As part of the Cassava Group (Casino-On-Net/888.com)- the world’s largest online casino operators, PacificPoker.com has had no shortage of funds in promoting itself as the new giant of online poker rooms. Its rise in popularity over the last couple of years has been nothing short of meteoric with constant high-profile promotions, bonus offerings and regular tournaments. However, the jury is still out on PacificPoker.com< in its overall quality of service to the individual online poker player- with graphics that are certainly not the best and software that is slow and still experiences technical hitches. Having said this, marked improvements have occured in 2005 in both these areas and this is highly likely to continue into the future. At the end of the day, it is the games and promotions that attract the players to this online poker room- and given the high level of traffic from Casino-On-Net, a lot of “novice” players are attracted, thus making a profit that much more likely. For example, at the Limit Hold’em section, the view flop percentage in full ring games is often in the 60s and 70s!
Software
As mentioned above, PacificPoker.com has one of the worst reputations for software in the industry, despite recent improvements. It is thanks to the “juicy” games and the promotions that they are a market leader - not their software. The graphics, when once compares them to other online poker rooms, are mediocre at best. . However, on the plus side, the software has the advanced buttons like check/fold, the lobby has information on view flop percentage and hands played per hour, there is a hand history statistics function which enables you to play up your old hands and the no-download version is a nice feature.
Games
Texas Hold’em
Omaha Hi
Omaha Hi/Lo
Seven card stud
Seven card stud hi/lo
PacificPoker.com is a very good poker room to win money at, especially when compared to a power house like PokerStars.net. There are always full $15/$30 Holdem tables with loads of action. The playability is not good however and you can only play at one single table at a time.
By serious online poker players, PacificPoker.com has been seen over recent years as a complementary poker room, where you can play a table while playing at another site for no-limit games. However, as this year no-limit games have been added as well- it remains to be seen how this strategy develops!
Traffic
The traffic is concentrated almost exclusively to the Hold’em games. Real money player statistics for PacificPoker.com in July 2005: 2200-2600 ring game players at peak hours, 3500-5000 tournament players at peak hours. Of these 2200-2600 players at least 85-95% is in the Holdem section. Most of the other traffic is in Omaha Hi-Lo and 7-Card-Stud High.
Rake
The rake is at the average of the industry, with better offers at micro-levels and somewhat better at the highest stakes. PacificPoker.com has a No Flop No Drop rake policy. This means that they only rake the pot when the flop is reached. A maximum of $1 is taken out of the pots up to $1/$2 games. At limits below $1/$2 the house takes less than $1, which gives good value for low limit players. At higher limits, $2/$4 and above, the rake structure is similiar to most other online poker sites.
Bonuses/Promotions
PacificPoker.com will give you a sign-up bonus of 25%, up to $100, with your first deposit. All you need to do is make a deposit, and your bonus will be automatically added to your account.
As a loyalty bonus, every $10 bet on raked hands earns you 1 Bonus Point. 100 Bonus Points can be converted to $1.
PacificPoker.com has a constant stream of promotions. Most notably are the Relay Races with great payouts for anyone who deposits $50 during the promo day and plays a certain number of hands.
Tournaments
PacificPoker.com offers a variety of ongoing promotional satellite tournaments, including showdown tournaments (receive points for each showdown you see, with the player acquiring the most points at the end of the event winning the prize)
Customer Support
Good response times at the email support. However, there is no live support and the telephone support is slow. It is extremely secure. All the usual depsoit options offered- although cashout is tedious. And beware- if you have used your credit card, that is what will be refunded first and you have no choice in this. The most efficient method to cash in and out seems via Neteller.
Score (marked out of 10)
8.5. A sound company. You can feel safe playing here. Also some great value both in promotions and in playing against the less experienced. But the graphics and software remains PacificPoker.com’s achilles heel.
Popularity: 2% [?]
