I am going to put money back online for the first time in a good while. I am planning on playing $11 and less MTT and STT. I am definitely going with Bovada, but also wanted to get people's opinions on spreading out over Carbon and/or Blackchip for micro tournaments. I will likely put $100-200 on one/all that I decide although my expendable poker bankroll is around $1,000 at the moment. (meaning I can and will reload). I think having maybe $100 on each and using $1000 BRM numbers will allow me to see player pools, tourney schedules, and overall software. Then if/when needing to reload I can decide which site or sites I actually like and if I want to reload on them.

I just wanted an opinion on this line of thinking and the pros/cons to major US sites in regards to tournament play.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Im very new to poker. I use seals, but there is a very small player base. Just put money on ACR which looks more promising.

I did the same thing you did.... deposited on Carbon and on Bovada.

I'm honesty not trying to be results-oriented when I say that Bovada is hands down better, because I've gone busto (even after binking a small nightly and a few cashes) on Carbon and have cashed out three times now on Bovada.

IMHO, there are a few major advantages to Bovada -

#1 - The player pool is super-soft. Seems so much easier to find free chips throughout MTT's from spew-tards. Makes sense as they cater to the recreational player from their sports betting and casino games player pools. Lots of drunk players chatting it up in the chat box.

#2 - Conversely from point #1, Carbon seems to be filled with nothing but grinders and winners. I played with a lot of the same regs for quite some time, which was nice in it's own right....but I think I'd rather play bad players than familiar good ones.

#3 - Despite my being against it at first, I actually like the anonymous player profiles on Bovada for a few reasons. First off, I know I'm not being tracked by HUD software by regs, which is a good thing. Secondly, it seems to me that players are more likely to make ridiculously bad plays, because nobody knows who they are and they can just bust and go re-register and nobody will EVER know that was them.

#4 - More good structures with larger player pools for deeper in the day on Bovada. Carbon seems to run nicely until about 8:00 PM (WestCoast time) and then POOF - the player pool disappears and you're lucky to get 25 in a tournament. Bovada seems to have great player pools till the wee hours of the morning.

#5 - Bovada's payouts are FAST. I've heard some issues with bank transfers, so I'd recommend live checks. I got all three of mine within one week and have had zero problems.

I do prefer Carbon's player software by and large, but am playing exclusively at Bovada as of right now for the reasons stated above.

(FWIW - I only deposit a few $100 at a time, just in case anything "happens"...you know?).

Hope this helps.