Online Poker at Absolute Poker

1. Are there any special requirements for my computer in order to run the game?

The recommended minimum system requirements are:

• PC: Windows 2000/NT/XP/Vista (Windows 98 and ME)
• Modem: 56K modem connection speed (Not recommended*) 128Kbps DSL, cable modem or better
• Processor: Pentium III 400mHz
• RAM: 128-256Mb
• Sound card: 8bits or better
• Screen resolution: 800 x 600 16bit color or better
• Browser: Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or better
• Disk Space: 40Mb

Official statement about Windows 98, ME and Dial UP users.

With the technology advances Absolute Poker is moving forward in order to continue providing the best online gaming experience.

More than a year after the Microsoft "End of support" statement for Windows 98 and Me, Absolute Poker is no longer supporting those platforms. For that reason, starting in November of 2007, Absolute Poker is no longer approving reimbursement requests from Windows 98 and Me users with isolated issues not related to our game application or servers. Further details can be seen here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx

For Dial up users it is important to note that Absolute Poker requires at least 49K real time connection to the Internet. Dial up connections are designed to work with 56kbps as their upper limit bandwidth, but they normally use 49kbps (even less if your connection has some dirt or humidity between the cable terminals) For this reason, Absolute Poker is not responsible for individual disconnections from Dial Up users who may be running other applications concurrently with AP software.

2. Absolute Poker is telling me that I am being blocked by my firewall. What is a firewall?

All your firewall questions can be answered by clicking here.

3. There is a new live update available but it is not running properly.

Most likely, the software update for Absolute Poker does not work correctly for you because you are using an anti-spyware program such as Microsoft Anti Spyware, Spyware Doctor, Spybot, and Spysweeper. These programs and many others can cause updates to fail.

To prevent live update problems in the future:

Temporarily disable your Microsoft Anti Spyware, Spyware Doctor, Spybot, Spysweeper, or any other active (running) anti-spyware program before you click "Ok" to accept the update. Most of these programs have an icon in the lower right corner of your screen in the Task Bar. Right click on the little icon, and select "exit" or "disable".

After the live update is complete, you can re-enable your anti-spyware program; if you had to exit the program, it should be re-activated when you restart your computer.

If the live update still fails, or if you had this problem but do not have an anti-spyware program, then a Firewall could be causing this. If this is the case, let us know what firewall you are using so we can send you instructions to configure it for Absolute Poker.

To fix a failed update, follow steps 1 through 11 below to reinstall your game:

For guided instructions click here

Note: If you uninstall the software with steps 1 through 11 below you will also erase your Hand History, Player Notes, and Stats that are saved on your hard drive.

You can keep a back up of this information by following these steps:

• Right mouse click on the Start Button
• Click on Explore
• Click on My Computer
• Click on C:
• Click on Program Files
• Click on Absolute Poker
• Click on Hand History

This will take you to C:\Program Files\Absolute Poker\Hand History which is the path where your hand history is stored on your computer.

Copy the folder(s) from the hand history folder by right mouse clicking and selecting copy.

Choose a different location such as My Documents to save the files.
Paste them by right mouse clicking and selecting paste.

You now have made a backup of your hands played.

If you wish to keep a back up of this information, please go to the following location on your computer:

• "My computer", C:\Program Files\Absolute Poker\Hand History
  
  The above address is where your Hand History is stored on your hard drive; copy the folder or folders inside the Hand History folder and paste them in a different location to make a backup of your hands played.


• "My computer", C:\Program Files\Absolute Poker\data

The above address is where your "Player Notes" and "Game Stats" are stored. The file called "Note" stores the notes you have placed on the players and the file named "stats" stores your game stats. Same as with the hand history, go ahead and save both of these files in a different location before uninstalling the software. This way you will be able to restore those files back once the software is installed again.

Now that you have saved a backup of this data, please proceed to follow these steps below to remove the application and reinstall the software:

1. Re-Start your computer. When it comes back on, do not open up Absolute Poker.
2. Click on the Start button.
3. Select Control Panel.
4. Select Add / Remove Programs.
5. Select Absolute Poker and remove the program.
6. Open the My Computer icon located on your desktop or in the Start Menu.
7. Open C:\Program Files and delete any Absolute Poker folders that you can find in Program Files.
8. After Absolute Poker has been uninstalled, open the Internet Explorer Browser.
9. Click on Tools in the menu bar and select Internet Options.
10. In the Temporary Internet Files section, click on Delete Files, this may take a while, after that click on Delete Cookies.
11. Go to http://www.absolutepoker.com/ and click on the Play Now button. Click Run and wait for the download to complete. Click Run again and then at the purple screen, click Start Install.

