Summary - 7/10
If the personality of each online poker site could be represented by a
different poker pro then Pacific Poker’s would undoubtedly be along the
lines of an Amarillo Slim or Doyle Brunson. A stalwart of the industry
surpassed in many ways by younger competitors yet still very much
capable of enduring success. Shaky software, haphazard game set-up, and
decidedly unspectacular looks make Pacific unlikely to be at the front
of the race for new recruits in the continuing poker boom, although it
does have one major attraction that makes it a room well worth visiting:
soft targets and plenty of them.
Game Selection - 7/10
Game selection at Pacific is reasonably good, although not as thorough
in covering all angles as some other sites. Tournament play is largely
geared towards the lower buy-in range, particularly away from the
sit-and-go tables, with plenty of free-roll and low-roll dailies. These
are often satellites to a range of random tournaments and whilst not
offering many WSOP opportunities they do provide a lot of
sub-satellites, thereby again catering to the smaller bank-roll.
Sit and go games tend to allow slightly more for the more high-roll
player with buy-ins ranging up to $750, though the further up the range
it goes the more sporadic the frequency of games become. There are also
a large number of ‘fast’ games available, which, when considering the
often ponderous blind structures of regular games, are a very useful
addition, as are the ‘bad beat’ and royal flush jackpots.
One major area of weakness for Pacific is the lack of non- hold’em games
available. Tournament play is entirely restricted to NL, fixed limit,
and pot limit hold’em, with alternative cash games not faring much
better. Omaha and seven card stud, along with their HI/LO variants, are
the only available cash games away from hold’em, with even these games
providing little in the way of high-limit tables.
Software - 6/10
It is the software of Pacific Poker which perhaps greatest exemplifies
its elderly status. In general the site is very playable, with no huge
flaws and a standard setup process, but it lacks the smoothness and
attention to detail present in many newer-generation poker rooms. Little
things, for instance an awkward raising mechanism or insufficient alerts
when time is running out, lead to a generally less-smooth experience.
Some mild jerkiness during play and, at times, poorly judged blind
structures further add to this sense, though there are no real problems
with clarity of table action.
Most of the other standard bits and pieces are present and correct, such
as good online support and user-friendly cashier options, though again
there lacks anything beyond the standard, like a hand history capability
for instance. One plus point is that ease of movement and navigation
around the main interface is quite good, as well as having brief
explanations of what each section contains as a useful tool for first
time users.
Pacific Poker is operated by Cassava Enterprises
(Gibraltar) Ltd. which also owns and operates Casino-on-Net. Casino-on-Net
is one of the leading Casinos on the Internet. Since its official launch in
1997, over 10,000,000 people have experienced Casino-on-Net's exciting
gaming action on the World Wide Web, making Casino-on-Net the leading Online
Casino.
PacificPoker offers a nice variety of games and stakes to its players.
PacificPoker.com offer low stakes options for both cash games and
tournaments, with tons of No Limit Holdem Tournaments with buy-ins ranging
between $2.50 + .25 and $200 + $15.
PacificPoker.com accepts Credit Cards, Deposit by Phone, Checking Account
deposits powered by Citadel, Neteller, Fire Pay, ACTeCASH, PrePaidATM, Wire
Transfer and other deposit methods.
PacificPoker.com offers the same games as Party Poker and Empire Poker -
Holdem, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud, 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo, Sit & Go
tournaments, and Multi-Table tournaments. And PacificPoker.com has recently
added No Limit Texas Holdem cash games!
Pacific Poker does not have the amount of players as Party Poker and Empire
Poker. However, Pacific Poker still has plenty of action; I never seem to
have trouble sitting down at the $5 + .50 No Limit Holdem Tournaments.
PacificPoker has about 4,000 players, so the action is a bit better than
many other online poker sites (ie - Full Tilt has about 1,500 players).
Software – graphics and functionality
The software is Pacific Pokers biggest downside. Several upgrades have been
made but the graphics as well as the functionality are still way below
standard. The games are rather slow but run smoothly for most of the time.
You’re not allowed to play at multiple tables in this poker room. The
statistics are good – you will find useful information in the lobby and you
can easily keep track of your game thanks to the hand history function.
Ring game and tournament traffic
The ring game traffic at Pacific Poker is concentrated to fixed-limit
Hold’em games. The number of real money ring game players during peak hours
is around 2,500. Texas Hold’em is the dominating playing form in the
tournament section as well. 3,500-5,000 real money tournament players visit
the site during peak hours.
Game variety and competition
Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi and Hi-Lo and 7-Card-Stud are the available games.
As mentioned above, the Hold’em section sees the most action. Special
features are 1-on-1-tables and games with micro-limits ($0.05-$0.10). The
action in this room is really loose and you will be able to find $15-$30
games with an average view flop percentage of 65-70. Many weak players visit
Pacific Poker and a solid player will have every chance of making a good
profit.
Rakes and tournament fees
Pacific Poker takes out a rake that is around the average of the industry.
The best offers are found in the micro-limit games and the high stake games.
No rake is taken when the flop isn’t seen.
