Recs for low-stakes US-friendly rooms?

Hey all,

Bowed out after Black Friday. Had just earned the bankroll to start playing 50BB (.25/.50 is 50BB right? I've even forgot the argot).

I had a Mac running 10.4, so without Stars my options for compatible sites were limited. However, I recently upgraded to 10.6, and am looking for a rec for a new US poker room. I'll probably be starting from .05/.10 NL and working my way back up.

Was leaning toward Carbon Poker since I know its compatible with Poker Copilot. I also have a Bodog account for sports betting, so that's also an option. Any advice would be, as always, appreciated.

Carbon.

Bodog is fucking awful and Cake skins are very meh. I might have to check out Carbon as well. Any word on whether they'll be shut down too? FTP stole over a grand and Cake screwed me out of $300, so... I'd prefer to be real careful where I have any worthwhile bank.

I've had a pretty decent experience with Merge, using the Lock skin. I'm not too familiar with the Carbon skin.

@stargrinder, what happened with cake? I'm grinding there now and am prolly gonna cash out and move the money to merge sometime in the near future.

friends tell me carbon

The software is WELL below what you got from Stars/FTP but it is definitely serviceable. I 4-6 table fairly comfortably after switching from 'normal' to 'mini' (gets rid of the animations and bullshit) and changing the background and everything to black.

Games are extremely soft at 4nl/10nl, no experience above that so far.

If you don't get rakeback you get cash rebates according to your VIP level.

Overall its not a great network, but its not bad.

Originally Posted by supa

@stargrinder, what happened with cake? I'm grinding there now and am prolly gonna cash out and move the money to merge sometime in the near future.

Well it wasn't really Cake, per say, but the payment processor they recommended went to shit right in the middle of the damn transaction. But I hold them personally responsible since they're the ones who told me to use it. So yeah, the boycott is on.

I'll have to check out Carbon's room until the casino opens near me in April (Ohio). It's sad that us Americans will probably never be able to play on a site like Stars again, even if it gets legalized here. If the USA takes over, I can just see a ridiculously high-raked game with clunky ass software and no benefits.

FTP is paying back every non american and the DOJ is eventually gonna release the funds of the americans.

also FTP has been cleared to re-enter the us market when it opens again

Thanks. Looking like Carbon it is.

Don't mean to be obtuse, but what are skins? Does that just refer to how the tables look when you play on them, e.g. "When I played at Stars I used the skin that made the tables look like they were in an Old West saloon"?

@stargrinder, yes, that is very sad. I loved Stars. Here in CA all the establish casino interests are trying to get a piece, but our sleazy Senate leader postponed voting on the bills until the next legislative session. Gotta rake in those donations from interested parties for as long as possible! That's what lawmakers care about. Fuck good policy.

Originally Posted by Gafferland

Don't mean to be obtuse, but what are skins? Does that just refer to how the tables look when you play on them, e.g. "When I played at Stars I used the skin that made the tables look like they were in an Old West saloon"?

No. It's not like that.

A skin is a poker site that's affiliated with the network.

If I understand the way the network operates, the players that join a site such as Carbon, Lock or Porker Nordica are put into the Merge network player pool. Each site (or skin) on the Network has access to the player pool. I could be playing on Lock sitting at a table with you playing on Carbon.

Merge has something in the neighborhood of 70 skins: Carbon, Lock, Black chip and Poker Nordica being the most popular.

Originally Posted by bikes

FTP is paying back every non american and the DOJ is eventually gonna release the funds of the americans.

also FTP has been cleared to re-enter the us market when it opens again

Been out of the loop since BF basically, didn't know this. Wonder what type of restrictions will be placed on US players. Bikes, heard anything on when this might be going down? Or is it just hearsay at this point?

its confirmed just no time frame for obv reasons. the obv reasons being cant re-enter the market until poker is legalized

I suppose that's somewhat promising. If FTP can re-enter when legalized (could be years) then I see no reason why Stars couldn't do it, since they adhered to every legality once BF hit, including releasing the funds to US players in a timely manner. One can hope anyway...

Originally Posted by StarGrinder

I suppose that's somewhat promising. If FTP can re-enter when legalized (could be years) then I see no reason why Stars couldn't do it, since they adhered to every legality once BF hit, including releasing the funds to US players in a timely manner. One can hope anyway...

That would be beyond great.

Ok I haven't made a deposit on a poker site in years, does anyone know if those all-access visa cards work for deping on Carbon?

My debit card worked on Carbon.