Should I move from Bovada to Carbon?

IPlay

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I started playing poker seriously about 7 months ago and signed up at Bovada because it is by far the #1 recommended site to play on for USA players.

Now 7 months later, I feel like making the switch for a few reasons.

1. No real player perks to Bovada like rakeback or VIP programs. Not even freerolls besides the CC ones. I think I have seen Bovada host like 2 decent ones in the 7 months I have been a player. Only real perk is your initial deposit bonus.

2. Notes are only good for that sessions and it is rare that someone stays at the same table for more than 100 hands.

3. HUD is only good for your current session and like I said before, it is rare for someone to stay for more than 100 hands.

4. You can only play 4 tables at a time and since I mainly play full ring it makes it kind of slow.

5. Table selection is more difficult since you don't know who is sitting at that table before you join.

6. Can anyone let me know about the traffic on Carbon? On Bovada the only time there is traffic is in the evenings and since I work an always changing work schedule it makes getting hands in hard.

7. I feel like I am not learning much on Bovada anymore since you can't really use stats to exploit opponents and I feel like that is something I should start learning.

8. I just got PT4 and it made me realize how bad Bovada is for reviewing hands/sessions. I can't review hands and base them off villain tendencies and you have to wait 24 hours to review so the situations are not fresh in your memory and since Bovada's traffic is late evenings I usually have to wait 36/48 hours to review hands unless I want to do it late at night.

So again, it hinders me from really learning further/studying my own game(this should probably be #1)

9. STT seems like they are just to easy to collude in with the anonymous feature and I don't play them.

10. I can use my PT4 HUD on Carbon which will be more beneficial to my game in all aspects, reviewing tricky hands(you can save a hand right when it happens to review later) I will be able to better track/exploit villains much more efficiently.

The only positives I ever hear about Bovada is softer player pools and quick payouts which is nice but I really want to learn to become a better player and quick payouts do not matter so much because I do not make an income from poker and am just trying to learn as much as I can about the game while building a bankroll and moving up stakes.

CLIFFS?

So to sum it up I want to switch because of Bovadas evening only traffic, I also feel like I am not learning much at Bovada anymore because of anonymous feature which makes exploiting kind of pointless and it disables me from getting the most out of PT4 and hand review sessions, no real player perks.

Any Carbon players here that have switched or played on both? Is my thinking about Carbon wrong?
 
Aces2w1n

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Why don't you split your plays over 2 sites depending what time you play?

Something like just small tourneys on the other site and hopefully you cash it big.
 
IPlay

IPlay

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Why don't you split your plays over 2 sites depending what time you play?

Something like just small tourneys on the other site and hopefully you cash it big.

I did consider this but thought if I did this I would just put all my focus onto one site anyway so it would be pointless. I have enough of a roll to put 40 buy ins on Carbon for 4NL and leave 36 buy ins on Bovada for 5NL but I feel like one would go wasted.

I suppose I could only make a small deposit on Carbon of about $80 and just not play on Bovada for a month and see how that goes? Idk though, I still feel like I should just leave Bovada all together for awhile until they atleast offer me a friggin deposit bonus or something haha. Still open for opinions :D
 
Jblocher1

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I did consider this but thought if I did this I would just put all my focus onto one site anyway so it would be pointless. I have enough of a roll to put 40 buy ins on Carbon for 4NL and leave 36 buy ins on Bovada for 5NL but I feel like one would go wasted.



I suppose I could only make a small deposit on Carbon of about $80 and just not play on Bovada for a month and see how that goes? Idk though, I still feel like I should just leave Bovada all together for awhile until they atleast offer me a friggin deposit bonus or something haha. Still open for opinions :D


I prefer carbon over bovada tbh. I like the game selection at carbon and since u play 5NL you could play 4NL at carbon. I play six max.... But when I was at 4NL I was able to play like 6-7 tables at a time. Dunno about full ring though. There are good freerolls every so often. Fields are quite soft. The software is awesome and better than bovadas In my opinion.

I would recommend downloading the software and taking a look to see if it meets your individual expectations dude. All we can do is give you our preferences. In the end.... All that really matters is ur taste.
 
IPlay

IPlay

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I prefer carbon over bovada tbh. I like the game selection at carbon and since u play 5NL you could play 4NL at carbon. I play six max.... But when I was at 4NL I was able to play like 6-7 tables at a time. Dunno about full ring though. There are good freerolls every so often. Fields are quite soft. The software is awesome and better than bovadas In my opinion.

I would recommend downloading the software and taking a look to see if it meets your individual expectations dude. All we can do is give you our preferences. In the end.... All that really matters is ur taste.

I have checked the software and the layout was kind of whatever but Bovada is all I really know so I am sure I will get used to that. How is the rakeback/VIP program that they have? What about traffic throughout the day? Right now I checked and they have 8 4NL full ring tables going which is pretty nice for this time of night.

Am I right in believing they have auto top up?
 
Poker Orifice

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Why don't you split your plays over 2 sites depending what time you play?

Something like just small tourneys on the other site and hopefully you cash it big.

