Posted by CarbonPoker on 14th February 2008

We’re ready and able to lavish our players with iPod Nanos from the recent Christmas Scavenger Hunt. After a month of intense poker action, 56 players managed to score one, so we were on the phone to Apple and grabbed a super special mega-order!

A giant box of has arrived, and we are a little enamored with them ourselves. Marty here was quick to celebrate the arrival of these desired Apple devices, but duty calls and he had to let go of his dream.

If you are one of our winners, look forward to receiving one of these shortly. Ship it!

– Phil @ CarbonPoker

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Posted by CarbonPoker on 29th November 2007

With Turkey Day last year being such a success, we decided to expand on that this year and made the whole month of November a celebration of Thanksgiving.

It kicked off with half price SitnGo’s for the first week of the month for everyone to warm up and get their game in order. Then with the start of week 2 came the jackpot and the traditional leaderboard. As everyone jostled for positions throughout the month the jackpot steadily grew. As it stands at just over $32,250!

With just days left to claim their spots in the top 100 there are plenty of players on or near the bubble that could sneak into the Qualifying final SitnGo’s. Crowning the top of the leaderboard are a lot of the usual suspects. Well out in front is Mada1970, who is backing up his second place finish in last years Turkey Day Leaderboard. Also in the mix are DONK4LIFE who had a great run during Floptober, enzolito who won his way to the WPT Barcelona event, thefrenchies who earlier in the year won the Sunday $20,000 Guaranteed, and FrederickHendrick who took down the NL Short Handed Championship in our Summer Champs.

If your near the bottom of the leaderboard top 100, now is the time to secure your place in the qualifying final round. Make sure you’re well ahead of those just outside the top 100, I can see a few of them sneaking into the top 100 before the final places are set.

All of the action of both the qualifying finals and the grand final take place this Saturday:
Thanksgiving Jackpot Qualifier SnG’s - Saturday 1 December @ 12:00 Thanksgiving Grand Final Jackpot SnG - Saturday 1 December @ 15:00

Good luck to all those that qualify!

Shane @ Carbon Poker

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Posted by CarbonPoker on 18th November 2007

Ah yes, the Aussie Millions. Throw another shrimp on the barbie and practice your boomerang throwing, because it’s that time of year once more. The world poker phenomenon is no exception in Australia, thanks to hearty local support and the success of 2005 World Champion Joe Hachem who calls Australia his home.

Perhaps its a little too early to speculate, but the prize pool is going to be huge, and I expect Aussie Millions to become a crucial event for many of the world’s greatest players. The 2007 event was won by Gus Hansen who defeated youngster Jimmy Fricke, a previously unknown online player. The winnings have been consistently increasing every year, and 2008 should be no different.

Australia is a nation with a small population and massive popularity. I’ve played at the Crown Casino before, and it truly is an epic establishment beyond anything seen elsewhere around the country. The local support is immeasurable, with the Australians giving it all they have for the love of the game. We’ll be accompanying a number of our elite players Down Under, and to take your own shot at becoming a Carbon Poker legend, the satellites are running daily.

For an indication of the local action, here’s a hand featuring the last remaining final table Australian player at the 2007 event, Julius Colman.

Holding A6o, Colman moved all in pre-flop against Andrew Black’s pocket Queens. Colman flopped a set of Aces, which is about as good as anyone can really expect at that point. The third flop card, however, was a Queen which gave Black the nut full house and eliminated Colman from the tournament. This was a high-stakes hand with good chances for both players, and represents a powerful situation like many seen throughout the week at the Aussie Millions.

There’s something else I just realised. Playing poker in Melbourne is the closest you will probably ever get to playing high-stakes in Antarctica. I would certainly watch a final table being played at the summit of, coincidentally enough, Mount Melbourne in Antarctica. Emperor Penguin Millions? It could happen.

– Phil @ Carbon Poker

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Posted by CarbonPoker on 15th November 2007

The first of our Heads up tournaments from the Floptober Fest take place in just a few minutes! First up is Floptober Fest Freezeout winner cocaine82 who will be battling our Queen – Tina for a bonus $500!

Lets hope for cocaines82′s sake that Tina doesn’t get a run of queens, because if there is one thing we know about Tina’s game, its that she loves to win with those queens!

