Pacific is probably one of if not the loosest poker room on the net. Due mainly to it's heavy promotion on TV and to casino players from its sister site 888.com Casino on the Net. The % to the flop rates hit as high as 80% up to middle limits. The old software was average at best but since the launch of new sofware the graphics are actually pretty good and a vast improvement on the previous version. The 888.com brand is a very well known in the UK as the site sponsors alot of sports events like soccer which brings in lots of new players. This makes 888.com a good choice for new players to learn and for experienced players to take advantage of the weaker players. Your not playing poker here for the graphics - Playing at Pacific poker is about the massive amounts of fish and weak terrible players. If your looking for easy money then you found it.

This first time deposit bonus is nicer than bonuses at many other sites because some of the money is released to the account immediately upon depositing. 25% up to $100 is immediately placed in the account. The remaining 75% up to $300 is a pending bonus.

To receive this bonus, a player has to collect 14 comp points for every $1 in bonus money. This pending bonus expires 30 days after the first deposit. It should also be noted that the comp points required to release the pending bonus are calculated across the entire bonus. So while $100 of a $400 bonus will be released immediately, one will need to earn comp points on $400, not $300, before the pending $300 is released to the account. So for example, if one takes advantage of the full bonus offerings, they will need to earn 5,600 comp points (14 x $400) within 30 days of their deposit in order to receive the pending $300. At mid- to high-stakes, earning this many comp points shouldn't be too hard. However, small stakes players might have a tough time accomplishing such a feat within 30 days.

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.

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. Their software is available in both Java and downloadable form. If you use a Mac, this is one of the few poker rooms you can play without getting a program like Virtual PC.

The software interface itself is decent. It used to be fairly poor, but Pacific has improved it a lot lately. Now 3-D avatars enhance the visual appeal of the gameplay. The lobby was recently upgraded to feature an improved game filter and easier access to account balance information. The table functions are easy to learn and well oriented on the table, making playing a pleasure. The table is a nice green, with interchangeable graphic features.

The graphics at Pacific Poker were vastly improved through the latest upgrade. The software now comes with customization, 3-D avatars, different backgrounds, different card deck designs and a completely new and improved look and feel.

Game selection at Pacific is reasonably good, although not as thorough in covering all angles as some other sites. Pacific Poker offers all variations of Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo, Seven-Card Stud and Seven-Card Stud Hi-Lo. The heavy concentration on the Hold'em tables makes it an especially good site for Hold'em players. The games vary between No-Limit, Pot-Limit and Fixed-Limit. Full-table games, short-handed and heads-up tables are all available.

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.

Pacific Poker is definitely one of the fastest growing poker rooms. During peak times, this room hosts 11,000 simultaneous connections. Like most other poker rooms, at least two thirds of the traffic is concentrated to tournaments.

One aspect of play on Pacific Poker which will always be attractive and is surely a major reason for its continuing popularity is its lack of quality opponents. Soft competition is the main reason to play at Pacific Poker. The players are fishier here than at most sites. There are a lot of calling stations and some maniacs exist. Of course, any player aiming to use online poker as a way of improving and honing their poker skills will not be drawn to the site for this reason, whilst players who hope to reap big rewards for big investments will also be somewhat bypassed due to the lack of high-roll tables.

For solid players though, looking to make a little extra coin at some cheap tables, look no further. The various weaknesses of the site, particularly the restrictions on non-hold’em games, generally keeps the more serious player away, while the advantages for low-limit players invites many a novice. That is not to say, though, that these players restrict themselves to the cheapest of games, rather they are spread anywhere up to $30 buy-ins and often beyond. In almost every game you will find players behaving strangely, calling down to the river with Ace-high, or raising $20 into $400 pots, and once the paid places come into range even the shortest stack will suddenly become ridiculously tight until blinded out. Inevitably though, there will be other good players with precisely the same idea in mind as you, so at least some degree of caution is advised.

Pacific Poker is a small stakes tournament player's paradise. The tournaments are soft, frequent, and cheap. Because this site offers so few large buy-in tournaments, there are very few strong players on this network mopping up the money. Lately there have been consistent overlays in their regularly scheduled tournaments with guaranteed prize pools.

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.

Each Sunday the site holds a $88+$8 buy-in $80,000 guaranteed event. The most popular sit-n-gos on this site are played 3-6 handed, as opposed to 9-10 like most other sites.

Pacific Poker runs a decent amount of freerolls, the majority of which are well visited and boast extremely loose play. The events are often large multi-table tournaments and are usually played in Limit or No-Limit Texas Hold'em. The freerolls typically award relatively small prize pools but are run often. Freerolls with larger prize pools are also hosted from time to time as part of bigger promotions or as invitational tournaments. Pacific Poker offers special First Depositors Freerolls daily - restricted to players making their first deposit - that award prizes of $500-$1,000.

Deposit Options: VISA, MasterCard, NETeller, MoneyBooker, Citadel, FirePay, Wire Transfer, InstaDebit, ClickandBuy, ACTeCASH, UKash, bank transfer, PaysafeCard. Minimum deposit is $30.

Withdrawal Options: NETeller, MoneyBookers, wire transfer (direct bank account transfer) and bank draft (cashier's check). Withdrawals are held for three days before processing.

The mother company 888 is a very well respected and solid player in the gaming industry, and there have been no erroneous financial transactions recorded. Pacific Poker is one of the oldest poker operators online and boasts a reliable and good track record.

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.