After you have completed the above steps, paste the hand history files that you previously backed up into:

C:\Program Files\Absolute Poker\Hand History

To restore your Player Notes and Game Stats replace the files that you previously saved back in to the folder that they came from:

My computer, C:\Program Files\Absolute Poker\data

There will be files already named the same. That is the reason why you will have to "replace" them with the ones you saved before as a backup.

4. I have configured my firewall but I still can't access Absolute Poker, I do have a router. Could that be the problem?

A router might be blocking your connection, instead of a program on your computer. Routers are used most commonly to split your Internet connection between multiple computers. If you connect using Cable or DSL, and there is another box/device between your modem and your computer, that is most likely your router.

Here is a list of common router brands:

• Linksys - www.linksys.com,
• Netgear - www.netgear.com,
• Belkin - www.belkin.com,
• Motorola - www.motorola.com

If you are using a router to connect to the Internet please visit our router configuration page by clicking on the following link [Click Here]

Unfortunately, if you are connecting from a work, school, library, Internet cafe, or any other strictly "public environments", you may not have the ability to fix your connection issue. Most network administrators at these environments will have a firewall set up that closes off many ports before you will even receive the connection. Because of this, you will rarely get to have any choice on the settings that affect your connection.

If you are not using a router to connect to the Internet, you may need to ask our Technical Support about how you can resolve this issue. You can contact them by emailing support@absolutepoker.com.

5. I was playing and I was disconnected (Or the game froze), how can I get back to my table and what happened with my money?

If the tournament is still in process you can rejoin it.

Click in the Tournaments tab located in the grey strip on of the main lobby screen.

Select Registered in Tournaments. A window with a list of tournaments you are registered in currently will pop up.

From the list, double click on the tournament you were playing in. You will be directed to the that tournament’s lobby.

Click on Take my seat to return to your table.

If you still have a chance to rejoin a tournament, click on the "Tournaments" tab located in the grey strip on top of the main lobby and select "Registered in Tournaments"; a window will pop up with a list of the tournaments you are registered in at that moment. In the list, find the tournament that you should be playing in. Double click on the tournament listing and you will be taken to that tournament's lobby. Click "Take My Seat". You will be taken back to your table.

An alternate option would be to click on the my account tab and open the Last Played Games feature.

A window will open showing you the most recent games you played.

Double click on the most recent one to be taken back to the table you were playing at.

Additional to this option, you can click on the my account tab and open the "last played games" feature, it is going to open a window that will show you the most recent games that you played, if you double click on them you will be taken back to the table that you played.

The issue here is that Absolute Poker only makes up about 10% of your connection at most. Your computer's connection to your ISP makes up about 40% of your connection. The other 50% of the connection is all the servers that relay the data back and forth. On average you will probably "hop servers" up to 20 times before your connection reaches our servers, depending on your geographical location. The network path (the chain of servers/machines) chosen is dictated by your ISP, however it is still subject to geographical location. The network path between you and each destination site you visit is different based on geographical location. That is why you may experience problems with one site, but not others.

In a browsing/checking email/instant messaging environment, the servers in between handle traffic with no problem. This is because your traffic with them is only momentary and then it rests "idle" for most of the time. You would not be affected by periodic slowdowns or high traffic.

Certain connection types are be more likely to be disconnected. Wireless and dial-up are related to most disconnection issues. A wireless connection isn't always stable because the Internet is being transmitted as a signal from the wireless router to your PC. If the transmitted signal becomes weak, then your computer will lose the Internet data stream and become disconnected. The amount of time that you are disconnected will vary depending on the situation. In many cases, the disconnection will only be for a second or less. You might not notice this when displaying a web page, but you would become disconnected if you were playing Absolute Poker in real time. Dial up Internet users will experience more disconnects because dial up does not provide a fast connection speed and is not as stable as broadband (cable or DSL). Modem communication protocol "handshaking" problems can also occur. If you are using dial up and are experiencing these issues, it may help to try a different Internet provider or upgrade to DSL or Cable.

There can be many causes for freezing, with the main one being the system the game is being run on. It is extremely important to keep your system clean from viruses and spyware. It is also a good idea to keep your operating systems Hard Disk from becoming fragmented. You can de-fragment it with software built in to Windows. This is usually called "Disk Defragmenter" located in Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools. There is also plenty of free antivirus and anti- spyware software available on the Internet. Keeping your system clean can go a long way to create a stable environment for your real time online poker experience.

6. I keep getting "We're sorry. You don't have enough chips to sit at this table" when I know that I have enough chips. What can I do?