Loyalty bonus and promotions
One Bonus Point is awarded for each $10 bet on raked hands. 100 Bonus Points
can be converted to $1. The outstanding promotions are the “Relay Races”
with great payouts for players who deposits $50 during the promotion day and
then plays a specified number of hands.
Support and financial security
The telephone support is actually rather slow, but the email service is
quick and reliable. The financial security is very good.
Pacific poker has a minimum deposit of $50.00. Pacific Poker offers
assurance that all transactions whether depositing or withdrawing will be
safe. Pacific Poker uses the latest encryption and protection technology to
make every transaction safe and secure. Pacific Poker offers many secure and
instant funding options, some of which are listed below.
* Visa/MasterCard * NETeller
* ePassporte * Citadel
* PrePaidATM * PaySafeCard
* Check * Bank Transfer
* Wire Transfer * FirePay
Pacific Poker's Withdrawal options are:
* NETeller * FirePay
*Wire Transfer * Citadel
* Bank Drafts
As a side note on withdrawing money from your account is that some of their
options can take up to 5 days for processing before you get your money. So
look to PacificPoker.com for the rest of the need to know info on making a
withdrawal.
Drawbacks
Pacific Poker is popular as the poker room with the worst poker players.
Although the main cause for such a poor poker room performance was
essentially due to the software, recent updates have improved the software
quality.
As Pacific Poker is associated with Casino on Net, many online players from
Casino on Net blow away their winnings at the poker tables of Pacific Poker.
Hence, players are not interested in serious game play. Therefore, the
quality of the game and the poker site suffers. You can play easy games at
Pacific Poker, which undermines the thrill of playing good poker games. "
Profitability
Pacific poker is a site which, thanks to a number of factors, and to
specific types of players, can be very profitable indeed. Its bonus of
25% up to $100 looks pretty average in comparison to many other sites
which often range right up to the 100% mark, but because it is released
immediately upon deposit, it can be much more worthwhile in practical
terms. The relative lack of tough competition should, with a bit of
luck, allow a player to build on this original deposit and bonus,
thereby leading to a much healthier bankroll than the dribble effect of
many other bonuses will afford. Their loyalty bonus point system is
another little sweetener but with $1 given for every $1000 dollars in
‘raked’ hands, ‘little’ is the operative word.
This lower standard of player is, of course, central to Pacific’s
profitability. This is especially so when combined with the good payout
structures and small size of many tournaments, particularly in the $8 to
$30 range. With the lack of non-hold’em and high-roll tables though,
profitability is largely restricted to good, low stakes hold’em players.
Stud or Omaha specialists will doubtless have some success at those few
cash tables offered in these games but with such little traffic will
likely be drawn to another site.
If you want to crush the softest competition on the internet,
you've certainly come to the right place. If you've got a bad
temper, you should stay out of here. People are known to play
like maniacs on Pacific Poker, but watch out for lucky players.
This particular poker network holds quite good Texas Hold'em
tables, however, you can only play at one table at a time. The
sign up bonus is incredibly hard to accumulate and the software
is not what you would expect. In other words, come here only for
the soft competition and not for the game experience.
Software (5)
Pacific Poker has been known for its utterly incomplete,
unstable and ugly-looking software. Things improved in 2005 with
a late update that added improvements to these setbacks.
Nowadays, the settings are a lot more customizable and you can
even choose the looks of the rug mat below the table. We find
the lobby to be quite functional, in fact, very simple and
logical. Hopefully stability will improve as well. All in all,
most of the old issues are solved by now, but it's still an
embarassment to a large poker room like Pacific Poker. They also
have a no-download version which is one of the few places that
currently offers Mac online poker.
Traffic (8)
Pacific Poker is definitely one of the fastest growing poker
rooms. During peak times, this room hosts 9,000 simultaneous
connections, a very good number given the fact that it was
founded in 2004. Like most other poker rooms, at least two
thirds of the traffic is concentrated to tournaments.
Tournaments (5)
Sit 'N' go tables and multi table tournaments are available in
Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud Hi/Lo.
The sit 'N' goes usually range from a buy-in of $2.5 to $100.
Loyalty Rewards (3)
A counter gathers information on your bets. Every time you bet
$10, you will receive a Pacific Poker point. Once you've reached
100 points, these will convert to $1, added to your account.
This loyalty bonus is of no value for micro players since
generating such numbers takes a very long time.
Promotions (3)
Only a few tournament promotions with thousands of dollars in
cash prizes pop up every now and then. Pacific Poker seems to
grow independently despite this miss.
Support (7)
Pacific Poker usually responds very fast whenever you have a
basic inquiry. Unfortunately, if you're having problems with
your Pacfic Poker account, you'll have to wait for quite some
time as this support line is separated from the basic support
line. There's also a telephone support, however, this support is
usually very busy. There is no live chat support available.
Deposit & Cashout Methods (9)
Deposits: credit Card, Neteller, FirePay, Citadel, PaySafeCard,
PrePaidATM, wire transfer, bank transfer and check.
Cash-outs: credit Card and Debit Cards, Neteller, FirePay,
PrePaidATM, wire transfer and bank transfer.
