPoker Sunday 20K Guaranteed has incredible overlay, and you won't find better EV anywhere else. With only 228 players last week, we bumped up the prize pool to include the value of over 100 extra buy-ins. That's a lot of opponents you won't need to face to win their cash!

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

Version 4.3 recap

2008-04-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a few weeks since our biggest update so far was released, and version 4.3 has been a huge success so far. I've had a browse over how far some of our features have progressed, and it's pretty impressive to say the least.

The bad beat Jackpot has more than tripled since it began, and the standard law of physics implies that the higher the jackpot, the more players sit down to win big! From there, it will keep growing and growing, until someone walks away with (hopefully) tens, maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Trust me when I say you'll want to be there when the jackpot goes off, because everyone at the table receives a tasty piece.

The Bounty tournaments have been attracting lots of action, particularly because of our current Bounty Graveyard event. The chance to win cash for eliminating players is pretty darn tempting, and today I honor both Rafael19 and huntingfool38, who steamrollered the field in the first week. So far through the second week, both Shyzza and stuck333 have easily proven their skills, consistently placing first and second.

Deal it Twice is new ... very new. I've only previously seen this technique employed on High Stakes Poker, and for this reason some players may be a bit apprehensive to give it a shot. However, I noticed we have at least three full Deal it Twice tables running, so that sure showed me. Our highest limit players all comment that it really is a feature employed by the best professional players, so it's definitely a concept to read up on if you haven't already!

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

Weekly Bounty Graveyard winners!

2008-04-07T23:47:00.001-07:00

We're now one week into the Bounty Graveyard schedule, so we can now announce the winners for the weekly leaderboard, with the top ten players receiving a portion of the $1000 prize pool!

Rafael19 has been tearing it up all week, and takes the top prize of $300! We've had a whole bunch of consistent winners, but best of all, your chances to win extra cash have not diminished. We are still running daily leaderboard prizes, and the weekly leaderboard has started right now, so get out there and play in some Bounty games!

1. 525 Kills - Rafael19
2. 447 - Huntingfool38
3. 418 - bigrich806
4. 351 - Serenity18
5. 344 - izreal90
6. 257 - buzinez
7. 234 - dillusional
8. 204 - iamlegendNZ
9. 185 - MisterTommy
10. 189 - Schyzza

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

Cruising in Atlantic City

2008-04-07T18:15:00.000-07:00

One of our players FrizzB just had an excellent experience in Atlantic City, playing in three events! After battling through Logan Airport, a midnight Greyhound ride and an extremely uncomfortable layover in a New York City bus station, he arrived at the casino and managed to get a good rest before the next day's action.

Here's a quick rundown of FrizzB's tournament experience!

Event #3 03/06/08 $ 500 + $60 = $ 560

First up was Event 3, where FrizzB won the very first hand of play with pocket Kings. Things were looking good, but unfortunately FrizzB was knocked out of the tournament in the very first level.

With pocket Tens, the flop came K J 3, and FrizzB bet out, where one other player called. The turn was a 5, and another bet came, and was called. The river was a seemingly golden Ten, giving FrizzB a set, but the other player shoved all in and he couldn't get away. Turns out the opponent hit the draw holding AQ for a straight, and FrizzB was eliminated.

Event #4 03/08/08 $1000 + $80 = $1080

In the third level, FrizzB was running a bit low on chips, and limped in with KQ. The flop was K 5 3, so a shove here is a natural move. He shoved for his last 2500 chips, and was called by an extremely cold AK. That was the end of that!

Event #7 03/11/08 $ 500 + $60 = $ 560

In the most successful tournament, FrizzB made it to the seventh level holding 20000 chips. A few hands in, he picked up A 10 in the hole, and called an opening bet of 4000. The flop was A Q 10, and the two players got it all in right then and there. Of course, FrizzB's opponent held AQ, and he was down to just 4000 chips.

Forced to go all in with A 9 suited, FrizzB was called by an opponent holding pocket nines, and he didn;t catch the much needed Ace to stay alive.

Some cold decks got the better of FrizzB, but he played well and had a great time in Atlantic City. Congratulations on your solid tournament run!