Sometimes when you have left a table improperly (game froze, disconnected, closed AP without leaving the table first) your chips can become "stuck in play". This is because the server did not receive your request to leave the table and so your chips are still at that table. However your game client is receiving the request to sit at the table as denied because your "bankroll" does not currently have the money. This is the same thing as if you were trying to play 2 tables at once but you already bought into the first table with all your available money.

Generally, you do not have to wait very long for the server to send your chips back to your account, however, during peak times it may take as long as 3 hours for your chips to be reset. It is always best to exit a table before attempting to do anything else so that your chips get properly reset back to your account.

7. Can more than one family member in the same household have an account?

Absolutely! Each Absolute Player is only allowed one player account. If more than one person per household wants to play, you will need to contact Support for assistance in setting up the accounts. Two people can play at the same time from the same household, but not at the same table. This is a way to ensure collusion is not occurring.

For example: You have the IP: 123.456.789.012 And your friend: 123.456.789.015

Our servers recognize this likelihood as possible fraud and automatically block any attempt to connect to the same table, which is the only restriction that you may have playing with someone in the same household.

8. Can I play on a Mac system?

We are pleased to inform you that we have released the new Java version of our game. This new version is supported by most common browsers (like Safari and Netscape) as well as most Operating Systems.

To start playing, please click on the following link:

http://www.absolutepoker.com/no-download/

9. What is the correct procedure to reinstall the poker application?

To receive step by step guided instructions click here

If you want do it manually, follow steps 1 through 11 below to reinstall your game.

Keep in mind that if you uninstall the software with steps 1 through 11 below you will also erase your Hand History, Player Notes, and Stats that are saved on your hard drive.

If you wish to keep a back up of this information, please go to the following location on your computer:

• "My computer", C:\Program Files\Absolute Poker\Hand History - Copy the folder or folders inside the Hand History folder and paste them in a different location to make a backup of your hands played.


• "My computer", C:\Program Files\Absolute Poker\data - The files called "Note" stores the notes you have placed on the players and the file named "stats" stores your game stats. Same as with the hand history, go ahead and save both of these files in a different location before uninstalling the software. This way you will be able to restore those files back once the software is installed again.

Now that you have saved a backup of this data, please proceed to follow these steps below to remove the application and reinstall the software:

1. Re-Start your computer. When it comes back on, do not open up Absolute Poker.
2. Click on the "Start" button.
3. Choose "Control Panel".
4. Select "Add / Remove Programs".
5. Select Absolute Poker and remove the program.
6. Open the "My Computer" icon located on your desktop or in the Start Menu.
7. Open C:\Program Files and delete any Absolute Poker folders that you can find in Program Files.
8. After Absolute Poker has been uninstalled, open the Internet Explorer Browser.
9. Click on "Tools" in the menu bar and select "Internet Options".
10. In the Temporary Internet Files section, click on "Delete Files", this may take a while, after that click on "Delete Cookies".
11. Go to http://www.absolutepoker.com/ and click on the "Download" button. Click "Run" and wait for the download to complete. Click "Run" again and then click "Start Install".

After you have completed the above steps, paste the hand history files that you previously saved back in to the folder that they came from:

"My computer", C:\Program Files\Absolute Poker\Hand History

To restore your Player Notes and Game Stats replace the files that you previously saved back in to the folder that they came from:

"My computer", C:\Program Files\Absolute Poker\data

There will be new files with the same name inside this directory. That is the reason why you will have to "replace" them with the ones you saved before as a backup.

10. I can't access the cashier window or the registration page, (Security levels too high or action canceled)

To receive step by step guided instructions click here

Usually when you cannot access the mini browser windows, one of two things is usually happening:

1. A personal firewall like Norton or McAfee is blocking your mini browser window from connecting to the Internet, rendering it blank with the error message "Action Canceled" or "This web page is unavailable". Sometimes is it completely blank too, but that is usually what happens in the other scenario.
   
   To fix the above issue - Visit our firewall section here for more information on Firewalls and how to configure yours to play at Absolute Poker.


2. Sometimes, your Internet Explorer browser is not configured properly for the mini browser. Please try all of these steps to make sure that IE is configured properly.

In Internet Explorer go to "Tools", select "Internet Options", and select the Privacy tab. Make sure the slider is set to medium. Then click on the "Security" tab, click on the "Default Level" button make sure that it is set to medium.

Also in the Security Tab; click on the "Trusted Sites" icon and then "Sites" button. Make sure that the "Require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone" box is not checked.