If you want to watch the tourney you can find it in the client under Tournaments >> Scheduled >> Special >> Heads Up with the Queen – cocaine82

I will blog the action as it happens!

Shane @ Carbon Poker

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Posted by CarbonPoker on 9th November 2007

The official Floptober Freezeout tournament went down on November 3, and 242 entrants competing for a $3200 prize pool meant huge EV for players and a guaranteed game spectacular. The top 30 players finished in the money, and those in the top 3 scored an extra prize – a heads-up freeroll against CarbonPoker’s Queen, Tina!

The tournament was over four hours of nonstop action, and the top three players were decided after the elimination of ChipChimp71, who couldn’t improve his pair of fours against mcfc1984′s two pair. From there, mcfc1984, K1n9K0n9 and cocaine82 went all-out for the win.

K1n9K0n9 took down mcfc1984 after both players pushed all in pre-flop. mcfc1984 wasn’t looking good holding eight and seven off-suit against K1n9K0n9‘s Ace and ten of hearts. Two deuces hit the flop and a ten came on the turn, giving two pair to K1n9K0n9 and nothing else for his disappointed opponent. The heads-up action from there lasted twelve hands before seeing the final showdown.

The Final Hand:

cocaine82 vs. K1n9K0n9

10h – 10c vs. 5h – 5s

Both players All In

Flop: Jh, 6s, 2c

Turn: Qh

River: 3c

K1n9K0n9 and cocaine82 re-raised each other until both went all in. All community cards were essentially useless as the flop, turn and river did nothing to improve either player and it came down to the hole cards for the decider. K1n9K0n9 showed a pair of fives, while cocaine82 revealed a pair of tens, good enough to win the $864 first-place prize and an entry to the $500 freeroll against our Queen Tina. K1n9K0n9 and mcfc1984 also won $250 and $100 freeroll entries, so Tina will have her work cut out for her trying to take down the best players in CarbonPoker’s community. You ask to ask yourself – when she plays, is she holding Queens?

Keep an eye out to get a prime view for the heads-up freerolls featuring these poker experts. In the meantime, our flagship November promotion is underway, with a huge jackpot building with every Sit’n'Go. For full details, check our our Promotions page.

– Phil @ CarbonPoker

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Posted by CarbonPoker on 1st November 2007

It was a scare spectacular on October 31st for our official Halloween Freezeout Tournament. Competing for the prize pool as well as a bonus pumpkin accolade, 359 players registered to join in the Halloween celebration and take their shot at a share of the money!

The added incentive was a $500 addition to the prizepool, which took the total winnings to over $4000! Over the source of course of several hours the players were eliminated down to the final six, who played tight for almost half an hour before going straight to the action and knocking each other out in the space of six minutes.

The first to go was yeyrie, who went all in after the other positions folded, but the final position was called by Jutt21. yeyrie had pocket fours, with Jutt21 showing a Queen and an Ace. The flop brought a Queen to the table, and yeyrie failed to improve giving Jutt21 the top pair and a healthy stack of chips.

Two hands later, the action was on SUITEDBOOT and DesNutz who both went all in after the flop of Ah, Ad and 6h. SUITEDBOOT showed a Jack and King, and DesNutz flipped his six and ten. SUITEDBOOT was drawing for a Jack or King pair, but DesNutz held out with his Aces and sixes, winning the pot and ensuring a quick elimination.

On the very next hand, the flop brought an Ace which made a pair for both vinland1980 and XXloseXX. The turn brought a five which gave XXloseXX two pair. vinland1980 needed a ten on the river to improve, but a Jack came up and brought yet another speedy knockout.

Unfortunately, all those hard-earned winnings went straight out three hands later. Holding a two and Ace, XXloseXX went all in before the flop against Jutt21 who held pocket tens. Jutt21 made two pair, tens and sevens from the flop, while XXloseXX didn’t improve at all and was eliminated in third place.

The action was down to the final two players, Jutt21 and DesNutz, who trailed behind in chip count. That was nothing a winning all in bet couldn’t reverse in one hit, so spirits were still high. After the flop, which helped neither player, Jutt21 checked but was responded to by a minimum bet. Perhaps hoping to bluff, Jutt21 raised all in and was called. Jutt21 had an uninspiring five and four, while DesNutz held an Ace and ten. Despite dominating Jutt21, DesNutz was hindered by a five on the turn, giving a low pair to the excited opponent. To seal the victory the river brought an eight, giving Jutt21 two pair and the title of Halloween Freezeout champion!

