Making my first dep. to Absolute. Good choice?

I am a beginner to online poker and have made the decision to start at Absolute Poker. I honestly only based it on 2 things, I've already tested the deposit method using my visa, and it works fine, and I think it is considerably smaller than PS and FTP, and probably the best community for me at the moment. I am from the US, if anyone wants to give me some other sites I should consider before making my initial deposit. Thanks guys

why do u wanna go to a smaller site?

Do they give that big matching bonus for your first deposit like some of the other sites do?

This is not a good choice, RondoFan.

It depends on what you're looking for in a poker site. I'm guessing you're aware of the scandals that UB has had in the past??
For a micro player it actually might be on ok choice though - - weaker players.

madturks said:

what is the scandals about ultimatebet ?

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"Google" is your friend.

One thing regarding bonus clearing on Absolute... it's very hard to do if you are in the micros, and almost impossible to clear anything at 2nl. How much are you planning on depositing, and what levels are you planning on playing?

if you are new to poker
why not try some freerolls to try and get a feel
for the game first.
lots of info in this forum
good luck

Depends what your doing and what your looking for. I think it is an absolutely terrible choice for majority of situations the site has had scandals in the past and I would not put a single cent or minute of my time into a site I know has been dodgy in the past. your just asking for trouble.

doing this is about as stupid as calling an under gun shove at a full ring table with A2 because you think the guy may be bluffing. Albeit I have seen that done enough times.

If your just playing the micros are already a losing player and have little expectations of anything different then playing on a dodgy site that probably steal your money anyway may not be such a bad idea if you expect to lose it regardless that is.

Though there is still the issue been a dodgy company whats to stop them taking more money from your card then they would wish.

basically this only makes sense to do if you have maxed out your card already apart from your deposit amount so there is no chance of them taking more. you plan to never use the card or have funds on it again ever so they cant take money of it in future.

and if you cant get any other poker sites to accept your deposit. having said all of this you could always play play money tables on numerous tables on the internet that do not require a deposit or card details.

basically this is an awful idea simply awful.

I was on Absolute for a little while - terrible for any SnG - you will wait quite a while for that fill up (relative to say, Poker Stars).

Cash games are kind of interesting - because it is smaller, you will definitely run up against the same lot of guys - so if you know how to take advantage of that it could be a plus. But if you are new to online then you are new on how to track and collect data on your opponents - so I couldn't recommend it.

I'm with the others here, Absolute has had cheating issues in the past and the bonuses are hard to get unless you get on a roll and play alot. I'd go full tilt and sign up threw a website,, google them there are plenty of options and you can enter into exclusive freerolls. Good luck

LukeSilver said:

Depends what your doing and what your looking for. I think it is an absolutely terrible choice for majority of situations the site has had scandals in the past and I would not put a single cent or minute of my time into a site I know has been dodgy in the past. your just asking for trouble.

doing this is about as stupid as calling an under gun shove at a full ring table with A2 because you think the guy may be bluffing. Albeit I have seen that done enough times.

If your just playing the micros are already a losing player and have little expectations of anything different then playing on a dodgy site that probably steal your money anyway may not be such a bad idea if you expect to lose it regardless that is.

Though there is still the issue been a dodgy company whats to stop them taking more money from your card then they would wish.

basically this only makes sense to do if you have maxed out your card already apart from your deposit amount so there is no chance of them taking more. you plan to never use the card or have funds on it again ever so they cant take money of it in future.

and if you cant get any other poker sites to accept your deposit. having said all of this you could always play play money tables on numerous tables on the internet that do not require a deposit or card details.

basically this is an awful idea simply awful.

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This.

Plus, clearing the bonus takes too long and the SnGs doesn't fill up fast.

LukeSilver said:

If your just playing the micros are already a losing player and have little expectations of anything different then playing on a dodgy site that probably steal your money anyway may not be such a bad idea if you expect to lose it regardless that is.
Actually, I've heard from many who do quite well in micros on UB & are losing players elsewhere.
To say "site that probably steal your money anyway" < this is just not true. (from what I've heard/read... never heard of a single 'micro' player EVER who's been ripped off by UB).
I would think that a micro player would have higher expectations of winning on UB... instead of 'expecting to lose' due to the play generally being a bit weaker on there. than on some other sites.

Though there is still the issue been a dodgy company whats to stop them taking more money from your card then they would wish.
What's to stop a serial killer from stalking you on the way home?
basically this only makes sense to do if you have maxed out your card already apart from your deposit amount so there is no chance of them taking more. you plan to never use the card or have funds on it again ever so they cant take money of it in future.
Not everyone deposits from a 'card'... I'm thinkin' that players from US can't use a card anyways. (many who do use 'cards' choose to use prepaird).

and if you cant get any other poker sites to accept your deposit. having said all of this you could always play play money tables on numerous tables on the internet that do not require a deposit or card details.
Yah.. this ^ would be way better?????
basically this is an awful idea simply awful.

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UB actually has some of the best customer support out there. .. weird huh

mrmonkey said:

One thing regarding bonus clearing on Absolute... it's very hard to do if you are in the micros, and almost impossible to clear anything at 2nl. How much are you planning on depositing, and what levels are you planning on playing?

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Its hard to clear bonuses in any poker room playing 2NL or even 5NL.

I cleared $50 playing 5NL but it took a long time.

10NL u can start to clear decent sized bonuses.

I would say try Carbon. Anice little site. Good graphics, also lets you deposit using card. Never like absolute or ultimate for poker play the blackjack an pia gow poker.

CerberAcE said:

Its hard to clear bonuses in any poker room playing 2NL or even 5NL.

I cleared $50 playing 5NL but it took a long time.

10NL u can start to clear decent sized bonuses.

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This is true, but it is particularly difficult at Absolute because of the way they count "raked hands" and how they dole out the bonus based only on the number of raked hands you play. If you play a tight/nit style to take advantage of bonuses, you could literally be playing tens of thousands of hands that don't contribute to your bonus because none of the hands are raked.

Clearing a $50 bonus at FTP/Pokerstars while grinding 2nl is actually doable in a span of 1-3 months. If playing a solid Rush 5nl low variance strategy, I think clearing a $150+ bonus is possible at FTP. It is just about impossible to clear anything at Absolute below 10nl, because of the way they count raked hands. The only way to really be serious about clearing ANY amount of bonus at Absolute is to play at least 10nl+ -- which is why I was asking OP about what he intends to play. Since OP has not responded yet, something tells me he probably won't... but I guess this thread could be useful for others wondering about Absolute.

Also of note, Absolute doesn't offer 5nl tables. They jump from 2nl/4nl then to 10nl, where the raked hand requirement starts making more sense.

All this said, I got myself a $50 starting "free" cash deal at Absolute and the play there is extremely soft. I know that shortstacking is generally frowned upon, but in trying to clear my withdrawal minimum play limits and bonus as quickly as possible I've found that shortstacking the 10nl tables is a VERY easy way to clear bonuses and grow a small bankroll, because there are so many fish there willing to call or even 3/4bet allins from a shortstacker with junk like KJo+. Heck, they are willing to call off 100xbb bets like that too, and I'd obviously be buying in full if I weren't just trying to hit my withdrawal limits on a limited bankroll.

In short, I think Absolute is good for the soft play, but they don't offer much in terms of software/peace of mind/incentives for micro players. Maybe not a bad place to start off a baby bankroll and exploiting the hell out of the fish, but you probably don't want to be keeping your roll there after it reaches a certain point as there are better sites with better track records and more incentives.