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  • Mixed Poker Games At Absolute Poker

    I’ve been spending a lot of time lately playing at Absolute Poker’s mixed game tables. I haven’t spent much time at Absolute Poker in the last couple years and I heard about a cool promotion they were having so I figured that I’d give them another shot. I’ve had mixed results and I want to share them with you. You will find some of the Pro’s and Con’s about H.O.R.S.E poker and general mixed game play at Absolute Poker. In addition to pros/cons directly related to poker variants I have also added info on the poker room in general.

    Absolute Poker – Pros:

    • Weak competition – Poker affiliates tend to say this about every room they promote but this time its completely true. The action at the tables is much looser than what I’m used to (Pokerstars, Full Tilt Poker). Granted my definition of soft/loose and your’s may differ. Calling the mixed game action loose is somewhat vague as well so here is another way to put it. On a scale of 1 through 10 the overall mixed game competition’s skill level is 5 at Absolute Poker, compared to 7 at Pokerstars and 8 at Fulltilt Poker.
    • VIP Program – It took me just a few days to achieve a Gold VIP statu. I was earning AP points 3 times faster than Bronze players. I used my points to play in some tournaments and I have ordered a nice looking Absolute Poker t-shirt.
    • Software – The software provided a nice change in scenery. I was also getting in around 20 more hands/hour (on average) when compared to Pokerstars.
    • Promotions – They have many promotions but the only one I want to bring up is their “27″ promo. Absolute Poker has set aside special NL Holdem tables for this promotion. There is a side pot that players contribute to when they sit down. To win this pot you must win a game with the worst starting hand, 2-7. This adds quite a bit of fun to the game.
    • The Bad Beat Jackpot – Neither Pokerstars or FTP offer a Bad Beat jackpot. This is only available at certain tables but basically if you lose a hand with at least 4 of a kind you will hit the jackpot (and so will everyone else at the table). Currently the jackpot is $283,409.
    • Blackjack – Absolute Poker offers Blackjack and blackjack tournaments!

    Absolute Poker – Cons:

    • Low traffic - When compared to PS and FTP the mixed game traffic at Absolute Poker is very low. You will only find around 200 real money mixed game players during the peak hours.
    • Poor Game Variety – PS and FTP have been adding new mixed poker variants left and right while Absolute Poker only offers H.O.R.S.E and H.O.S.E poker. They could definitely use a little help in this category. You would think a struggling poker room would try to think outside of the box for ways to steal traffic from the big 2 poker rooms.
    • Checkered Past – In 2007 there was a huge cheating scandal at Absolute Poker. An employ of the company was using a “super-user account” to cheat other poker players. Absolute Poker handled it the worst possible way at first but they did eventually pay everyone back. I’m just not comfortable playing at the high stakes tables there. It gets even worse though. There was one particular player that was playing extremely odd. I was thinking that he and another player were colluding perhaps, or possibly even found a way to hack the software (superuser). I wrote support and they said it would be impossible for someone to do this. I’m thinking in my head “Yeah right moron, it happened a couple years ago”. The support guy was pretty rude though and basically just dismissed my concerns out of hand.

    Well, there you have it. A completely honest review of the mixed poker game action at Absolute Poker. If there was another good candidate I would probably replace Absolute Poker. There are just so few poker rooms that offer mixed poker games. I would list some nice rooms on the Merge Network but the traffic is too low.

    If you are interested in signing up at Absolute Poker we have a special offer for you. Use the referral code BIG500 for a 150% match on your first deposit up to $500. (shown below). First, you must visit Absolute Poker using one of the links on this website though. Read our Absolute Poker review for more info.

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