Absolute Poker Review

Summary:
This is our Absolute Poker review summary. Absolute Poker bills itself as "the home of the reload bonus". They're talking about their monthly bonus offers for their regular players. The tables at Absolute Poker are tighter than at some other US-friendly online poker rooms, but their effort at taking care of frequent players makes Absolute a room worth looking at.

Absolute Poker Player Base

Absolute Poker is at the lower end of the top ten online poker sites. They often host 10,000 players+ at one time. The core of the Absolute Poker player base is made up of players from the USA.

Some of the limit tables at Absolute Poker are filled with rocks trying to clear their reload bonuses while minimizing their risk. You'll find looser low limit Texas holdem games at most other online poker sites. But the sit and go and multi table tournaments available at Absolute Poker are full of loose and wild action.

Absolute Poker Software

Absolute Poker lagged behind in the area of software for many years, but the recent release of a major update has helped them catch up. The new client is called "Absolute Poker 8.0", and it boasts a new look and the integration of many user-friendly features.

The new Absolute Poker lobby is fast, and it's easy to find a table. The following tabs are available in the main menu of the lobby:

• Holdem
• Omaha
• Stud
• Other (currently Razz)
• Tournaments
• Sit & Go

You can further narrow down your choices by filtering the betting structure and game type using checkboxes. The lobby also present the following statistics for each table:

• Hands per hour
• Percentage of players seeing the flop
• Average pot size

The view of the tables provided by Absolute Poker software is a clean, simple top-down view. The deal and play of the hands run fast. The menu bar at the top of each table provides access to the lobby, the cashier, and the table options. A replay feature reruns any previous hands upon request. Multitablers can resize the tables, tile them, or cascade them. The action buttons are large and include pre-selects.

Absolute Poker Cash Games

Most poker sites see little traffic to their limit holdem games. Absolute Poker is an exception. Their limit holdem games see about the same amount of traffic as their no limit holdem games. Most of the action can be found at the six person max games, although nine player and heads up games are also available. They just don't have as much traffic.

At the no limit tables, the blinds start at 5c / 10c. Increments of 10c / 25c,  25c / 50c, and 50c / $1 are also available for lower stakes cash game players. Tables with $1 / $2 and $2 / $4 are busy, however at $3 / $6 and above you will only have a choice of several tables at peak times of US evenings and weekends. Levels all the way up to $25 / $50 are available for the high rollers.

Fixed limit shows a similar pattern. Games start at 2c / 4c, and the mid-level games from 25c / 50c to $1 / $2 having the most tables to choose from. The limits go up to $200 / $400 at the limit holdem tables.

Omaha cash games are available in pot limit and fixed limit versions. Omaha is available in both Omaha high and Omaha 8 versions. Betting levels are similar to the betting levels at the holdem tables, but fewer tables are available at each limit. Six player Omaha tables also see more action than full tables or heads up tables.

The amount of traffic at the stud tables is limited, but these games are available in a wide variety of betting limits.

Absolute Poker Tournaments

Most poker sites run a big weekly poker tournament on Sunday night. But Absolute Poker runs its big weekly poker tournament on Saturday night instead. This tournament is the $150k Guaranteed with a $500+$30 buy-in and at least $34,500 for the winner. Satellite qualifiers run to the Saturday $150k Guaranteed throughout the week.

The Absolute Poker tournament schedule features tournament versions of all poker games available on the site. They also offer special tournament promotions such as pro bounty tournaments and qualifiers like the "Absolute Dream Package" series. Multiple WPT and EPT entries are available to winners of tournaments in the "Absolute Dream Package".

Sit and go tournaments are available in single table, mult table, heads up, and qualifier formats. Single table sit and go's are available in nine handed and six handed version, and buy in levels range from 50c+10c up to $1000+$50. The busiest tables are the $30 and below.

Multi table sit and go's have two, three, or five tables. Buy ins range from 50c to $50.

High rollers should check out the heads-up sit and go section where the highest buy-in is $5000+$100. Heads-up sit and goes start at $5.

Absolute Poker Bonuses And Promotions

The new player sign-up bonus at Absolute Poker is a 100% match on a first deposit up to $500. The bonus is cleared by collecting Absolute Points for raked hands and tournament fees. The Absolute Poker signup bonus is released in $10 increments as you collect 75 points. One point is awarded for raked hands over 50c, and one point is awarded for each $1 in tournament fees.

Absolute Poker's reload bonuses are the best and most frequent bonuses online. Manage your bankroll, and you can always be clearing a bonus at Absolute Poker. Reload bonuses don't clear as fast as the initial signup bonus.

Absolute host a ‘VIP Rewards’ club for regular players. Levels are determined by the amount of points accumulated. Rewards include freeroll entries, satellite entries and poker-themed gifts and gadgets. Membership in the VIP club further increases the reload bonuses available.

Absolute Poker Customer Service

Absolute Poker offers customer service by email only. They also present an extensive FAQ section on their website.

Absolute Poker Banking

Absolute Poker uses similar deposit options to other poker sites. These include:

• Visa
• Mastercard
• ePassporte (via FPS)
• Click2Pay
• ClickAndBuy
• Paysafecard
• check by mail
• bank wire,
• UKash
• Moneybookers
• UK Debit Cards
• Neteller

Finally

Players interested in lots of ongoing reload bonuses will love Absolute Poker. Limit holdem players looking for loose games probably won't.