1000 USDWelcome Bonus
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888Poker
1997
10-30 minutes
International players may be allowed depending on the country.
A Closer Look at 888poker
888poker has been around for almost twenty-six years at this point. It goes without saying that you don’t last that long in this industry unless you’re doing something right. If you play poker online and haven’t played with 888poker, you’re definitely missing out. They are a fully licensed and regulated casino that you can trust with your hard-earned money. Their games are provably fair, so you know you’re not getting cheated when the cards get dealt.
Besides being backed by different gambling regulatory agencies like the Government of Gibraltar and GAMCare, they also have a few different professional players representing their site. If you follow professional poker, you probably have seen their brand ambassadors wearing their logo at different tournaments and poker events. They have professionals like PLO master Vivian Saliba, poker anchor and player Kara Scott, and the world-renowned Alexandre “Cavalito” Mantovani as their current brand ambassadors.
888poker has tried to make itself the premier site for poker players, and they have done a good job at competing with the other major sites out there. They still maintain a healthy player base thanks to their tournaments and different poker games available on their site. While there are a few things we wish they would change, overall, we were pretty happy with what they have. Let’s take a deeper look at what exactly 888poker offers players and what made us so happy.
Note: It should also be mentioned that 888poker is part of a larger casino web that includes 888sport and 888casino. Some promotional aspects of their poker site bleed over into the other two sites in an effort to encourage players to play across the whole network. This does not hurt their poker site or poker players in any way; in fact, it only helps them.
Poker Games and Tournaments
Like most poker sites, 888poker has a few different types of poker available for players to play. While they have your standard Texas Hold’em and tournaments, they also have a few different modes you may or may not find on other sites. Beyond that, they offer tournaments with large prizes that drag in thousands of players daily. Here’s a quick breakdown of everything they offer.
Blast Poker
Blast is 888poker’s take on the popular sit & go format you may already be familiar with. You’re essentially put in a lobby with several other players and compete for a randomly drawn prize that can be up to 10,000x your buy-in.
If you want to turn a $0.10 buy-in into $1,000 or a $100 buy-in into $1,000,000, then this is the game mode for you. These games go quickly, so you can play multiple tables at once and easily play hundreds of tables an hour. Some players prefer this format over a tournament since you can easily win big but don’t have to sit through an eight-hour tourney.
Texas Hold’em
Texas Hold’em, the Cadillac of poker. This is the game many of us started with and the only game many of us play. You get two cards and have to make the best possible hand using the community cards in the center. Put your chips in the center and hope your hand beats your opponents’.
888poker offers no-limit and fixed-limit Texas Hold’em. Which one you should play depends on your style, but most prefer no-limit due to the high swings and potential to win big. There are six and nine-player tables with various stakes all the way from micro-stakes ($0.01/$0.02) up to $1/$2. We would’ve liked to see a little more activity at the tables, but we could’ve caught 888poker at a weird time. On a Friday night, the tables are probably bursting with players– and fish!
Snap Poker
If you’ve played poker, you may know this format as Blitz. Snap Poker is a fast form of poker where you’re moved to a new table as soon as you fold your hand. No more waiting to watch other people play a hand. Instead, just get right to the action.
This creates a weird dynamic where players tend only to play made hands, but you do occasionally catch people trying to bluff you with absolutely nothing. There’s a higher potential here to make money since you play more hands an hour, but you are definitely at risk of getting cleaned out since showdown is often between monster hands.
888poker had micro-stakes Snap tables ($0.01/$0.02) all the way up to high roller Snap tables ($5/$10). Since it’s not as popular a format, there weren’t too many people playing, and some stakes didn’t have any players at all. That said, there were a healthy amount of people playing the micro-stakes Snap tables and the $1/$2 Snap tables.
Tournaments
Poker players either grind out live tables or tournaments, and boy, were there people grinding out tournaments at 888poker. It seemed that there were definitely more people registered for tournaments than playing live tables on this site, which isn’t all that uncommon and shows that there’s a healthy player base.
All of the tournaments were in the no-limit Hold’em format and varied in seat sizes and speed. We saw three-seat tournaments all the way up to ten-seat tournaments. Buy-ins also varied from being completely free to thousands of dollars with more in prizes. On average, it seemed people were registered mostly for the free games and the $0.01-$20 tournaments.
We really wish they offered Omaha or Short Deck tourneys. They did have knock-out tournaments where your opponents have bounties on their heads. Stacking them and knocking them out of the tournament gives you additional winnings. That said, if you like your standard no-limit Texas Hold’em, you’ll have a blast playing these tables.
Freerolls
As we mentioned in the previous section, 888poker is one of the few sites that offer freeroll tournaments where players can enter at no cost and compete for real money. This is a great way to build your bankroll or even practice your tournament skills without paying.
Some freeroll tournaments were locked behind level requirements, but there were still a ton of tournaments that were open to most players. There are quite a few every day, so if you have some free time and want to play poker without throwing money at better players, freeroll tournaments are for you. After playing enough freeroll, you’ll have built your skills and can start taking other people’s money.
Play Money Poker
888poker is nice enough to offer both real money and play money poker. Play money poker is the exact same as real money poker, except you don’t have to worry about spending money and can try and hone your skills using the virtual poker chips they give you.
Every game mode you can use real money with is available with play money too. However, 888poker’s play money tables are almost dead. There were a handful of people playing various tables when we were checking it out, but not enough to play against a healthy variety of players. We saw a few tables with a handful of people, nobody was registered for the few tournaments available, and Snap poker had 8 people at a single table.