You can win your own way to live events by playing in our satellite tournaments, and even join our growing team of WSOP Main Event qualifiers!

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

The first bounty winners are in!

2008-04-03T23:17:00.000-07:00

We've just put up the bounty leaderboard for this month's Bounty Graveyard event, and I honestly never expected this kind of dedication to eliminations!

The current leader is Rafael19, who has racked up a massive total of 189 kills and 111 deaths. Sure, you need to be able to put up with getting eliminated if you want to dedication to succeed in the world of bounty tournaments!

A few people have been surprised by the aggression or apparent "donkey" play being seen in the bounty tournaments, but this is all just a learning curve. Cash games require a different skill set to tournaments, Sit n' Goes require different skills than MTTs - and Bounty tournaments are an entirely different league entirely.

You'll find aggression here like never before, but that just means you need to adapt your play! Take a stand and don't be pushed around - some players excel in bounty tournaments, and this isn't just referring to finishing in the money. Don;t forget, you win cash for every player you eliminate.

Other notable leaderboard players include huntingfool38 with 143 kills, and Serenity18 with 138. We've only been running the graveyard for a short time, so there's plenty of chance to catch up!

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

Bounty hunting at Carbon

2008-04-01T23:08:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot of fun since implementing our Bounty tournaments. I never knew our players had such bloodlust, but apparently poker is a pretty competitive game. Who would have thought?

So, this is where I approach the new Bounty Graveyard promo with extreme caution. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt, and that's just the way everyone likes it. Not only do players pick up cash prizes for every elimination in our Bounty tournaments, but a tombstone leaderboard in Player Admin will show your scalps for the two weeks until April 15th.

We've also put together daily and weekly cash prizes for our top scoring players ($150 per day and $1000 per week), which means potential for winning three times (tournament cash prizes, bounty cash prizes and leaderboard prizes) by knocking out players. If that isn't enough to create some action at the tables, I don't know what is!

Don't be afraid to use your chip lead to an advantage. Push those short stacks around!

-- Phil @ Carbon Poker

New features for version 4.3!

2008-03-30T16:42:00.000-07:00

Well, we've had a few days to gauge the success of our new 4.3 software release, and run a few new tournaments and tables to get the action going. If the reaction thus far has been anything to go by, we are certainly going to have some fun with the new features!

All available in the latest update, we now offer:

Bad Beat Jackpot: on specially labeled ring games, 50c from each pot will contribute to a Bad Beat Jackpot worth thousands of dollars! This is a jackpot to award players who suffer to very worst of the bad beats. If you are holding Quads 7s or better and get beaten by Quads 8s or better (including straight flushes), then the jackpot will explode, and every active player at the table will win a portion of the prize.

The big loser receives the biggest chunk of the prize, but everyone at the table will be paid. Winners will potentially receive thousands of dollars when the jackpot goes off, so make sure you are ready, willing and able to play at our Bad Beat tables!

The overall moral of the story? When at these tables, don't fold Quads - and really, really hope they don't hold up!

Bounty tournaments: It's always a great feeling to eliminate another player in a tournament, particularly if said player has been riding heavily on the smilies and chat when they win! It's all part of the fun, and with our bounty tournaments, you'll win money for every elimination!

You'll pay a buy-in (which contributes to a standard prize pool), and also a bounty fee for the price of your tournament life. So, every time you eliminate a player, you will win their bounty. So, you can profit from eliminating players and also placing in the money for the prize pool! Our bounties are fully customized, so check out your poker software for different structures in out MTTs and Sit n' Goes.

Shootout Tournaments: These are played as a series of single-table tournaments, with the top players from each table advancing to the next round. For example, ten tables of ten with the top three players advancing, and those players then form three tables. Again the top three advance for the final table of nine!

Shootouts have a flatter payout structure and different goals - beat your table for starters, and don't try to overcome the entire field.

Deal it Twice: In certain ring games, the option to deal both turn and river cards twice will be available in two player, all-in circumstances. Dealing those cards twice is a way to simply reduce variance, and have the opportunity to hit more outs.