On the space provided, where it says Add this website to the zone: enter the following addresses:

www.absolutebanking.com (click on add)
www.absolutepoker.com (click on add)

If changing that setting does not immediately fix the blank page problem it is suggest you try this:

1. Make sure your AP game is closed and click on Start.
2. Choose Control Panel.
3. Then select Add / Remove Programs.
4. From there, select Absolute Poker and remove the program.

Re-boot your PC:

5. Open the My Computer.
6. Open C:\Program Files and delete any Absolute Poker folders that you can find in Program Files.
7. Open an Internet Explorer Browser (little blue "e" icon), select the "View" menu (next to File and Edit), then select Encoding, and finally select "Auto-Select" (a check should appear next to "Auto-Select" after this).

   Then:

8. While still in the IE browser, Click on "Tools" in the menu bar and select "Internet Options".
9. Then, on the Temporary Internet Files section, click on Delete Files, this may take a while, after that click on Delete Cookies.
10. Please, go to http://www.absolutepoker.com/ and click on the "Download" button. Download the program and reinstall it from scratch.

You should be able to fix your blank page (or let us know what firewall that you have) with the above information.

I can't find a specific kind of tournament (Such as freerolls) in the Main Lobby and I can see all the other tournaments.

In order to be able to see all the tournament that we offer you should open the Absolute Poker application and click on the Tourneys tab, as soon as you get there click on the gray Filter tab.

Make sure that you have all the options checked, you should be able to see all the multi table tournaments that we offer.

11. Every time I try to join a table I receive a Game client error message, what should I do?

The Absolute Poker Game client error is related to a corrupted installation or update in your computer, to fix this problem we normally recommend reinstalling the application, for guided instructions click here

In order to restore our program defaults, we suggest you follow these steps:

1. Re-start your computer. When it comes back on, do not open up Absolute Poker.
2. Click on the Start button.
3. Select Control Panel.
4. Select Add / Remove Programs.
5. Select Absolute Poker and remove the program.
6. Open the My Computer icon located on your desktop or in the Start Menu.
7. Open C:\Program Files and delete any Absolute Poker folders that you can find in Program Files.
8. After Absolute Poker has been uninstalled, open the Internet Explorer Browser.
9. Click on Tools in the menu bar and select Internet Options.
10. Go to the Temporary Internet Files section, click on Delete Files, this may take a while, after that click on Delete Cookies.
11. Go to http://www.absolutepoker.com/ and click on the Download button. Click Run and wait for the download to complete. Click Run again and then click Start Install.

Keep in mind that if you uninstall the software with steps 1 through 11 above, you will also erase your Hand History that is saved on your hard drive. If you wish to keep a back up of this information, you can copy the folder or folders inside the Hand History file and paste them into a different location to make a backup of the hands that you have played. These files can be found at the following location: "My computer", C:\Program Files\Absolute Poker\Hand History

As well, your Player Notes and Game Stats will be also erased. To keep a back up of this information, copy and paste the information contained in these folders, which are located at: "My computer", C:\Program Files\Absolute Poker\data

These files should not be copied back into the game's files once the reinstallation occurs, as it is possible that some of them might be corrupted.

12. The game is stating that I must use an administrator account to continue.

Absolute Poker requires a Windows Administrator account in order to work on your computer properly.

Each time you open the Absolute Poker application, there are several files written on your hard drive requesting to be accessed and this is not possible without the proper rights and permissions. A Windows guest account normally doesn't have them.

To run this software, we strongly suggest you contact your computer administrator in order to modify your rights and permissions.

In order to enable/disable the table sounds you need to open a table and click on the Options button.

Then you will see the option to check or uncheck the sounds on the table. Click ok and you will finish.

There you will see the option for sounds, uncheck the sound button to disable sounds on the table.

Attention Vista Users, if you already are the computer administrator right click on the Absolute Poker icon on your desktop and select the option called "Run as administrator"

13. Official statement about Windows 98, ME and Dial UP users.

With the technology advances Absolute Poker is moving forward in order to continue providing the best online gaming experience.

More than a year after the Microsoft "End of support" statement for Windows 98 and Me, Absolute Poker is no longer supporting those platforms. For that reason, starting in November of 2007, Absolute Poker is no longer approving reimbursement requests from Windows 98 and Me users with isolated issues not related to our game application or servers. Further details can be seen here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/support/endofsupport.mspx

For Dial up users it is important to note that Absolute Poker requires at least 49K real time connection to the Internet. Dial up connections are designed to work with 56kbps as their upper limit bandwidth, but they normally use 49kbps (even less if your connection has some dirt or humidity between the cable terminals) For this reason, Absolute Poker is not responsible for individual disconnections from Dial Up users who may be running other applications concurrently with AP software.

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