Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Pacific Poker Review

888.com’s Pacific Poker (http://www.pacificpoker.com) is a widely trusted name in online gaming and has been since its launch in 1997, offering members an innovative and user-friendly way to enjoy the game they love and even work towards playing the game on a professional level. Pacific Poker offers a competitive Welcome Package worth over $54,000, including a partially instant Welcome Bonus a rare find in the online poker industry. Also available are regular chances, often free, to win seats to some of the most well known offline poker events from around the world. Plus, the icing on the cake is Pacific Poker’s new loyalty program, Pacific Poker Rewards, where players are rewarded for every hand they play.

Welcome Bonus: Pacific Poker offers first depositors a Welcome Bonus of 100% up to $400. What’s great about it is 25% of that is instant, so no need to hang about before hitting those tables!

First depositor tournaments:
- Seven $500 First Depositors’ Freerolls – totaling $3,500
- $50K First Depositors’ Challenge – free entry for first depositors!
- $1,000 Depositors’ Freeroll

So that’s a share of up to $54,500 that first depositors have the chance of winning – a warm welcome indeed!

Regular tournaments:
- Daily Challenge Series: $145,000 Guaranteed and Player of the Month every week
- Double or Nothing Sit and Gos: half the table wins double their stakes with every hand
- Bad Beat progressive jackpots: lose with Four-of-a-kind 8s or better to win the jackpot
- Royal Flush progressive jackpots: get a Royal Flush to win the jackpot

The Daily Challenge Series offers members some variety to spice up their week, with a different tournament available to play at the same time every day. Tourneys vary from deep stack to turbo to freeze-out and more. There’s also the added incentive of being awarded Challenge Series Player of the Month! The progressive jackpots here are a great idea, adding a new twist to an old favourite.

Offline event qualifiers: Pacific Poker players have regular chances to win their way, often for free, to some pretty big offline poker tourneys such as the Aussie Millions and the World Series of Poker.

Rewards program: Members also get rewarded with every hand they play with Pacific Poker Rewards. Points earned can be exchanged for cash, merchandise or new statuses - a great incentive to play.

Forums: A nice feature of Pacific Poker is the forums, where players can chat about everything poker in a relaxed atmosphere. You’ll find players of all levels in the forums, meaning that there’s always fun to be had and something new to learn.

Software updates: Pacific Poker’s software is constantly being updated with new and useful features. Some recent improvements include:

- Money Transfer: send and receive money to/from friends
- Time bank: more time for bigger decisions
- Downloadable hand history: analyse your playing style and improve!

Pacific Poker seems to have a good solid offering of a generous and rare Welcome Bonus, decent first depositors goodies, some great opportunities to win seats to offline events and a rewarding loyalty program. That’s plenty of reasons in our book to at least check them out!


888.com’s Pacific Poker (http://www.pacificpoker.com) is a widely trusted name in online gaming and has been since its launch in 1997, offering members an innovative and user-friendly way to enjoy the game they love and even work towards playing the game on a professional level. Pacific Poker offers a competitive Welcome Package worth over $54,000, including a partially instant Welcome Bonus a rare find in the online poker industry. Also available are regular chances, often free, to win seats to some of the most well known offline poker events from around the world. Plus, the icing on the cake is Pacific Poker’s new loyalty program, Pacific Poker Rewards, where players are rewarded for every hand they play.

Welcome Bonus: Pacific Poker offers first depositors a Welcome Bonus of 100% up to $400. What’s great about it is 25% of that is instant, so no need to hang about before hitting those tables!

First depositor tournaments:

- Seven $500 First Depositors’ Freerolls – totaling $3,500

- $50K First Depositors’ Challenge – free entry for first depositors!

- $1,000 Depositors’ Freeroll



So that’s a share of up to $54,500 that first depositors have the chance of winning – a warm welcome indeed!

Regular tournaments:

- Daily Challenge Series: $145,000 Guaranteed and Player of the Month every week

- Double or Nothing Sit and Gos: half the table wins double their stakes with every hand

- Bad Beat progressive jackpots: lose with Four-of-a-kind 8s or better to win the jackpot

- Royal Flush progressive jackpots: get a Royal Flush to win the jackpot

The Daily Challenge Series offers members some variety to spice up their week, with a different tournament available to play at the same time every day. Tourneys vary from deep stack to turbo to freeze-out and more. There’s also the added incentive of being awarded Challenge Series Player of the Month! The progressive jackpots here are a great idea, adding a new twist to an old favourite.

Offline event qualifiers: Pacific Poker players have regular chances to win their way, often for free, to some pretty big offline poker tourneys such as the Aussie Millions and the World Series of Poker.

Rewards program: Members also get rewarded with every hand they play with Pacific Poker Rewards. Points earned can be exchanged for cash, merchandise or new statuses - a great incentive to play.

