The Ultimate Guide To 888poker
As an avid online poker player, I find great value in high-quality game websites that deliver a user-friendly, exciting experience. With real cash at stake, it’s crucial to me that I can trust a site before diving in full-force.
That’s the mindset I had when I decided to check out all of the hype surrounding 888poker. As a subsector of 888.com of Cassava Enterprises Ltd, I knew that this platform had quite the reputation.
However, you can never be sure until you check things out for yourself. Read on to learn more about 888poker and my experience browsing their site offerings.
888: A Brief History
888.com is an award-winning online gaming website. The original of its now many different game-specific sites, this brand hit the web in 1997 with one primary focus: trust and credibility.
An apparent hit, the website quickly grew to include many other gaming experiences, including 888casino, 888sport, 888ladies, and yes – 888poker.
888poker, specifically, launched in 2002. These days, it holds the title of being the second most popular online poker site in the world – second only to PartyPoker. With hundreds of online poker room offers, tons of tournaments, and a wide variety of games, even a meticulous game critic like myself couldn’t help but be impressed.
In fact, 888poker has become so insanely popular and renowned worldwide that it has become a World Series of Poker sponsor. And anyone who knows poker recognizes how big of a deal that is.
Coupled with its fame and popularity with its extremely high-security standards, and you’ve got the makings for an entertaining experience.
Signing Up
Let’s start with step one: the registration process.
Signing up for an 888poker account is super quick and painless. When you hop onto the poker site, you can’t miss the giant “Join” button. After clicking on that page, I basically only had to follow the prompts along the way. But the first thing you have to do that’s unique to playing 888poker is download the extension.
888poker Extension
With many online games, including 888casino, you can gamble through your computer browser. But with 888poker, you will need a downloadable application. What that means is you have an app that downloads to your computer and lets you access poker on 888casino.
What’s great is all I had to do was click “DOWNLOAD POKER NOW” and choose a place to save the file. Then, I clicked on “Run” in the window that popped up, and it installed in just a minute or two. Of course, if your internet connection is a bit slower, it could take a few minutes or more.
The 888poker software can seem inconvenient when you first get started with 888casino. Especially if you’re used to playing in your web browser, it can take some time to learn how to navigate.
But I like that it lets me play poker just by clicking on the app instead of typing in the website address. Plus, 888poker is always making updates, so you know they keep the software updated.
Registration For Online Poker
From here, you will fill out the client registration form of 888poker, which doesn’t take too long. After submitting that, you’ll receive an email that you must confirm. Finally, 888poker will need to identify your identity. This will be one of those steps that can seem a bit tedious, but you’ll be grateful for it in the long-run when no one can steal your 888poker account information or identity.
You should be able to quickly confirm your identity by scanning in a copy of a government-issued ID. Since 888poker is available around the world, the type of ID required may differ.
Deposits
In all my years of playing online games, specifically online poker as my personal favourite, I’ve certainly fallen prey to sketchy websites that never actually paid out. Luckily, I never had any information stolen, and I wasn’t brash enough to bet large sums of money back then.
But I’m well aware that there are players today and will be more new players in the future who will lose a lot of money to these greedy sites. Likewise, I also know some very cautious individuals are very wary of gambling online. That’s why I believe it’s critical to review 888poker withdrawal and deposit processes.
There are multiple ways to deposit and withdraw money with support from many common bank options, such as Western Union, for starters. You can also deposit using credit cards, checks, and e-wallet platforms.
However, the most widely-used method of deposit includes services like PayPal.
Withdrawals
Withdrawals work the same way, with the same options available. Players can also choose to have classic checks sent in the mail along with electronic checks.
888poker is really good about getting your money to you quickly. The whole withdrawal process happens within just a few business days. The only delay that could occur will be if there’s an issue identifying you. While this may seem like a hassle to you, this extra security step gives me more confidence in knowing 888 won’t just hand out my money to someone with ill intentions.
Finally, one of the things I love most about 888poker is that they don’t hound you to gamble away your winnings. I’ve played on many sites that give you a hard time when you decide you want to receive your money. They’ll ask you over and over again if you’re sure you want to stop playing and exit a poker room or if you want to try another game – double or nothing!
888 doesn’t play this game. When you request a withdrawal, you get right into that process – no annoying questions asked. This is something I highly appreciate.
Bonuses
If there’s one thing, 888poker is great at, it’s offering some excellent bonuses, special offers and poker room benefits. You can get a hold of several different bonuses just for signing up at 888 poker.
888poker Sign-Up Bonus
Yep, you read that right. Bonus will be granted to all new players of 888 poker on sign up. During the short time I’ve been using 888 poker, I’ve noticed that the sign-up bonuses change all the time, so there’s no telling precisely what you’ll get.
