Absolute Poker was set up in 2003 and resides on the Absolute Poker Network, using it's own proprietary software licenced in Grand River Mohawks Land. The company itself, Absolute Entertainment San José, is located in Costa Rica, but is 100% owned by a company fronted by the ex-chief of the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, a self-regulated Indian Reservation in the heart of Canada that hosts and regulates (I use the term loosely!) a lot of online gambling companies. Despite being one of the more recent online poker rooms to enter the market, Absolute has done well for itself, attracting thousands of poker players from all over the world. Absolute's Bad Beat Jackpot, which was hit for $821,000 just before I wrote this surely added to its popularity - in fact, you can watch the Bad Beat Jackpot Video at Absolute Poker live!

Traffic is very high on Absolute, some 10,000-15,000 players gathers here every day. You'll find that NLHE games from $0.05/0.10 to $15/30 run frequently with 95% of the action going down on tables up to $2/4. Limit Holdem games between $0.02/0.04 and $200/400 are listed but above $30/60, they rarely run. You will also find a few Omaha games going, mostly in the $0.05/0.10 - $1/2 range. The tournament section is fairly busy, quite a few MTTs with buy-ins from $1 to $100 run ever so often. Mainly NL ones but also Omaha and Stud tournaments which is nice for the specialist or allround player. STTs are available from 50c to $5,000 and tables up to $200/300 go off on a somewhat regular basis. Loads and loads of tables to play for the $1-$30 SnGoer.

p>Absolute Poker's sign-up bonus at the moment (varies slightly, see webpage for current details) is 100% up to $500 and releases in $5 increments for every 20 Absolute Reward Points (ARPs) earned. For every raked hand, you will receive 1 ARP (please note than in order for it to count as raked hand, a minimum of $0.50 must be taken from the pot), accumulate 2000 ARPs for maximum bonus. Reloads are frequent, mostly with the same fairly low requirements. $2/4 NL and $3/6 FL players will clear these bonuses in no time.

Support is fairly good, most emails are answered within 4-5 hours. Absolute Poker does offer telephone support and live help which I think should be a given for any poker establishment this size. Live help is friendly and professional, a big plus.

Practically every deposit method is covered; use VISA, Mastercard, Neteller, Moneybookers, Western Union, Bank Wire, Click2Pay, MoneyGram, UKash, paysafecard, ePassporte, ClickandBuy or Cheque when purchasing. Cashouts to Neteller and Moneybookers are very slow, 2-3 days. This is borderline unacceptable and needs to be improved upon immediately.

High traffic, lots of active tables 24/7 and a good welcome bonus are all positives. However, the very slow cashouts brings Absolute Poker down to round about an average poker site

Overall Rating: 4/5

Reviewed By: Pokersites.co.uk