Poker poker everywhere... (advice requested)

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blobman

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I'm asking for your advice here. Please give not only what you think is the best option but whatever options you could conceive of (in order of preference if you want) given the following parameters:

- in USA
- about to play real money online poker for the first time but with some experience with real money poker and poker in general
- mainly plays NLHE
- prefers shorthanded games (6max down to HU)
- will only or almost only play tournaments, either MTT or SNG
- will use moderate to aggressive BRM with a starting bankroll of $1k

So should this hypothetical person (wink, wink) play on Carbon or somewhere else? And what games would you suggest. Do you have any specific tournament suggestions for the month of May (it would be very tempting to play Carbon's OPS but probably not the best idea).

Additional advice requested regarding logistics:

Say I was to play on Carbon. I've been reading about their deposit systems regarding visa and cash transfers and Western Union and all this.

Basically, what I want to know is what is the fastest/easiest/safest way to get money from my credit card into Carbon Poker? I figure I could buy a Visa gift card (basically a preloaded debit card) and then use that I think, and also I saw something about using "cash transfers" to go from a credit card with a fee.

What are the fees for the different methods too?

Also, how do withdrawals work? I've read about there being issues with checks taking a long time to send and then also bouncing sometimes, but an article from just a few days ago says Carbon is doing a lot better. True? Is Western Union or other money transfers an option to withdraw, and if so, how much fees?

I've never used any money transfers before, so it'd be nice if someone told me how those work. Can they be done online, or do you have to go into a currency exchange?

Thanks in advance. Remember for all answers, this is for a player in the USA.
 
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Bob23bk

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will use moderate to aggressive BRM with a starting bankroll of $1k

So should this hypothetical person (wink, wink) play on Carbon or somewhere else? And what games would you suggest. Do you have any specific tournament suggestions for the month of May

I think Carbon would be the right move, although they can be low at times in volume... This is easily made up for by their initial deposit of 100% up to $1,000. This is the best promotion of all the poker sites. I would suggest playing whatever games you are most successful at, for specific tourneys I'd say just make sure you get in on all freerolls ;)

Basically, what I want to know is what is the fastest/easiest/safest way to get money from my credit card into Carbon Poker? I figure I could buy a Visa gift card (basically a preloaded debit card) and then use that I think, and also I saw something about using "cash transfers" to go from a credit card with a fee.

What are the fees for the different methods too?

Also, how do withdrawals work? I've read about there being issues with checks taking a long time to send and then also bouncing sometimes, but an article from just a few days ago says Carbon is doing a lot better. True? Is Western Union or other money transfers an option to withdraw, and if so, how much fees?

The fastest/easiest way is Visa, it seems you're a bit cautious about giving your CC #.. I don't think this is anything to worry about, so it should be safest as well imo. Checks take about a month, and while they may not have the fastest withdrawals, they are quite upfront about the processing times.

CHECK / GIFT CARD
Minimum Withdrawal: $50.00
Maximum Withdrawal: $2,500
Processing Time: 3-5 weeks

WIRE TRANSFER
Minimum Withdrawal: $500.00
Maximum Withdrawal: $5,000
Processing Time: 2-4 weeks

DEBIT CARD
Minimum Withdrawal: $50
Maximum Withdrawal: $5,000
Processing Time: 3-5 business days

You can find all of the withdrawal terms etc on their site HERE.
 
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blobman

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Thanks for the info.

I'm not particularly cautious about giving my CC #. I just don't have a Visa. If I could just type in my CC # and off I go, I would. So do you think buying a Visa preloaded card and using that would be the best option? And in general (not just for poker), how do you go about doing a wire transfer?
 
cjmoles

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Americas Cardroom....hands down....the best value currently, fast payouts, and excellent overlay! Try them....WPN Network.
 
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jsh169

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These threads are made every day, do a little forum digging and you will find plentiful details on about every site. The main thing avoid Lock Poker and you may want to dodge Carbon for the time being, they are having difficulty cashing out at the moment, people are very concerned, maybe to much, but only time will tell.
 
cjmoles

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The WPN and Americas Cardroom is Laying down some outrageous overlay right now...Everybody should be playing there....they're getting serious about building their brand....Serious, you have to check it out! They're trying to steal the market....freerolled my way into the Million dollar tournament on Sunday. The CEO of WPN just popped up out of the blue and gave a Twitch.tv stream giving away passwords for awesome tournies and talked about what they're planning for the future. Have to check this site out! Never know what they're gonna overlay next....have to be there to see!
 
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blobman

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I definitely know to stay far away from Lock. I read about that last night. Carbon is the one that I've just heard the most about by reading others' rail threads and assorted posts on this site. It probably seems like the best bet if not the only long term option for a US poker player is to play on many sites.

At first, I really just want the easiest and safest site for taking my money from my credit card to the poker table, which Carbon is not particularly good at. Volume would also be a good thing so that I could pretty easily find at normal hours a good 6-handed SNG, HUSNG, and a good number of assorted buy-in MTTs occurring regularly.

ACR won't work...I have a Mac. But maybe in the future they'll be compatible, as they do say that's in the work.
 
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jsh169

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The WPN and Americas Cardroom is Laying down some outrageous overlay right now...Everybody should be playing there....they're getting serious about building their brand....Serious, you have to check it out! They're trying to steal the market....freerolled my way into the Million dollar tournament on Sunday. The CEO of WPN just popped up out of the blue and gave a Twitch.tv stream giving away passwords for awesome tournies and talked about what they're planning for the future. Have to check this site out! Never know what they're gonna overlay next....have to be there to see!


How did you do this for the tourney?
 
Bob23bk

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ACR won't work...I have a Mac.

ACR is a good site for the constant freerolls alone, and you could get it working on your mac with either bootcamp or parallels.

How did you do this for the tourney?

They have (super) satellite freerolls to get into the million $ Sunday every day this week
 
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blobman

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I've created an account on Carbon and will also consider playing on Bovada.

I ask again the same question as before, is the best way to get money onto Carbon if I don't have a Visa to buy a preloaded Visa gift card and use that? And in general, how do money/wire transfers work?
 
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donkcentralFF

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Did you read the thread on carbon cashouts? Also blowvada would be ur best option as they have fastest payouts...
 
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blobman

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I get everything there is about cashouts. What I want to do now is cash ins. So I get the options are Visa or wire transfer. So my questions are: does a Visa gift card work and how do money transfers work in general?

On a side note, how do you rail in Carbon. In the tournament lobby, I only see announced, registering, and late registering tournaments, so I can only rail tournies still in late reg.

Additionally, I'm having troubles downloading the App. On my desktop, it opens fine, but once I log in, a little popup opens telling me about the new features and then it either goes not responding or crashes. I've deleted and reinstalled four times and tried multiple times to open each time, no luck. On my laptop, the download wouldn't even open due to some reason I didn't recognize. Perhaps my OS isn't current enough? Any thoughts?
 
T-Dubs82

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WPN (blackchip poker and America's Cardroom) for the rakeback or Bovada for the rapid payouts
 
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blobman

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So to everyone who didn't answer my question about the Visa gift card after I asked it three times that I count in this thread alone, turns out the answer is no, they don't work on Carbon. It's because they're for US transactions only and Carbon is international. So I guess you need a real international-authorized credit or debit card, which I do not have. So thanks a ton.
 
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aolguin3

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Carbon is a good site and I personally like their system. To deposit just use a credit card from your bank thats how I fund my account since in the prepaid visas I've seen that it does not allow international purchases.
 
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