Absolute Poker
Absolute Poker has been an industry leader since their release in 2003. They may not be as large as some of the other rooms but AP is known for their sign up and re-load bonuses, VIP program and large guaranteed tournaments not to mention the newest edition, the Bad Beat Jackpot. This jackpot alone has awarded over $6.5 million to players in its first 9 months of running. Absolute Poker is available with both a download client and an instant play making them accessible for Mac players and they are one of the few well known sites allowing US players.
The Absolute Poker bonus has always been one of the easiest to clear which is one of the room’s attractions to players. Currently all new players to AP will receive a 100% match up to $500 with a clearance rate of 30 points for every $5 in bonus money. Your points will accumulate by playing in any raked hand at a rate of 1 point for every $1 in rake. Since AP offers Blackjack, players can also claim a special bonus for this game with a 60% match up to $230. This bonus is cleared based on a 12x rollover. Last but not least is the Absolute Poker VIP program. Once you make your first real money deposit you will automatically be enrolled and the more points you earn will move you up in levels. The VIP program provides players with additional bonus offers, special tournaments and each level awards you with faster comp points.
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Absolute Poker ring games are slightly different than most rooms. The biggest difference is the tables, since AP does not offer full ring games. Instead all of the poker games supported in this room are in shorthanded format, meaning 6 player tables. They do support the standard varieties in games such as Texas Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi Lo, 7 Card Stud and Stud Hi Lo. During peak hours the room can see up to 2400 real money players with the majority of the traffics aimed towards the No Limit Holdem tables. Since they added the bad beat jackpot very rarely will you find a table in play without it. The stakes start at $0.05/$0.10 up to $75/$150 with enough traffic to run multiple tables at the $10/$20 NL and $30/$60 FL. The competition here is typical of rooms this size with the only major difference being the amount of tight players in the lower limits. This is attributed to the bonus hunters who are trying to clear the AP bonus. Other than that you will still find some skilled players in the higher limits with the beginners at the micro games. Absolute takes a 5% rake from each pot with a maximum limit set at $3 per hand.
Tournaments are available throughout the day with emphasize placed on the daily and weekend guarantees. The weekend schedule features over $325,000 in guaranteed tournaments with qualifiers available daily and they host multiple small guarantees during the day. These games are well structured and do attract plenty of players so you will find the competition to be an all time high. All of the tournaments start as low as $1 and climb as high as a couple hundred depending on the event. AP is known for their signature tournaments such as the Absolute Dream Package as well as seats to live events. The tournament traffic peaks at 10,000 players.
Absolute Poker uses proprietary software and recently went through another complete upgrade. Players now have more options for custom features than they did before and the biggest enhancement was with the graphics at the tables. Once you download the software and join a game you will be given the option for three different table layouts – a full view, a top view and a quarter view. You can change these later if you want but the graphics are very clean and smooth. The lobby features a simple layout with all your vital statistics located in the menu such as viewed flop percentage, average hands per hour (120+/hr) and chip stack. Players can multi table up to four games at once with a easy to use resize tool or you can use the full view mode. A few other key features include; four coloured decks, instant replay option and the ability to control how fast the card dealing is done. Overall they have done an excellent job with the upgrade and can easily relate to the other big rooms in quality.
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