I would go this route ^
I live in canada & when I had easy WD/Deposit options via skrill, I was playing on over 25 different sites. Now that it's not so simple for me, I've limited myself to ~10sites. I play different stuff on different sites & at different times of the day, etc. etc. If I lived in the US, for sure I'd play on Bodonka, Carbon & BlackChip (each for their own reasons).

Also, be sure to get into some of the Cardschat games on Carbon. They are great value & filled with donks!
 
Arjonius

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Go try Carbon for a while. It's not like you can't go back if you decide you prefer Bovada. Or you can try more sites and play most wherever you like best.
 
IPlay

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I'll take your advice and just withdraw 30 buy ins for 4NL and take a shot at Carbon. Since the games may be harder should I go with 40 buy ins?

Hmmm think I might :D
 
Jblocher1

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I'll take your advice and just withdraw 30 buy ins for 4NL and take a shot at Carbon. Since the games may be harder should I go with 40 buy ins?

Hmmm think I might :D


4NL on carbon is not gonna be hard for u dude
 
Jblocher1

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Lol alright man.


I mean of course this is assuming you are able to apply your knowledge to the extent u present it to us on the forum. Just play very very TAG and go to value town. 20BI should probably be fine to start, just don't bluff
 
I

itrade

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I'm joining you, im making the switch. Just did a deposit on carbon.
 
IPlay

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I'm joining you, im making the switch. Just did a deposit on carbon.

Let me know how you like it! I will have to wait a couple weeks either way while I withdraw some $$$ from Bovada.
 
Arjonius

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I'll take your advice and just withdraw 30 buy ins for 4NL and take a shot at Carbon. Since the games may be harder should I go with 40 buy ins?

Hmmm think I might :D
It probably doesn't matter. If you're beating 4nl at a decent rate on Bovada, there's no obvious reason to expect Carbon or any other site will be so much tougher as to make you -EV. And even if it is, your game isn't confined to being static; you can adjust and improve. So realistically, how likely is it that you'll lose either 30 or 40 BI?
 
akaRobbo

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I'll take your advice and just withdraw 30 buy ins for 4NL and take a shot at Carbon. Since the games may be harder should I go with 40 buy ins?

Hmmm think I might :D

Man up and do 25 you noob.
 
IPlay

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What do you guys think of what I read? None of this is confirmed and even if it was it would not effect me in the short term but maybe down the road it will have an impact.

Merge=Carbon btw

"In an effort to try and keep their recreational players happy Merge has begun to revoke winning players VIP privileges (rakeback ect) as well as impose restrictions on the amount of tables playable by winning players.

They refuse to respond with reasoning or selection criteria for these actions other than citing vague and broad terms of service agreements and that it was a "management decision". Then they say "We will not provide any more information regarding the matter at this time."

The restrictions range in severity but I've read so far about the following:

Revocation of VIP privileges
12 table caps for MTT tournaments
4 table caps for cash games
1 table cap for cash games
Outright bans for HU regs
Outright bans from the poker tables for some players (they were told they were still welcome to try their luck in the carbon casino)

Nobody has been able to correlate any criteria which would flag you for this, but the general pattern is that you are a consistent winner who has actually cashed out.

With the lengthy cash out times with merge and lack of cash out options. I would hate for any new player to deposit on this site, work hard to improve only to be restricted from reaching their full potential without just cause.

The general consensus: Merge impose a 4 table cap on everyone and embrace a recreational model, or put out the criteria for these table restrictions."
 
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DoloBrolo

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Personally I'm a big fan of carbon but I typically mix it up between both sites, I would recommend Carbon for tourny play and Bovada for cash games
 
teepack

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OK I'm going to add some $ into Carbon and start playing on that site again. Getting tired of Bovada.
 
Dank Hugh

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personally I like carbon MUCH more than bovada.
i really dont like the anonymous tables.
but maybe thats just me

Dank
 
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ariolis30

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i would spread out my action and not limit myself to just carbon and bovada. with your situation and just wanting to learn there is a lot of options available then just merge. :)
 
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bluejay2220

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You can always try Carbon or play on both. Carbon doesn't really have perks either and have,for the most part gotten rid of there freerolls. Though they have a couple a month plus third party sites.
 
IPlay

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You can always try Carbon or play on both. Carbon doesn't really have perks either and have,for the most part gotten rid of there freerolls. Though they have a couple a month plus third party sites.

Yeah and their deposit bonus is insanely hard to clear at 4NL. I did the math and it is going to take 20-25k hands per $10 bonus.
 
A

ArcticBeef

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I'm thinking about trying carbon also. I have money in Americas Cardroom but it is hard for me to find a game. I wish I could cash out but I need $100 to do that. Does carbon have much better traffic than americas cardroom? I have been playing on bovada which is alright, but it would be nice to save notes on people.
 
i Frenzy

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I'm thinking about trying carbon also. I have money in Americas Cardroom but it is hard for me to find a game. I wish I could cash out but I need $100 to do that. Does carbon have much better traffic than americas cardroom? I have been playing on bovada which is alright, but it would be nice to save notes on people.

Carbon has good traffic. They have tourneys and SnG always going and cash games to. But there are more 6 max cash games rather than 9.
 
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ramrjamr2007

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carbon has glitched on me a few times, but i am not familiar with bovada
 
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