General: Thanks to a significant buzz around the internet, mainly generated by word of mouth and a plethora of poker review sites, Pacific Poker is quickly becoming a member of the elite handful of really popular online poker rooms. What is the word on the street about Pacific Poker that is making it so popular, you're probably wondering? You have so much to learn, dear reader. Pacific Poker has the WEAKEST competition on the net!! (Believe me, I don't just throw exclamation points around. This is serious.) Weaker than even Party Poker, you're asking? Oh reader, will you ever learn? (That means yes.)

The traffic here has really been picking up, and it's among the best as far as the amount of people playing at any given time. With their reputation for soft play spreading faster than Paris Hilton through the proverbial internet grapevine, the poker players have signed up in droves to take their cracks at the dead money piled high at every table. Yes, my friend. At Pacific Poker the chips flow like wine, and all our cups shall runneth over.

Games: Hold'Em, Omaha , 7 Card Stud, Omaha High/Low, 7 Card Stud High/Low

Beginners have the true option of learning at the cheap limit tables here as Pacific Poker offers standard hold'em tables starting as low as $0.05/$0.10. Unlike Party Poker where you would start at $0.50/$1.00, you can start a little cheaper and learn the game without losing all kinds of money. Pacific Poker also have Sit-n-Go tournaments starting as low as $2+$0.20 (Party Poker's cheapest are $5 + $1) along with cheap regular tournaments with a nice amount of guaranteed prize money. There are $1 tournaments with $1000 in guaranteed prize money and etc. In addition, they take a significantly smaller tournament fee and rake than Party Poker.

Pacific Poker does offer some decent big money tournaments as well, though. For example there are a couple $75k Winter Whopper Tournaments coming up on January 30th and February 6th. Multi-table and Sit'n'Go satellites are open every day to make getting into the Winter Whopper a little cheaper. Pacific Poker also currently holds a $20k guaranteed prize pool tournament every day for $30 + $3.

On top of that there are satellites to win entry into bigger real life tournaments like the million dollar UK Open in London .

There is also good news on the FreeRoll front as Pacific Poker has FreeRoll tournaments every day. Be sure to check both the Multi-table and Special areas. Lately there have been daily giveaways of satellite entries at 11:30 am and 1:45 pm ($150k Fall Fortune satellites and UK Open satellites, respectively) in the Special area and cash giveaways (usually $500) in the Multi-Table area. They usually don't announce the cash freerolls very far in advance (an hour or two, sometimes less), but they're usually in the afternoon, so check the SweetFreeRolls schedule or check in at Pacific Poker periodically. They fill up pretty fast, so check a lot around 3 or 4pm as they usually start at 3:30 or 4:30pm .

Software/Servers: The Pacific Poker software has a few elements that distinguish it from some others, and while those differences are primarily small ones, some people seem to hate the software for them.

One such difference is that there is no chat or log area on your poker table screen. You have to click a chat button and a tiny little box pops up with the text. It's a little awkward, I think, and it seems there is less chat as a result. Unfortunately, given my experience chatting at the poker table, less chat is not a bad thing. At all. Not being able to see who won the last hand and how without clicking a chat box and keeping track of a tiny window is a little weird, though.

Graphically and soundwise the software is nothing special, but not annoying, and honestly as long as it's not annoying or slow I'm satisified. However, something about the software seems a little clunkier and just less smooth than say the Poker Stars software.

In any case, I really don't feel that any of the minor flaws I've mentioned with the Pacific Poker software are anywhere near show-stopping problems. While there are not many statistics at hand when you're playing, you can check what percentage of the people are seeing the flop at the table you're about to join (a decent indicator of how tight or loose the play is), which is sadly more than can be said for Party Poker.

As for the servers, Pacific Poker has always seemed quick to me and has always been problem free as well.

Bonus: Pacific Poker offers a 25% first deposit bonus. Hell yes. The great thing about the Pacific Poker bonus is that it is instantly creditted to your account. No raked hands requirements or anything lame like that, just a little extra cash to play poker with. There is also a $50 invite a friend program.

Pacific Poker fun fact: I have heard more than one story about someone having Pacific Poker put $10 into their account for no apparent reason.

Conclusion: This is the place to make money playing poker on the internet. Period. With cheaper rakes and tournaments fees and a better affiliate program, Pacific Poker is showing that they're serious about competing with Party Poker. Now is the time to get signed up and reap the benefits of the soft play that runs rampant on this site.

9 out of 10

last updated November 21, 2017

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