Bonuses and Promotions
The bonuses and promotions at 888poker could be a little bit better. The welcome bonus is fairly decent, with a 100% bonus up to $1,000, but there’s no rakeback besides early-bird tournament buy-ins, and there isn’t anything to really write home about outside of the welcome bonus. That said, there are a few things you can take advantage of via their referral and VIP program.
| Bonus / Promo | Bonus / Promo Details |
|---|---|
| Welcome Bonus | New members can get a 100% bonus, up to $1000, on their first deposit at 888poker. Use the code WELCOME100 and deposit $10 or more. |
| Free Spins | After making your first deposit, you’ll be able to get prizes and bonuses via 888poker’s Winner Spinner. Simply spin the wheel daily, once on PC and once on mobile, for different prizes. |
| Gift Drops | Every ten seconds, a random poker table is selected, and every player at that table will receive a prize of up to $1,000. |
| Blast Leaderboard Prizes | Rack up points in Blast every day by playing and win a share of a $6,000 prize based on your rank on the leaderboard. |
| Hand of the Day | Win a hand using one of the hands of the day listed here and get a cash prize of up to $1,000 |
| Early Bird Rakeback | If you register for a tournament before it starts, you’ll receive a 50% rakeback on your buy-in come the following Monday. Weekly rakeback is limited to $50. |
Referral Program
888poker has a straightforward referral program. Simply invite your friends, and if they deposit funds and try out 888poker, you’ll receive a $15 bonus. Your friend will get a $20 free no-deposit bonus as well as the welcome bonus and a ticket to 888poker’s $1,200 Kickoff Tournament.
Remember that you cannot share your link with other members of your household, and your link may not be used by more than one member of another household. Breaking these rules may forfeit your bonuses or your account. Check out the terms and conditions of their referral program for full details.
VIP Program
888poker’s VIP program is slightly different from other sites. Instead of getting points for playing, you’ll get points for completing challenges that you’ve picked. Challenges can be for the poker tables or their other sites in the 888 network: 888casino and 888sport. You’ll even get points for referring friends.
These points help you level up your account. Upon leveling up, you’ll get golden tokens that can be redeemed for different things like free bets, tournament tickets, and more. If you don’t play on 888casino or 888sports, you can still advance in levels, you’ll just be at a slight disadvantage.
Deposits
There are three methods to deposit funds at 888poker: credit/debit cards, eWallet, and bank transfers. We would have liked to see crypto included here, especially because most online poker sites accept it, but being able to deposit funds from any bank account is nice. You can also use your Visa or Mastercard to deposit funds if you’d rather not make a wire transfer.
| Payment Method | Options Available |
|---|---|
| Credit/Debit Card | Visa, MasterCard |
| eWallet | Neteller, AstroPay |
| Bank Transfer | Any bank |
Withdrawals
If the pickings were slim for deposits, it’s even slimmer for withdrawals. The only option available for us was wire transfers, luckily to any bank account. Again, crypto would have been nice to have– or really any other method.
That is the one downside of having a fully-fledged and regulated online poker site, but safety and security do have to come at a cost. We can only assume that as a requirement from one of their regulatory agencies or out of their own security, they are unable to release funds a different way.
Customer Support
Customer support at first is handled by a robot, but you can type “Live Agent” at any point to get connected with an actual person. The robot mainly has a tree of questions that are commonly asked. Like all live chats, we connected to an agent to test their knowledge and responsiveness and found that it could be better.
We were told that our wait was about a minute, but we ended up having to wait much longer. There were only three people ahead of us in the queue, yet it took about 5-10 minutes to connect with a live agent. With that said, once connected, they were very helpful and answered all of our questions extremely quickly.
Licensing and Security
If you’re worried about regulations and fairness, 888poker is easily one of the most reliable online casinos out there. Not only are they regulated and checked by numerous government agencies, but the company is also traded on the London Stock Exchange. You can’t exactly get that far without some serious oversight from regulatory agencies.
If you’re playing on a site that doesn’t have a verifiable certificate from a regulatory agency, it might be time to jump ship and try out one that does. Unlike other sites, 888poker’s certificates and licenses are all clickable and verifiable. It’s definitely easier to trust a site with your money when you can easily verify their credentials and when they’re upfront with their licensing.
How to Make an Account at 888poker
Remember, you must be 18 years or older to gamble at 888poker, and you must reside in a country where it is legal to do so. To make an account at 888poker, simply click the join now button at the top right of the screen and enter the following information as it asks for it:
- Full name
- Date of Birth
- Your country of residence
- Username
- Password
- Security Question
- Address
- Valid mobile number
Note: If you wish to play on 888casino or 888sport, you’ll have to log in first at 888poker and navigate to these sites. Your account is cross-compatible across the 888 network, but you may encounter problems if you try to log in using your 888poker account at one of the sister sites.
How to Download 888poker Mobile Apps
888poker has apps for both iOS and Android devices. The easiest way to download either app is to navigate to the Google Play Store or the App Store and search for 888poker. You’ll find the official 888poker mobile app on either store.
Wrap-Up
Overall, 888poker is a decent place to play Texas Hold’em. While they could do better in the bonuses department, they offer a good number of tournaments and game types. The knowledge that you’re betting with a secure, regulated site also can’t be beaten. So many sites feature fake PAGCOR licenses that finding a site with an actual certificate is like finding a gem in the rough. While we wish they had more withdrawal options available, like crypto, it’s probably a result of requirements pushed on them by one of their regulatory agencies. All-in-all. We definitely feel comfortable recommending 888poker after our in-depth review of their site and everything they have to offer.