Forums: A nice feature of Pacific Poker is the forums, where players can chat about everything poker in a relaxed atmosphere. You’ll find players of all levels in the forums, meaning that there’s always fun to be had and something new to learn.

Software updates: Pacific Poker’s software is constantly being updated with new and useful features. Some recent improvements include:

- Money Transfer: send and receive money to/from friends

- Time bank: more time for bigger decisions

- Downloadable hand history: analyse your playing style and improve!

Pacific Poker seems to have a good solid offering of a generous and rare Welcome Bonus, decent first depositors goodies, some great opportunities to win seats to offline events and a rewarding loyalty program. That’s plenty of reasons in our book to at least check them out!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

888.com Pacific Poker Uplift

General Features
▪ Wide range of user options
▪ Best value tournaments online
▪ Low buy-ins for massive live poker seats
▪ Global travel packages for two

Redesigned Lobby
▪ New top menu
▪ Advanced table information
▪ Filter tables
▪ Preferred time display, including time zone selection: local time, PPT or GMT.
▪ Pacific Poker players can personalize their playing environment by table size, colors and room design, and choose from innovative and realistic 3D avatars.
▪ Tool tips at a click

Play Features▪ Embedded chat
▪ Password selection
▪ Improved notes
▪ Remember password
▪ Ratholing prevention
▪ Direct access to 888.com casino games from the table
Tournament Features
▪ Redesigned tournament window
▪ Players can find and move between tables with ease.
▪ Players can cascade and tile tables to keep track of multi-hand games.
▪ And Automatic rebuys and add-ons that enable players to bet more money while they play
▪ Rebuy allows players to restack in the beginning of the tournament.
▪ Add-ons allow players to restack in the middle of the tournament.
▪ Window resizing, tiling and cascading
▪ Non-Hold’em tournaments

No 1 Online Poker

Remember those Friday night poker games with your buddies? Are you a shark looking for a game anytime? 888.com, the most respected and trusted name in online gaming, proudly presents Pacific Poker, the premier online poker room. Experience the fun and excitement of playing your favorite poker games against other people from around the world, day or night. The games are crisp, realistic and easy to play.

At Pacific Poker you play just the way you like. New to poker? Our lower limit stakes or Practice Play tables are great places to pick up the game and chat with new friends while you play. If you are a serious player, try out one of our higher limit stake tables and challenge your skills where the "Big Boys" play. For a fast, intimate game, without any distractions, go head-to-head at one of our One-on-One Tables.

Pacific Poker's unlimited Practice Play version means you can play all the poker games you want for free. There are no forms to fill out, no obligations to make and no limits on your play - just loads of fun.

Multi Table Tournaments

Fancy pitting your skills against as many opponents as possible? Then a multi table tournament is for you!! The more players you compete against the larger the prize pool!
You can potentially play against hundreds of players spread across many tables. As players are knocked out the survivors are moved around the remaining tables until only one remains.

Sit and Go Tournaments

Why not try a Sit and Go tournament? Sit down at one table and play until only one player remains! The tournament starts when all the available seats are taken.
Pacific Poker loves to spoil their Real Money Members. Sign up today and receive a guaranteed 25% Welcome Bonus on your first deposit. Earn Comp Points while you play at Pacific Poker and convert your points into cash.

Want to Know More?

Pacific Poker's friendly Customer Support staff is second to none. Contact our representatives 24/7 for prompt, professional assistance.

Join us today at the premier online poker room and experience the fun and excitement of playing real poker online!


Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Double double bonus 10 play power poker

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If you are among the thousands who enjoyed our popular video poker and multi-hand selection of games, this one will definitely appeal to you as well, with its clean, no-nonsense design and smooth playing dynamics. And because Double Double Bonus 10 Play Power Poker comes on the revolutionary Viper software platform you'll find a extraordinary range of relevant player assists and autoplay to give your play a wicked analytical and strategic edge.

The game is played with 1 x 52 card deck per hand, with betting levels of 1 to 5 coins per hand and very high potential rewards on a wide range of betting options spanning 0.10 to 2.00. On a maximum bet of 100.00 the maximum payout of 80 000.00 is achievable, and a gamble feature can take that up another 3 200.00 of you make the right call.

If big money, high action video poker is your bag, visit us now and look this exciting new game offering over.

