Review of Carbon Poker & Bonus

Carbon Poker Games

Carbon Poker offers 13 different poker variants, including all of the most popular games gamblers would want to play. When you have over a dozen options for gaming, a few of the selections are likely to present a challenge you haven't faced yet--or at least mastered. I'll cover each of the variants briefly below.

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Texas Holdem

If you've come to this page, you almost certainly know what Texas holdem is. Texas hold'em is the game brought to Las Vegas by a group of Texans road gamblers including Doyle Brunson and Amarillo Slim back in the 1960s. When fellow Texan Jack Binion started his World Series of Poker back in the early Seventies, Texas hold'em was their game of choice. This is the poker game you see Daniel Negreanu, Phil Hellmuth, and all those other colorful pro players playing on the television. Texas holdem is played with 2 hole cards per player, along with 5 community cards. The object is to build the best 5-card hand using the traditional poker hand ranking system.

Omaha

Omaha has a lot in common with Texas holdem, but an Omaha hand involves 4 dealt cards and 5 community cards. To win, you need to build the best hand with 2 cards from those dealt only to you, along with 3 cards from the community card assortment.

Omaha Hi/Lo

Omaha Hi-Lo has the same format as the game above, along with the opportunity that the pot might be split between the highest ranking hand and the lowest ranking hand. I use the word "opportunity" because the rules involve certain restrictions on the low hand, which aren't always met. These low hands have a lot in common with the lowball games I describe below.

Deuce to 7 Lowball

Deuce to 7 lowball is the most common form of a game some people call "triple draw poker". Once again, you're trying to build the lowest hand possible, which is 2-3-4-5-7 (giving the game its name). All the standard poker hand ranks apply, so you avoid pairs, flushes, and straights like they're the plague. The game is otherwise played like a game of 5-card draw, because each player is given 5 cards dealt face-down. Players are given the option of discarding any of these cards and drawing new ones. Because three new draws happen instead of one (like in five-card draw), the name triple draw applies.

Ace to 5 Lowball

In this game, the ace is the lowest possible card, considered like a "1" instead of an "11". Also, straights and flushes do not count. When both rules apply, the lowest hand is the A-2-3-4-5, so the game is referred to as "ace to five lowball". Otherwise, the game is played much like 2-to-7 lowball.

Badugi

Badugi is a form of triple draw poker which is popular in Korea. In badugi, players are dealt 4 cards instead of 5. The object of the game is to build a hand with no cards of the same rank, but also no suited cards. Having the ace-2-3-4 of all four suits would be the lowest badugi. Three different draws are allowed, along with a round of betting between each draw.

5 Card Draw

This is the poker game I first learned, which is a common experience with kids learning to play cards. In five card draw, everyone is given 5 cards dealt face-down. A round of betting occurs, followed by the drawing of new cards. You're allowed to discard from one to five cards, adding new ones from the deck. At Carbon Poker, players have the option to play at pot-limit and no-limit. Also, some games with wild cards are organized by CarbonPoker.

5 Card Stud

Five card stud begins with the deal of one face-up card and one face-down card to each player. A bring-in bet is sometimes a rule, in which case the player with the lowest face-up card must pay the bring-in bet. If no bring-in applies, the person with the highest card showing begins wagering, though this player may check. Players will be dealt one new face-card per round, with a new round of betting between each round of card's dealt. This means four betting rounds take place. The final three deals are called third street, fourth street, and fifth street.

7 Card Stud

Seven-card stud begins with the deal of two face-down cards and one face-up card. Once again, play begins with a round of betting, then the deal of one face-up card apiece to the players at the table. This means seven-card stud has five full rounds of betting. The object is to build the best 5-card hand, so a player showing two weak cards could still have a particularly strong hand (because of the two hole cards). Also, the final card could make a weak hand much stronger, so the betters must be patient and retain nerves of steel.

7 Card Stud Hi/Lo

The hi-lo version of 7-card stud pays equally for the highest and lowest hands at the table. This game demands concentration and calculation, as the gambler must calculate their odds of winning both the low hand and the high hand.

Razz

Razz plays much like 7-card stud, except razz pays for the lowest hand available. Razz hands do not recognize the flush or the straight, while the ace is usually the lowest card (though not in all versions). The most common razz variant at Carbon Poker is ace-to-5 razz, though you might occasionally see the 2-to-7 razz.

H.O.R.S.E.

"holdem", "omaha", "razz", "stud", and "eight" make up the acronym H.O.R.S.E. and these games are played in succession throughout the session. The winner must master five forms of poker, which is why pro players hold the game in such reverence. Carbon Poker offers