3. Pacific Poker Reviews

[internet]

Pacific Poker has some of the easiest games to beat on the web with a lot of loose games. The only downside is the rather slow and cumbersome software compared to some of the larger sites. For my detailed review:
http://www.internettexasholdem.com/poker-site-reviews/reviews/pacific-poker-review/

They offer a 25% bonus up to $100.

[JoeStimpy]

I noticed Matthew urging everyone to contribute to the site review section so thought I would do my bit. I gave Pacific a vote of 7. I have the following comments about the site.

The Bad:
1) the software is the worst I’ve seen anywhere, it is slow and has few features (i.e. doesn’t have functionality for taking notes on other players, disconnects occur fairly often).
2) only ring games are available – no tournaments of any type.
3) doesn’t have much to offer in terms of bonuses.

The Good:
1) the games are super soft. I have recently started playing at Party and have noticed that the games at Party while still loose are harder to beat then the Pacific games. At Pacific I actually often look for a table with the lowest % seeing the flop as this can avoid the real atrocious bad beats.
2) when I first started playing I found the slow software to be desirable as I didn’t feel rushed in making my decisions, so perhaps for beginning players this might be a plus.
3) there are not nearly the number of players on Pacific as on Party (obviously) but I have never had a problem finding a good ring game with 8-10 players. There seem to pretty much always be a minimum of about 8 tables running at each of the lower limits (5-10 and below), and from what I can tell always around 5 tables at the higher limits.
4) Lots of options for low limit players, tables at 0.05-0.10, 0.25-0.50

Ultimately despite the software, I gave Pacific a 7 because of the super loose games. After playing for just a short time at Party I can really appreciate the benefit of playing on good software where you get more hands in per hour. Having said that, I have been splitting my time between Party and Pacific because I just can’t get enough of the loose Pacific games.

[ladybug]

PROS: low rakes, low-limit games, easy to beat games, good support

CONS: software, few features, no tournaments

I gave Pacific an 8. This is where I play most often now. I had been playing at Party also, but I was barely breaking even, and I got fed up with their high rakes (up to 10%). They are greedy scumbags.

Pacific has very low rakes, in the rage of 1-2% for most games, never more than 5%, so you barely notice it.

Yes, their software is rather basic, and buggy sometimes, but I'm used to it and it really doesn't bother me. You do get disconnected more often than at other sites, but most of the time it works okay. If you do have a problem, their support is very good. I had a problem when the software folded my handed after I hit "bet" (I had a flush, so I would not have folded), and they refunded the money (amount of the pot) to my account.

I like that that they have really low limit games, so you don't have to risk a lot of money. I'll move up as I increase my bankroll, but now I'm playing mostly $.25/$.50 games. I'll play anywhere from 1-5 hours an evening, and end up with a profit of 5 to 20 dollars a night.

My main reason for playing at Pacific is because the games are the easiest to beat, much easier than at Party. A lot of players there just don't play well, and they are easy to read. So I'll fold early when I'm beat, but stay in when my mediocre hand is nevertheless the strongest one.

Tina

[ladybug]

Another good thing about Pacific, that I forget to mention in my last post, is that you can deposit money by (personal) check by making a (toll free) phone call. Also, one call will have money from your Pacific account transferred to your bank account. There are no fees for this.

[dawg]

Yes, loose games at Pacific. But I lose my connection fairly frequently. A minor annoyance until today, when I was dealt pocket aces and got bumped off before the flop.

[Denise]

In the end, the loose games weren't worth the disconnects. I lost too many blinds and good hands to disconnecting, and I never disco on any other site.

The software is very clunky and will slow down anything else I'm doing on the computer at the time, although this isn't as bad with the downloaded version. The games are very, very slow.

I will go back and play if they upgrade their servers and software.

D

[LuckyLiam]

On your good days here you will win a packet – on your bad days some of the beats you take will make you want to jump under a bus. You will have more good days than bad days though facing these players, the type who will call you down with 77 in the hole when the board shows 9J2QK and you’ve got a pair of Qs.

Software is slow but this can be good if you are playing more than one table/site. Never been troubled with disconnections – just slowness. Overall – 8.

[KEVBO]

I've been playing Pacific a lot recently. Yes the software is cumbersome, but the games at $1/$2 and below are the softest I have found. If you don't mind playing tight and waiting on big pocket cards, you'll get paid off almost every time.
The $1/$2 tables usually have 65-70% see the flop and the pots are between $15 and $20

Does anyone know anything about the higher limits?

--KEVBO--

[mchilger]

The $15-$30 games is fantastic. Lots of loose action. Matthew

[Guest]

By far the weakest competition I've played.

Beginners could pick up some bad habits here observing some of the terrible play but an moderately experienced player could certainly look past the big swings.

Software is certainly poor.

If you can ignore the slowplay it's definitely a place to check out.

If they ever get tournaments there it will be a beautiful thing.

[Denise]

One thing they do have is outstanding Email customer service. I'm very impressed.

Right before my last post, I cashed out. I just clicked on the whole thing, figuring they'd deduct the bonus if I hadn't played it through. I received a somewhat stern Email that they'd cancelled my request and I should not attempt to cash out bonuses I have not earned.

I replied that I was sorry, I was just frustrated with the disconnects, and didn't know if I'd earned it or not.

I received an incredibly kind and lengthy response with how to tell if you've earned the bonus, and a personal note that they could see that I had been very inconvenienced by disconnections at least five times, and how to contact someone to find out why this is happening.

Now, I'm still leery of the disco's, because other sites do try to reconnect you when you have a momentary lapse, which does happen with my connection. Pacific just freezes and dumps you. But I'm really impressed with that second response. It took a couple of days, unlike PokerStars' 5 minute responses, but it was high quality customer service.

Now I'm going to stay with them, late-night only when my connection is best (stupid oversold broadbands), and they have kept a customer.

D

[Denise]

Oh, and they do have tourneys now.

[goodi]

You seem to speak a lot about the disconnection. I only played a few hours there but i got any so far. I am using their software. Do you use is denise? and other with disconnection problems?

[robrobrob]

I got disconnected a lot using their software.

rob

[Guest]

I just saw the new tournament thing, but I don't have that option on my window.

The tabs just aren't there.

Do I have to reinstall the software?