Jeff
Fenech is a living legend and multi time Australian
boxing champion. Jeff has made the successful
transition across to professional poker and represents
888.com Poker. Media Man Australia has been following
and reporting on Fenech's career for many years
his venture into professional poker, backed by
888.com has been very successful.
Profile
PacificPoker
has the same backing as one of the largest online
casinos, 888.com, so you will find a lot of traffic
and a solid website. During peak hours, the number
for real money players were 1500-2100 for ring
games at peak hours and 2400-3500 for tournament
players at peak hours. These are solid numbers
with most of their traffic is concentrated in
everyone's favorite, Texas Holdem. So if that's
your game, PacificPoker.com is where you need
to be! They've got great software with good graphics
and useful controls, and I personally found the
site easy to maneuver, easy to join a table, and
easy to win!
Gameplay
Virtual poker has never been so exciting! There's
always a table going in your skill range and stake
requirements. Ring table limits range from micro-limit
tables $0.05/$0.10 to max limits $15/$30 in all
games (except for 1-on-1 ring games which have
only $3/$6). At present you can only play one
table at a time, but I think that this probably
drives up the action! Nothing sweeter than exclusivity.
But even if you have to wait,it's a short one.
Private tables don't exist but you can always
chat with other players to make friends!
Deposit/Withdrawal
Depositing money into your account could not be
easier. You can use VISA, MasterCard, NETeller,
Citadel,FirePay, Wire Transfer, bank transfer,
PaySafeCard, BBL HomePay, check deposit, and PrePaid
ATM. The site is absolutely secure and withdrawals
are simple with Credit card, Debit card, FirePay,
NETeller, PrePaid ATM, Wire transfer, or bank
drafts. I've heard that cash out can take a bit
of time, but the fastest method is by credit cards
or NETeller and they don't have any bogus fee
with these transactions.
Rake
Depending on what table you are sitting at, Pacific
Poker's rake can be average to quite fair.The
micro-level games are very decent and once you've
graduated to the bigger stakes tables you'll find
the rake even better!They have the industry standard
'No Flop - No Drop' rake policy, which basically
means that Pacific Poker will only rake the pot
when the flop is reached. For games games below
$1/$2 the house takes less then $1, the house
takes less then $1, for games up to $1/$2 we're
talking a max of $1, and for higher limits ($2/$4
and above) you're looking at the standard rake
structure.
Tournaments
They've got the traffic to support some really
good tournaments! The numbers are 2400-3500 for
real money players at peak hours, and this just
keeps growing. You've got sit & gos (a single
table of up to 10 players and play goes on until
only one winner remains), multi table (there are
many tables of players going and they are refined
down as players are knocked out until you have
the final winner), heads up (where two players
play against each other, then the winner gets
matched against the winner of another table until
the last man is standing), and finally Shark Attack
(a special Sit & Go where you start with $4000
in chips). So you can see there's a lot of hot
action going on for poker players on this site!
Card
Game Choices
As I mentioned, the main game here is Texas Hold'em
but you certainly have your choice of other great
games like Omaha Hi, Omaha H/L, 7 Card Stud, and
Seven Card Stud H/L. Let's say your new and want
to know what all the Hold em fuss is all about…
they've got a funny 'Toucan Tony' lesson tutorial
to teach YOU how to play… not too mention
you get to practice on a free online poker game.
And if you learn to play poker, chances are you'll
be hooked! On top of all this, they've recently
added No-limit and Pot-Limit cash games which
really brings out the wild ones to play. They
also 1 on 1 tables for your enjoyment. I think
you'll really dig the action here!
Soft
Competition
I think a lot of new players are attracted to
the site due to their free poker lesson tutorial,
their sheer volume of games going at all times,
and the fact that the software deals the hands
a bit on the slow side (giving the beginner more
time to think out strategy). Nothing wrong with
this! If you want to have an easy time of it,there's
plenty of newbies ready to give you their money.
Conversely, you've got some heavy players here
to partake of the no limit and pot limit games.
So I feel it's a pretty good mix, and if you like
to hear a good flop percentage… how about
averages in the 60's and 70's for full ring limit
Holdem games!!! Or how about in the 50's for no
limit hold em games? Sounds interesting to me…
Interface
I found the graphics to be quite good, with nice
comfy leather seats and end tables to put my cigar
& brandy on. You get the picture… nice
& classy. The controls are easy to use (with
advance move options so playing is relaxed), you
can view flop percentage and hands played per
hour info in the lobby, a hand history statitics
function that makes it to learn about your new
opponents and work on your own game, and a note
taking function. But the history viewer in the
lobby steals the show for usefullness. You can
see amazing playbacks with fastforward, pause,
and rewind. Very high tech!
Incentives
It's starts with the free poker download, the
25% free match on your first deposit bonus (up
to $100) and the Guidetopoker exclusive $50 free
on top, and just keeps getting better from there!
They boast the highest bonus giveaways of an poker
room on the net, and I think they mean it! There's
lots of free rolls and instant bonuses just for
being there, plus the 'Bonus Points' program which
you earn automatically for playing. Each and every
bet earns you these Bonus Points which can then
be converted to cash and added to your bankroll.
Pretty nice even though tournament play doesn't
earn you any. They also have an awesome 'refer
a friend' bonus of $50 for you, $25 for the friend!
It's a win-win situation.