For example, two players can go all-in after the flop - one player with a made hand, and the other with a draw. The players must both agree to deal it twice, with each deal worth half of the pot. The player with the made hand wants to take less risk of being drawn out on (assuming the opponent has a draw), and the drawing player wants more chances to hit.

This technique is becoming very popular, and you can see it employed in many live high stakes cash games. As an industry pioneer, CarbonPoker is the very first room to offer Deal it Twice in online poker!
__________________________

For further details regarding our newest features, check out the CarbonPoker website and also the table options and client news in your updated poker software.

If you have any questions regarding the new release, simply contact support via email or live chat. Good luck at the tables, and enjoy the benefits of version 4.3!

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

Take that, Steve McQueen

2008-03-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

Our flagship opening bounty tournament was a huge success, with 124 players sitting down. Each player paid $5 to the tournament prize pool, and an additional $5 for bounty prizes. Now, this meant that for every elimination, the winning player would receive the $5 bounty. You could finish 121st out of 124 and still make your money back - provided you eliminated the two previous players.

Then again, if you tripled up and ended up being the next player eliminated, something is very wrong...

In any case, there were more ways to win in the tourney, and winning does a good game make. Our 84th place finisher, mikeymx3 even cashed for $2.50 with a split pot bounty payout. Not too shabby. Players all over the ranks won back their $10 buy-in and then some, and the top place finishers still cashed for hundreds of dollars.

Speaking of top players, our bounty champion was klhager60! Not only did he win $186 for his first place, but along the way he eliminated 21 players for $105 in bounty winnings. Holy knockout Batman!

On the final hand (and final bounty), klhager60 had Kc 5h, and Vato7777 held Ad 10h.

The flop was 10s, 6d and Ks. Of course, Vato7777 didn't put his opponent on a King, and after the turn of 7c, he shoved all in after klhuger60 made a bet, hoping the Ten was good. Unfortunately for him, it didn't work out that time! Vato7777 cashed for $124 in second place, and also picked up $30 in bounties.

Congratulations to all winning players in our bounty tournament, and I look forward to seeing plenty more eliminations in the future.

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

A repeat performance for our WSOP veteran!

2008-03-24T21:25:00.000-07:00

What's better than playing in a WSOP Main Event? Playing in TWO Main Events! Of course, actually winning one Main Event would be better than only playing in two, but hey, that's why we're sending so many players to Las Vegas in 2008!

Our hearty player sliekas has just won a 2008 seat, and in an impressive repeat performance, he sat down at the 2006 Main Event after qualifying with one of our Grand Final satellites!

We remember his run at the last WSOP well. He qualified via a $5 satellite, and won his way through the ranks to a seat in the biggest tournament in poker history. The first-place prize was eventually won by Jamie Gold, but sliekas made an impressive performance. His most memorable moment was this impressive pot:

-- Blinds 100/200 Ante 25

Middle position player limped, sliekas in the small blind raises to 1000 with AQ.

Big blind folds, middle position calls.

Flop - 4 Q Q, giving sliekas a set of Queens with an Ace kicker. He bets 1000, and is raised to 4000. Putting his opponent on KQ or QJ, sliekas moves all in and is insta-called.

His opponent shows 44 for a flopped full house. Fortunately, an Ace comes on the turn giving our hero a better full house and the pot!

_____

After that impressive win, sliekas hit a bit of a wall and lost almost half his stack, and came into Day 2 shortstacked. On his final hand, he picked up pocket sevens and moved all in. He was called by an opponent holding AK, who flopped a King and eliminated sliekas.

Well, there's always another World Series, and sliekas has once again qualified to sit among the best in the world in Las Vegas. We wish him all the luck in the world for another shot at the title!

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

Four more to Las Vegas!

2008-03-24T17:35:00.000-07:00

That tasty prize pool for the WSOP Main Event is just going to get bigger and bigger. Over the Easter weekend, a total of 216 players entered our Grand Final qualifier satellite, which awards $12,500 WSOP packages.

It's all about the mathematics. The more players enter, the more seats we can give away. So, in truly spectacular fashion, we awarded a total of FOUR seats to the WSOP Main Event in Las Vegas!

