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March 12th, 2010 |
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March 12th, 2010 |
Poker Room Review:
Pacific Poker is one of a kind. What you get here can hardly be compared with any other poker room.
Pacific Poker is the sister site of Casino-on-Net which is one of the world's most prominent casinos. This means Pacific Poker is a serious player and that a lot of gamblers with less poker experience are attracted to the room. This translates into a few things whereof the most important interpretation is a huge amount of loose, juicy games. With the experience that Pacific Poker has, good support is assured. With the gambling experience they have, nice promotions are certain.
Pacific Poker is recommended to everybody, but for different reasons. If you are new to the game then the soft games at a smother pace at a trustworthy and generous poker room is ideal. If you are more experienced then Pacific Poker should be a one of a kind complement room. By signing up to Pacific Poker you get good juicy action from a big player in the poker industry.
The games offered are the big five: Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Ohama Hi/Lo, Seven-Card Stud, and Seven-Card Stud Hi/Lo. The betting limits range between the micro limits of $0.05/$0.10 up to $15/$30. As of February 2005 PL and NL games were added for Texas Hold'em. This resulted in good action and a site for more players. Nevertheless the traffic is very concentrated to the Hold’em tables where fixed limit is still the favorite as opposed to most other sites.
The tournament traffic started to pick up after the cash game traffic but is today on par with other poker rooms of the same magnitude. The players in the tournament are no more sophisticated than in the cash games. Satellites to major events and guaranteed tournaments are both good value events. The biggest regular tournament is the $50,000 Sunday Guaranteed. Pacific Poker also broadens the tournament experience by offering variations on both ends of the scale. From ‘Fast’ tournaments where the levels rise every 5 minutes and the decision time is 15 seconds up to the ‘Nitro Ultra’ tournaments where the same numbers are 2 minutes and 7 seconds, you can also play ‘Single Handed’ where the level goes up after each hand. On the other end ‘Super Deep Stacks’ tournaments runs at a regular pace but each player starts with $5,000 in chips.
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The software is not Pacific Poker greatest feature. It used to be that Pacific Poker had the worst software but some endured it because it had the loosest action online. Today that has changed so that a few more tolerate a well below average software because it has the loosest action online.
Pacific Poker’s software has undergone a major make over, although it didn’t change the graphics much and the graphics are only so and so. The major upgrade was that Pacific Poker finally permits play at multiple tables. Up to three cash game tables and two tournaments can be simultaneously.
The most important feature is there: it is reliable. This being said, players are sporadically disconnected from the lobby or a game more often at this poker room that in others. With the updates Pacific Poker’s software still doesn’t deserve to be called stable but it should be referred to with the slightly weaker word: reliable. What could be seen as bad software but has become a hallmark is that the cards are dealt slowly. Some are irritated by this slower pace while others enjoy the feeling and the time it gives to reflect on the situation. The lobby has viewed flop percentage and hands per hour statistics. One previously missed feature, namely note-taking, is now available. Hand histories can be replayed in a refreshing arrangement. So they are working on their software and a no-download version (which doesn’t work with Virtual PC) is already in place. The interface works well for beginners because of the slow tempo and the simple layout.
Table (click to enlarge)
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Lobby (click to enlarge)
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That the software is devoted to make new players feel at home attributes to a room full of fish. The fish is available further up in the levels too as most players comes from the casino. No Limit Hold’em still seems to be a new game to most players at the site; they are playing it and shoving in chips but not with much accuracy. The Fixed Limit Hold’em games are very weak too. A quick cruise in the lobby almost inevitably shows a couple of full ring games with viewed flop percentages in the 50-ies or 60-ies also at the higher limits. Enough said, the soft competition is Pacific Poker’s greatest feature.
The promotions at Pacific Poker give away the origin from a broader gaming industry. The signup bonus is credited to your account straight away; you do not have to fulfill any requirements before you get to use the money. Of course you only get to use the money, risking it at the tables. You are not allowed to withdraw until certain criterions are met. These criterions are slightly different than industry norm. For every bonus dollar you will need to wager twenty in raked pots. For the full $100 bonus, you will need to wager $2000. That roughly translates to 2 – 20 raked hands per bonus dollar, all depending on the limits you play and how aggressive you are. Entries in tournaments also count; a $10 + $1 tournament registers $11 as wagered. All in all the bonus ranges between difficult to easy to clear.
Pacific Poker runs a wide promotion scheme that stretches further than the standard signup bonus. Most noteworthy are comp points that can be converted to cash. Campaigns or rallies with great payouts in return for depositing a set amount and playing a certain number of hands during the promotion day are great for the attentive player. Pacific Poker has even been known to credit players’ accounts with $20, just like that. This last promotion scheme seems to ebb out now but it does point to the fact that Pacific Poker takes promotions seriously. The promotions are usually elaborate. While there are bad beat and royal flush jackpots, regular reload bonuses have not been offered since 2004. At the moment Pacific Poker are running some promos to celebrate the success of their WSOP final table finishers Paul Wasicka and Rhett Butler.
The rake policy at Pacific Poker straddles the average of the industry norm. At micro-levels it is really good. At low limits it is better than average. At high stakes it is worse than average. On the lower levels the intervals at which rake is taken are tight but at the same time the percentage taken is low in the beginning. The cap, the maximum rake taken out of the pot, is also low. At the $0.25/$0.50 and $1/$2 limits the cap is $0.30 and the odd number $1.25 respectively. What makes the rake at higher limits worse than average is connected to the cap. The maximum cap is reached already at $3/$6 fixed limit games. In pot-limit and no-limit games the highest cap is enforced from the lowest limits although this only has a marginal effect on lower limits. The highest cap is also high at $4 as opposed to the industry norm of $3. In other respects the rake follows the standard including the “No flop, No drop” policy.
The financial security is convincing with many spotless years of business and a well established mother company. At first glance the customer support also deserves the highest score. There is both phone and live chat support to complement the e-mails. In fact Pacific Poker is best in the class by providing toll free numbers from most countries. A shortcoming is the slow response time for rather simple questions. The speed, or lack thereof, is the weakness also in the cashier’s section. There are no fees, the transactions are secure and the options are OK. It is the focus on security which makes the cash out speed bad. Withdrawals are paused for verifications. The process to e-wallets like Neteller is smoother but still below average. Larger withdrawals require documents verifying your identification.
