Home / Poker Site Reviews / 888 Poker
Reviewed by
PokerStop
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Updated
Thu, Aug 11
888 Poker
Review
Poker room score
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Deposit Bonus:
100% up to $400 + $8
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About 888 Poker
888 Poker is another member of the 888 Holdings group, the entity that controls the world’s best known and most respected online casino operation. What does that mean player traffic-wise for 888 Poker? It means that there are plenty of casino gamblers hitting its poker tables, which should - in theory - provide some pretty loose and juicy action. Indeed, for a good poker player, 888 Poker offers some serious value. Just to provide you with a measure of the looseness of 888 Poker’s NL and PL games: the flops viewed percentages are around 50-60%, sometimes even up to 70%, which is the surest sign of fishy play.
The game selection offered at 888 Poker is excellent: there’s Holdem, Omaha and 7-Card Stud. No exotic poker variants are currently available.
888 Poker’s software is available in two versions: the downloadable one (which is the best as far as game experience is concerned and a no-download one, which is meant to fulfill Linux and Mac users’ needs.
888 Poker software
888 Poker’s software is privately developed, which means the Poker Room has no “Big Brother” to answer to. The network it runs on is its very own network and while player traffic-wise that gives the poker room no help, it has only advantages from just about any other angle. On top of that, player traffic is not a problem for 888 Poker either: it has more players than some of the smaller poker networks put together.
The software that 888 Poker uses, has undergone a major overhaul in 2007, and several smaller updates since.
The functions that the software currently offers are all state of the art. The lobby is graphically impressive and it offers instant access to the cashier. Multi tabling is available at 16 tables simultaneously, and mini table views are offered to ease multi tabling. Messages can be turned off and notes can be taken on the opposition. In the downloadable version, there are 3D avatars, which are not available in the no download software.
A very handy option is the “confirm all-in” function which makes sure that you do not commit your stack by mistake.
888 Poker promotions and best bonus
888 Poker is a veritable gold mine when it comes to promotions. For starters, new players pick up an awesome first deposit bonus upon sign-up.
Poker 888 gives its new players a
100% match on their deposits, up to $400+$10. The interesting thing about this deal is that 25% of the sign-up bonus lands in players’ real money accounts right away. That’s right, they don’t even have to play a single hand to have that bonus transferred to their real money accounts. The remaining 75% of the bonus has to be redeemed though. Players will be required to earn 10 BPs (Bonus Points) for every bonus dollar. The good news is that while you earn BPs, you earn Status Points as well. Status points can be traded in for cash.
The bonus meter above your poker table in the interface will tell you exactly how much of your bonus is still unredeemed.
The sign-up bonus is not the only reward first depositors get at 888 Poker. They also gain access to a $50 First Depositors’ challenge satellite. They make their deposits one week, and they can play in the Challenge the following week.
On top of that, first depositors get an entry to a $1,000 first depositors’ freeroll and to 7 $500 first depositors’ freerolls, which means a massive $3,500 in freeroll prize-pools.
Qualifiers to live poker events run all the time too and there’s a “refer a friend” promotion as well.
888 Poker tournaments
As I said above, 888 Poker hosts live event qualifiers all the time. On top of that, they have the usual selection of MTTs and STTs and they offer their players the choice of private tournaments. Players can set up events of their own, with their own rules and invite only the people they want to.
The $10,000 Monday twins offer tournament players the possibility to double up their winnings. The Daily Challenge series, to which satellites and sub-feeders run all the time, offer a staggering $145,000 total prize-pool.
The Double or nothing tournaments are excellent bankroll-builders. They’re basically STTs in which half the table doubles their buy-in while the other half goes home empty-handed.
888 Poker special offers
If you’re looking for unique things about 888 Poker, the fish factor has got to be the first one you stumble upon. I mean 60% flops seen is fishy enough, but 888 Poker will often feature tables with 70% flops seen. Now, that there is one serious fish-market if I ever saw one.
The software is something no other poker room outside the 888 network has. The live bonus meter which players can track above their tables is a very nice addition. It takes the guesswork out of bonus redemption.
The sign-up bonus, though not quite unique, is pretty interesting too. Players get a share of the bonus upfront, so they can take the money to the tables right away.
888 Poker does not accept US players
The 888 Group’s policy towards US players is as unambiguous as it gets: they do not accept Americans at their tables. The poker section of the site got hit pretty hard by the 2006 UIGEA, but since then, the operation has been re-oriented towards the European market and I think it’s safe to say they no longer miss their US players these days.
888 Poker Support
As far as support goes, 888 Poker features a comprehensive FAQ section, where players may find the solution to some of the more common problems. Email support takes care of the rest. No live support is currently available. I haven’t actually tried to contact the support team, but given the 888 Group’s track record in player support, I do not suppose there are any sort of problems in this respect whatsoever.