Carbon Poker Mobile App Goes Live for Real Money
That didn’t take long. Barely a month after Carbon Poker opened up a play-money app for testing, the site has now gone live with a mobile-device version of its online-poker software, making the Merge Network flagship the first US-facing site to offer online poker to Americans via mobile device apps.
If anything will offer a shot in the arm to online-poker fortunes to American poker players, this is likely to be it. With the late-2011 decision by US Attorney General Eric Holder that playing online poker is legal still on the books — and likely to stay there due to the opinion’s considerable benefit for state-run online lottery operations — this makes playing online poker easier than ever for Americans since any time prior to 2011’s Black Friday.
Carbon representatives have confirmed that the site is live, and as previously reported, isn’t quite up to speed yet across the board on devices running the Android OS. Carbon has confirmed that it will allow play from the same 44 of 50 US states that it presently serves, excepting the states of New York, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Washington and Louisiana. Carbon also does not offer services to District of Columbia residents. These are the same six states (plus DC) already geo-blocked from playing on Merge Network’s standard poker client.
Carbon announced the release in a very modest manner, simply allowing its 2+2 rep, “CarbonRyan,” to announce the real-money debut in the site’s sponsored forum there. Wrote Ryan:
Hi all,
I just wanted to let everyone know that the mobile client is now live and ready for everyone to log into and play on.
Point your mobile browser to:
Please feel free to post up and feedback or suggestions you have.
Ryan
The above page forwards immediately to https://carbonpoker.mergeclient.eu/, which displays the expected logon screen as shown at right. It also clarifies one other point: Mobile users must first create an account using a regular computer, and are only then able to access it using this smart-device app. It does not appear the Carbon and Merge have yet implemented a fully downloadable app that also allows its users to register and deposit via that new app, an enhancement that’s likely to be installed in a later upgrade.
The timing couldn’t be better for Carbon and Merge, which kicked off its giant Poker Maximus VI series earlier today. That series has a total guaranteed prize pool of more than $3 million, wrapping up 15 days and 85 events of action on September 22nd.
The Poker Maximus VI series is the largest of three separate US-facing online poker series running concurrently this month, along with similar offerings at Bovada and the Winning Poker Network. Interested players can check out the complete Poker Maximus VI schedule of events by clicking here.
One significant advantage for experiences poker players in the Poker Maximus series, when compared to some other offerings, is that the series includes more than just no-limit hold’em and Omaha. While the largest and most numerous of tourneys are in those variants, the Merge series also offer fixed-limit hold’em, H.O.R.S.E., and even a seven-card-stud tourney.
It’s shaping up to a great autumn for American online poker players, with Merge’s new real-money mobile app and sixth edition of its Poker Maximus series just a couple of more signs of the rebound that’s underway.
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