Joker Poker Level-Up Video Poker

Climb the levels, reach the top and cash in like a king in the latest multi-level poker play offering, Joker Poker Level-Up Video Poker! With 4 levels of increasing multiplier rewards and the opportunity to win 8x the original bet, there are many opportunities to score up to 5,000 coins! Secure a win on one level, progress to the next and line your pocket as you make your way to the top. A generous Gamble feature promises another 3,200 coins in winnings – bringing great profit to both the skilled and fortunate. It’s as simple as 1-2-3-4, move up and win!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Rules Of The Game

Betting structures

Hold 'em is normally played using small and big blind bets – forced bets by two players. Antes (forced contributions by all players) may be used in addition to blinds, particularly in later stages of tournament play. A dealer button is used to represent the player in the dealer position; the dealer button rotates clockwise after each hand, changing the position of the dealer and blinds. The small blind is posted by the player to the left of the dealer and is usually equal to half of the big blind. The big blind, posted by the player to the left of the small blind, is equal to the minimum bet. In tournament poker, the blind/ante structure periodically increases as the tournament progresses. (In some cases, the small blind is some other fraction of a small bet, e.g. $10 is a common small blind when the big blind is $15, and still other tables may use two equal blinds. The double-blind structure described above is a commonly used and more recent adoption.)

When only two players remain, special 'head-to-head' or 'heads up' rules are enforced and the blinds are posted differently. In this case, the person with the dealer button posts the small blind, while his/her opponent places the big blind. The dealer acts first before the flop. After the flop, the dealer acts last and continues to do so for the remainder of the hand.

The three most common variations of hold 'em are limit hold 'em, no-limit hold 'em and pot-limit hold 'em. Limit hold 'em has historically been the most popular form of hold 'em found in casino live action games in the United States.In limit hold 'em, bets and raises during the first two rounds of betting (pre-flop and flop) must be equal to the big blind; this amount is called the small bet. In the next two rounds of betting (turn and river), bets and raises must be equal to twice the big blind; this amount is called the big bet. No-limit hold 'em is the form most commonly found in televised tournament poker and is the game played in the main event of the World Series of Poker. In no-limit hold 'em, players may bet or raise any amount over the minimum raise up to all of the chips the player has at the table (called an all-in bet). The minimum raise is equal to the big blind. If someone wishes to re-raise, they must raise at least the amount of the previous raise. For example, if the big blind is $2 and there is a bet of $6 to a total of $8, a raise must be at least $6 more for a total of $14. If a raise or re-raise is all-in and does not equal the size of the previous raise, the initial raiser can not re-raise again. This only matters of course if there was a call before the re-raise. In pot-limit hold 'em, the maximum raise is the current size of the pot (including the amount needed to call).

Most casinos that offer hold 'em also allow the player to the left of the big blind to post an optional live straddle, usually double the amount of the big blind, which then acts as the big blind. No-limit games may also allow multiple re-straddles, in any amount that would be a legal raise.

Play of the hand

Play begins with each player being dealt two cards face down, with the player in the small blind receiving the first card and the player in the button seat receiving the last card dealt. (Like most poker games, the deck is a standard 52-card deck, no jokers.) These cards are the player's hole or pocket cards. These are the only cards each player will receive individually, and they will only (possibly) be revealed at the showdown, making Texas hold 'em a closed poker game.

The hand begins with a "pre-flop" betting round, beginning with the player to the left of the big blind (or the player to the left of the dealer, if no blinds are used) and continuing clockwise. A round of betting continues until every player has folded, put in all of their chips, or matched the amount put in by all other active players. See betting for a detailed account. Note that the blinds are considered "live" in the pre-flop betting round, meaning that they contribute to the amount that the blind player must contribute, and that, if all players call around to the player in the big blind position, that player may either check or raise.

After the pre-flop betting round, assuming there remain at least two players taking part in the hand, the dealer deals a flop, three face-up community cards. The flop is followed by a second betting round. This and all subsequent betting rounds begin with the player to the dealer's left and continue clockwise.

After the flop betting round ends, a single community card (called the turn or fourth street) is dealt, followed by a third betting round. A final single community card (called the river or fifth street) is then dealt, followed by a fourth betting round and the showdown, if necessary.

In all casinos, the dealer will burn a card before the flop, turn, and river. Because of this burn, players who are betting cannot see the back of the next community card to come, which might be marked.

The showdown

If a player bets and all other players fold, then the remaining player is awarded the pot and is not required to show his hole cards. If two or more players remain after the final betting round, a showdown occurs. On the showdown, each player plays his or her best cardspoker hand he can make from the seven cards comprising his two hole cards and the five community cards. A player may use both of his own two hole cards, only one, or none at all, to form his final five-card hand. If the five community cards form the player's best hand, then the player is said to be playing the board and can only hope to split the pot, since each other player can also use the same five cards to construct the same hand.

If the best hand is shared by more than one player, then the pot is split equally among them, with any extra chips going to the first players after the button in clockwise order. It is common for players to have closely-valued, but not identically ranked hands. Nevertheless, one must be careful in determining the best hand; if the hand involves fewer than five cards, (such as two pair or three of a kind), then kickers are used to settle ties (see the second example below). Note that the card's numerical rank is of sole importance; suit values are irrelevant in Hold'em.