Jutt21 picked up a massive $1,063.41 prize for his $11 entry, and everyone in the top 50 shared in the remainder of the prize pool. The tournament was a huge success, and we look forward to seeing more players joining in the fun at our many other scheduled tournaments available each and every day.

Here’s a short list of the top prize winners:

Jutt21 – $1,063.41

DesNutz – $695.31
XXloseXX – $327.21

vinland1980 – $245.41

SUITEDBOOT – $204.51

yeyrie – $163.61

f1XXer – $122.71

kaseys40 – $102.26

flail1 – $81.81

– Phil @ CarbonPoker

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Posted by CarbonPoker on 30th October 2007

Our hugely successful FloptoberFest is coming to an end, and we’ve certainly saved the best until last. It’s time to bring it all together for the FloptoberFest Freezeout, our long-awaited tournament with a guaranteed $2000 prize pool. If you’ve flopped Quads in a ring game at any time during our FloptoberFest, your place is already secured for the tournament with free entry coupons being sent out in addition to the instant cash bonus you’ve already won!

If you haven’t been lucky enough to score that special Quad during Floptober, you are still more than welcome to register for the Freezeout. A $10 buy-in plus a $1 entry fee will ensure your place, and all entrants, in addition to the guaranteed $2000 prize pool will have a shot at scoring a Heads-Up Freeroll entry. The top three places-getters will be invited to the Freeroll with $500, $250 and $100 prizes respectively. The bubble scores a $60 coupon to our scheduled $20K Sunday Guaranteed tournaments. There’s no pre-requisite for joining up to Sunday’s FloptoberFest Freezeout; Quads or not, there’s still at least $2000 in the works, and the more players the better!

A little personal advice – before the tournament begins, it’s imperative to stock up on food items for the tense battle ahead. In the spirit of the festival and all, I suggest a nice selection of high-quality beef Bratwurst, grilled to perfection and eaten alongside a hearty plate of sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. It’s German, and it’s Floptober!

Phil @ Carbon Poker

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Posted by CarbonPoker on 25th October 2007

Floptober has seen a lot of players take home a nice little bonus, but for one player in particular it has been an up and down month.

DONK4LIFE first came to my attention when his pocket 7′s got tangled with a pair of pocket queens that matured to quads. To quote myself:

If a preflop raise, and an over pair on the board followed by a big bet doesn’t scream out “YOUR SEVENS ARE NO GOOD!” I just don’t know what does.

I said there that I was willing to call it a rush of blood to the head, suggesting that DONK4LIFE had plenty of good poker in him.

Then a couple of days later I find myself again blogging about him when he finally got his own chance for Floptober Fest glory, but blew it by raising too hard preflop pushing everyone out of the pot. He rabbited and in fact would have made his Floptober bonus, however because he didn’t get to the flop (a vital part of FLOPtober) there was no bonus for him.

As all good rounders do, he kept on playing, and 2 days later he learnt from his past mistakes and his pocket aces became quad aces and thanks to a generous opponent he took down a nice little pot and a Floptober Fest bonus.

Here are todays winners:
slash1986 $50 DrHouseMD $25 Fats23 $100 stuzy11 $50 cashouter $50 spiritrider $10 MsTrouble $10 Saddy2212 $100 DONK4LIFE $400 BraveJayhawk $100 AsphaltAnimal3 $25 SuperiorAce $4 FlavioPerez $25 roadkill35 $10

Shane @ Carbon Poker

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Posted by CarbonPoker on 24th October 2007

Apparently a good number is 5 out of 7.

In one crazy hand that I came across in todays Floptober Fest winners the table went like this: Seat 1 pocket 4s; Seat 2 pocket 5s; Seat 3 9-4 off; Seat 4 K-9 off; Seat 5 pocket jacks; Seat 6 J-T all spades; Seat 7 pocket queens.

Now you don’t get that many pairs in a hand and not get some trouble. The action took place on a 50c/$1 table, preflop it was a family pot. Everyone but the 9-4 off came along for the ride after it was bumped up to $3 to go by the J-T clubs.

