Pacific Poker Heads Up Review
Pacific Poker – Often known as 888.com – has a reputation for fast and loose
action. One of the biggest poker rooms before pulling out of the US Market,
Pacific are quickly rebuilding their player base and now boast over 13000
players at peak times. The software is fast, attractive and easy to use with
filters to find the right tables throughout the site. Pacific Poker also offer
many bonuses and incentives to new and existing players alike, including a
25% up to
$100 sign-up bonus.
Heads Up Poker Games Available.
The No-Limit Texas Holdem Heads-Up Poker games are Sit and Go based. The
buy-ins for the regular games starting at just $1+10c and rising to $400+$20 for
the high rollers. The most popular tables are at the lower stakes up to $10+50c
and $20+$1. Texas Holdem heads-up players may also be interested in the ‘Triple
Up’ tables – these unique games are 3 handed with buy-ins from 50c+15c up to
$100+$6.
Other poker games are not offered in heads-up format at Pacific Poker – however
satellites to special tournaments are available. This includes 25c heads-up
satellite qualifiers to the $75K micro-satellite tournament.
Other Games Available
As you would expect with an established name there area full range of cash games, tournaments and sit and goes available at Pacific Poker. The cash games in particular have a reputation for being fast, loose and easy to beat. Players with all bankrolls are catered for with blinds starting at just 10c / 5c and going up to $10 / $20. In addition to No-Limit Holdem there are Fixed Limit games available. Omaha (High), Omaha (Hi-Lo) and 7 Card Stud (both High and Hi-Lo) are also available. Tournaments are available 24/7 and feature many freerolls for regular players.
Player Traffic
With a healthy 13,000 players (and growing!) at peak times there will usually be a heads-up poker table available for you. In the European evenings and at weekends the peak traffic means that your will rarely wait more than a few minutes for an opponent at a wide range of buy-in levels.
Poker Software
The main feature of the Pacific Poker software interface is the filters which are available from the main lobby. These take the form of 4 drop-down menus allowing you to sort the tables by stakes, betting structure, size and availability. Heads-up tables are found using the ‘Tournaments’ tab, clicking ‘Sit and Go’ then filtering the tables for 2-players – a full list will then be displayed. The table graphics are good – with a 3-d perspective taken over the shoulder of your avatar. The layout is clear and the movement fast and smooth.
Bonuses and Promotions
In addition to the 25% up to $100 first time deposit bonus, Pacific Poker offers regular incentives to their players. Included is a $3.5K depositors freeroll, bad-beat and royal-flush jackpot prizes and regular satellite qualifiers available with very small buy-ins. There are also leader-boards with cash payouts and the opportunity to change ‘Comp Points’ (the points you accumulate while playing) into bonus cash. As if this were not already enough Pacific Poker host regular ‘special’ bonuses and promotions – for example over national holiday weekends.