The celebrations went up from everyone at the table when the field was only four-handed. The overall result of the tournament wasn't especially important as all players won the same prize, but congratulations to McFly9001 for taking it down and outlasting a field of 216!

This was our most successful Grand Final tournament, and we are always running Satellite tournaments for players who want to qualify to live events. The 2008 Main Event is the biggest tournament of the year, and we want some Carbon players to take some of the multi-million dollar prize pool!

Our latest four qualifiers:

sliekas
McFly9001
ChipChick
gcashbone

We'll keep you posted on future WSOP qualfiers, and we wish our players good luck!
-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

Happy Easter from CarbonPoker!

2008-03-19T21:57:00.000-07:00

Easter is upon us once more, and as usual that means a well-earned break. A long weekend to kick back, eat some chocolate...and play poker!

There's something oddly enticing about eating chocolate in egg and/or bunny form. It's certainly more satisfying than simply breaking off endless lines from a block...but it tastes great all the same, right?

We've got some special Easter Sit'n'Goes running over the weekend which will award double Comp Points. The special tournaments will be $5 and $10 buy-ins, and you can check them out under the Tournaments >> Sit'n'Go tab in the CarbonPoker software. What's more, we have a Grand Final WSOP satellite tournament on March 22, which will certainly make your Easter that little bit sweeter.

Everyone at the team here at CarbonPoker wishes all our players a safe and happy Easter holiday! Y'all come back now - the release of version 4.3 is imminent, and we might just have a few new tournament types and jackpots in the works!

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

WSOP Wants a Winner

2008-03-19T16:48:00.000-07:00

The World Series of Poker is upon us once more. For all the major buy-in live events around the world, this one eclipses them all in regards to both prestige and prize money. For example - the 2008 Wynn Classic No-Limit Hold'em Championship event is running right now, but only 183 players decided to foot the $10,000 entry. Therein lies the beauty of online poker, with players getting a chance to win a seat in a tournament with (I think it's safe to predict) over 5000 entrants and a prize pool in the tens of millions.

We've already given away seats to the 2008 WSOP, and this weekend on March 22 we are running a Grand Final event to send another Carbon player to compete against the best in the world.

The WSOP is particularly enticing because it is more than just a tournament. The Main Event lasts for two weeks, which means either: a two week crash course in world-class poker, or a holiday in one of the most glamorous cities in the world. There's only so many 99c buffets one can handle, but Vegas is more than just a row of casinos!

Step 1: Win CarbonPoker's WSOP Grand Final

Step 2: ???

Step 3: PROFIT

The second step relies on your poker-playing prowess! Is a player from Carbon the next World Champion? We certainly hope so.

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker

Fresh faces and our top APPT player makes a comeback!

2008-02-17T22:04:00.000-08:00

The latest $20,000 Guaranteed final table had a familiar face - our friend from Brazil, BatataSC, who represented CarbonPoker at the APPT Sydney late in 2007. He played very well in Australia, so seeing him at one of our biggest final tables is certainly no surprise!

BatataSC finished in fourth place for a very respectable payday of $1400. His AQ didn't improve against the pocket sevens of mathias1, who called the all in bet pre-flop. Amazingly, two hands later mathias1 picked up pocket sevens again, and again called an all in bet from Metrell who held KJ. This time however, Metrell did improve with a King on the turn, and she doubled up to over 160,000 chips.

Our third place finisher, KnoxGodoy, held KQ and flopped top pair. Pushing all in, he was called by none other than mathias1, who had the pocket Aces! No help on the turn or river, and KnoxGodoy was eliminated.

On the very next hand, the tournament was all over. mathias1 picked up yet another pocket pair (this time being Deuces), and Metrell held Q5 of diamonds. Metrell raised, but matias1 pushed all in and as the short stack, Metrell called.

A Deuce came on the flop, and the only hope for Metrell was picking up a runner-runner flush or set. Neither came, and matias1 became a Sunday 20k Champion, worth $5400 for first place! Metrell walks away a winner also, and as a new player she has already seen success on some of our high stakes cash games. Look out for more from these players in future.

-- Phil @ CarbonPoker