When the flop came down Q-6-Q the fours, fives and K-9 all checked but the jacks tested the water by betting out $3. I personally love that bet there, so often when the flop shows a higher pair than your pocket pair you can take down a pot unopposed by betting at the flop. You just have to be careful when you get called down.

With the bet on the table the J-T wisely got out of the way, the pocket queens which was now the absolute nuts smooth called, as did the pocket 5′s.

Lucky for the fours they got out when they did, as the turn brought a four which made them a boat, fours full of queens. That could have gotten very messy if they were still in the hand. The pocket fives checked the turn and the jacks bumped it up to $4 to go, only to again get called by both the queens and the fives.

The river was nasty, it brought the jack that made it a boat, jacks full of queens for the pocket jacks. The only two hands that beat him at this point are Q-J or Q-Q, unbeknownst to him, he was up against the latter of those hands.

The fives again checked and feeling good about his boat the jacks raised it up another $7, with the trap set the queens made their move and pushed all in. The fives quickly folded, and then just as quickly the jacks made the call, only to flip them and find themselves beaten by a massive hand.

The easiest way to get value out of a big hand is to have another player push the action, building the pot for you, growing in confidence with each call you make. Sometimes its as if every time you call they feel your hand is weaker and weaker until you deliver the knockout blow and flip up the winning hand. Jacks vs queens is a very hard hand to get away from especially with another player coming along for the ride and seeding what became a juicy pot. Commiseration’s must go to lja212002 and his pocket jacks, and of course congratulations must go to lenfik and his well played queens. Im sure the Floptober bonus was a nice little addition to the winnings from that pot too!

Here are all the recent Floptober Fest winners:
Jan380 $25
Med974 $25
cadixpapi $25
joeybananas $100
Faucon73 $10

Bamster $10

Kayell56 $25

newdaddy311 $10

stiffshafts $400

sergo121 $200

SmartAlex $4

tyJohnMatrix $25
Victorcai $4

snake75 $25

Endruw $10

Yety20 $50

Mattycakes $4

RPIWalker $10
Sumperi $25

Jan380 $25

jakes111 $25

Nasamut $25

Imhighrightnow420 $4

randy2007 $25

TOOSEXXXY $200

woody062 $25

lenfik $100

Shane @ Carbon Poker

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Posted by CarbonPoker on 22nd October 2007

Ever wondered how to get the least value from your pocket rockets during our Floptober Fest?

Here is a simple how-to article that will explain it in detail.

The first step is to get dealt your pocket rockets (A-A in case you weren’t sure). The best possible position for this scenario is the big blind, with another player posting an initial blind, that way you were guaranteed to see the flop. And just so we are playing for more than pennies lets say the blinds are $1/$2.

For those who arent up to speed on the Floptober promotion, if you flop quads queen or higher you win 100 times the big blind. So if you have a pocket pair queens or higher, you really want to see a flop.

So back to our how-to guide. Now that you have your pocket rockets, and your opponent in the initial blind has checked over to you, its time to make a decision.

Choice A
You could simply check and go to the flop, that way ensuring your shot at a Floptober bonus of $400.

or

Choice B
You could bet out hard forcing your opponent to fold, therefore forfeiting your shot at the Floptober bonus, BUT winning a mighty $6.

I personally would go with Option A, you’ve gotta be in it to win it. Over the weekend a player went with Option B, and while I’m sure he was happy his aces held up, I’m fairly certain that the sting of passing up the Floptober bonus (yes his aces hit) is still more than a tickle.

Don’t let your opportunity pass you by, get those pocket pairs queens or higher to the flop!

Here are the recent winners who did just that and hit their quads:
36mafiaplaya $50
arrabona $200
captainkidd $10
Acekiller777 $10
Tiltoslav $25
zappado $10

croucheator $25
elfulero $50
kacy77 $10
lupu85 $4
halftoasted $10
shiinnie $25
painkkiller $25
Neil57 $100
MasterSplinter1 $200
rainman21 $100
floatmeal $50

Smeballe $25
MikeBadBeat $25
FidelKastro $4
klausk $10
Nitrock $25
tuioep $50
zackelwahn $100
Neng86 $4
patheticpicc $200
mdelestang $10
crlshly $4
Pok3rjunki3 $25

Shane @ Carbon Poker

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