Second Tier Sites --- Carbon or Cake?

[rek0p]

Hey new member here, 1st post. I love the content on this site and the quality of the feedback of it's members so I will finally take the plunge and begin my posting career.

Been playing on and off for 2-3 years (mostly sng's). I now am interested in making a run at cash games and grinding up a decent roll. Actually I did so at Bodog from $20 to about $800 in about 4 months (honor system on that one I have no PT set up for BD). Unfortanately, I never took advantage of their bonuses and am not interested in doing their reload bonus options.

Obv i'd like to take advantage of certain promotions out there (bonuses, etc.) and am unable to do so at Full Tilt - due to me having an existing account. UB is out - I don't trust them after all the cheating business. Stars may be an option down the road after I have a bit of a bankroll cushion and want to learn 6 max - I know their FR games are nitfests (even in micros).

Long question short:
Carbon or Cake and why?
Taking into account promotions and ease of clearing bonuses, traffic (and traffic potential), competition level, ease of payouts and deposit for US players.

Thanks for any input you have and I look forward to posting hands soon!

[Airles™]

Welcome to FTR. Cake is an absolute fish-fest and you can get 33% rakeback. Downfalls are it's not compatible with PT, no HUD, and the traffic is low (even with the recent addition of Doyle's Room). I only have a small portion of my BR on Cake to play their guaranteed tourneys and FTR events. As for Carbon, I have it downloaded on my PC but I've never made a deposit. Heard they signed Jamie Gold though.

[Sir Pawnalot]

I vote for Carbon.

Bad players, good promotions, low traffic (you get to meet the fish frequently!), possibility for rakeback and 50 000 dollar freeroll once a month.

Carbon has excellent software and support.

[Micro2Macro]

Is Carbon compatable with PokerTracker?

[xpaand]

I played Carbon but I haven't played Cake. Carbon was pretty good. Lots of poor players. However, I like Full Tilt better cause it gives you better experience when grinding.

[Sir Pawnalot]

Is Carbon compatable with PokerTracker?

No.

[Mayestic]

Is Carbon compatable with PokerTracker?

No.

Yes it is, you just need to have a converter. I would definitely go for a room at Merge instead of Cake, probably Carbon or PokerNordica where you'll get a much higher RB.

[jjbish]

Welcome to FTR. Cake is an absolute NIT-fest and you can get 33% rakeback. Downfalls are it's not compatible with PT, no HUD, and the traffic is low (even with the recent addition of Doyle's Room). I only have a small portion of my BR on Cake to play their guaranteed tourneys and FTR events. As for Carbon, I have it downloaded on my PC but I've never made a deposit. Heard they signed Jamie Gold though.

FYP

50nl and 100nl games at cake just seem sooooooooo nitty. I love the site and play tons of PLO there, but I was really surprised how tight the NL games are.

Merge network is pretty good. Table selecting , as usual, is key at times, to me. And getting the RB into your acct everyday is nice.

[dev]

Cake is having some serious software issues atm. I love the site, the support is awesome, the RB setup is the best I've seen. However, if they don't figure out the server lag issues I'm moving.

[jjbish]

Cake is having some serious software issues atm. I love the site, the support is awesome, the RB setup is the best I've seen. However, if they don't figure out the server lag issues I'm moving.

Yeah I agrre, very annoying. Their support IMO is right there with the best (stars obv). And add the soft PLO and RB. It's a great choice, but the laggggggggggggggg. So bad sometimes.

[allabout]

Is Carbon compatable with PokerTracker?

No.

Yes it is, you just need to have a converter. I would definitely go for a room at Merge instead of Cake, probably Carbon or PokerNordica where you'll get a much higher RB.

Where can you get a converter? I looked and couldn't find one. Emailed someone from 2p2 who used to have one but he never emailed back. Any info?

[Robb]

Is Carbon compatable with PokerTracker?

No.

Yes it is, you just need to have a converter. I would definitely go for a room at Merge instead of Cake, probably Carbon or PokerNordica where you'll get a much higher RB.

Where can you get a converter? I looked and couldn't find one. Emailed someone from 2p2 who used to have one but he never emailed back. Any info?

The only convertors I know of for Carbon worked with older versions of Carbon's software. Nothing was available as of Feb 1st.

I hated Carbon, and withdrew my monies only 5% into a bonus grinding effort. My main issue is that multitabling even 4 at a time sucks. Sir Pawnalot plays only 1 - 2 tables (I think I remember him saying), so it's less of a problem for him.

The note-taking function is vital since there's no HUD, but no other screen is accessible while you take a note. So you end up timing out while typing notes, especially if there's action on several tables at once. That's the biggest problem.

Other problems include no "layout memory" so you end up resizing and setting up tables EVERY SINGLE TIME you log in to play. Once you get them up during a session, they'll "sort of" pop up the right size, but you still have to drag them all over the place.

Carbon programmers spend tons of time on silly-ass functions. You can show only one of your hole cards, for example, or "run it twice" when you're all-in like High Stakes Poker. But for the basics of taking notes, getting bets typed in or clicked in, it just sucks. And the tables move slow. You can barely manage to play 4+ tables at once, but you only get in about 40 hands/hour per table.

The final straw is that their bonuses clear REALLY slow. I signed up and found out they clear only half as fast as they used to. I went on the web, found their regulations, made some calculations and then deposited. When my bonus started clearing half as fast as the website had said ($10 per 1.2 hands instead of $10 per 600 hands at 25nl and 50nl), I just got angry and left.

It's just not worth my time to hang out there. I can make tons more grinding at Full Tilt because the tables move quickly (60+ hands/hour), I can type notes and still play, and their rakeback and bonuses are reasonable.

From what I've heard, I would go with Cake. But there's a reason 2nd tier sites are 2nd tier, imo. They just don't compare.

[Sir Pawnalot]

Good points Robb.

I love Carbon, but I see the problems for people who likes to multitable.

1. Bonuses may clear a bit slow, but there is no time limit on clearing them. With rakeback +bonus you can get a good deal.

2. You can put tables on 2*2 grid. This means 4 tables which fills out the screen automatically. Playing more than 4 tables Carbon is not a good choice.

"Carbon programmers spend tons of time on silly-ass functions."

This is one thing I like about it. The emoticons are hilarious and change peoples focus.

Anyways, Carbon is the friendliest site I have played on with lots of silly table talk, emoticons and stupid players.

[Robb]

Anyways, Carbon is the friendliest site I have played on with lots of silly table talk, emoticons and stupid players.

These are good things. If it weren't for the fact I time out when trying to type a 5 word note, I'd still be there.

[Carroters]

This type of site is probably really profitable if you can tolerate all the flaws.

I like playing against the guys that think the HSP line up consists of the best 10 poker players in the world and try to copy Eli Elezra's call every p/f raise and c/f every flop always strategy.

[Sir Pawnalot]

Yes. I doubt you see average VPIP of above 50% on many PS or FT tables- but thats the norm at Carbon. I have had great fun with the 100NL tables there- but the 1-2 and 2-4 tables seems even fishier!

Whatever you do rekop- you can always change site if you are not happy. Pokerstars is excellent from what i have heard, but if you are starting out you wont get rakeback until you have accumulated lots of action points.

[dev]

Cake's been stable lately, but the games have been nitty.

I think the conclusion of this thread is that carbon is the place to go for your 'second tier site'.

[ryokan]

cakes ok and even at the micros its nice to get a few $ back at the end of the month. even so, im thinking of moving because the pace of the play is soooo unbelievably excruciatingly slow.