But if you log onto the 888 poker site at this moment, there will most certainly be a promotion for whatever their current sign-up bonus sits at. When I signed up, I received a $20 no-deposit bonus right from the start.
After doing a little bit of digging, I’ve discovered that 888poker has given an $88 no-deposit bonus for signing up in the past. Not that I’m bitter or anything, but that would have been a solid deal!
Along with the promotion running, new players will also receive $1 for verifying their email. You also get $7 in tournament tickets, which ends up equaling out to two tickets per day for the first week.
Everything else from your sign-up bonus is paid out in increments, and some of that money will be in the form of tournament tickets, while smaller amounts come in cash or real money.
888poker 100% Welcome Bonus
Bonuses change all the time, but right now, on 888poker, when you sign up and play, 888 will match your first deposit 100% up to $400. So, if you decide to make your first deposit of $50, the site will give you another $50. That’s $100 to play with.
The bonus will be granted to you, but you would only receive it all if you continue to play. Rather than getting your 100% match all in one shot on the first deposit, you’ll receive it in $10 increments that you earn as you play. Which, when you think about it, makes sense on the part of 888. Otherwise, players could simply sign up, get their match, and cash out.
Game Selection & Play
Users on 888poker have the option to choose from different popular poker variants:
In terms of gaming options, this is a pretty decent spread. The only downside to these options is that their player pool sizes limit the space for some of these games. You will likely have your best bets playing Hold’em, Omaha, and Stud.
Wondering about cash games and one poker room experience?
Playing games can look like betting real cash or not. It can also look like joining 888poker game rooms or setting up your own private rooms with friends. There are always plenty of 888poker tournaments to join and give gamers lots of options to choose from.
Gameplay can get even more impressive when you consider the option of using 888poker tables with webcams. If you’re looking for a more social experience, you might consider this type of play as well.
As far as limits go, you’re looking at a range of $.01/.02 to $500/$1,000, depending on the kind of game or tournament. Be sure to keep an eye out for the weekly $100,000 game and the monthly $200,000 pool.
888poker Rewards Program
Who doesn’t love a good rewards program? I know I don’t just speak for myself when I say that a solid rewards program entices an active online gambler. The more we can get out of a site, the more we love it.
The 888poker rewards program is no exception to this rule.
When you join up, you become a part of the 888poker Club. In this program, members get to earn points. The more points you gather, the high you advance in the levels.
Each level will earn you more prizes, including free play tickets, Gold tokens, and prize scratch cards. 888poker Gold tokens let you redeem even more and better rewards, going as far as to get you actual cash.
While you need to earn points to advance to a level, being a member of the 888poker club, you can never regress backwards. So, once you’re on a level, you stay there until you move up. That’s a pretty sweet deal.
Within the rewards program, you earn points by completing challenges posted by the 888poker team. These challenges are entirely random and can change up day to day, so you never know what will be available.
If you don’t mind the ever-changing nature of this unique program, then you will probably have a good time with the twists and turns. More structured individuals might not find the deal as lucrative because of how unpredictable it is. Personally, I think it’s a fun addition to online poker that keeps you on your toes.
Mobile Experience at 888 poker
The online poker experience translates really well onto the small screen, such as your smartphone or a tablet. You can log onto 888poker using any iOS or Android device thanks to the company’s incredibly downloadable and functional software.
What I noticed most about the mobile experience is that you don’t lose out. Anything that you can do on the computer, you can do on the 888poker mobile app. You can participate in sit-and-go events as well as live tournaments and private games right from your phone.
As with any application, the computer software will give you the full picture while the app more closely resembles a snapshot, but the mobile app is more than enough to get some poker going.
The only downside is that the only game style you can play in the app is Texas Hold’em. And, since you’re using a phone screen, you can only sit at one table at a time.
Online Support & Safety
The 888poker customer support page offers an extensive list of particular topics, making it super easy to find the answers to any questions you have. They split up topics based on promotions, deposits, login, games, account, registration, and more.
If you still can’t find what you’re looking for, there’s a handy search bar at the top. Just punch in a few keywords to get some additional information.
If you have a specific situation or question and wish to speak to someone, you can also fill out the customer service form. Someone from customer support will then contact your email directly to help you further.
Unfortunately, the 888poker does not offer 24/7 live chat or phone support, making getting fast answers difficult. Email requests have a reputation for getting lost among the clutter, and it often takes a few tries to get the support team’s attention.
Along with some moderately helpful support features comes strong security and trustworthy operations. As an online player, security is really important to me. After all, I’m not going to trust just any random website with my hard-earned money.
That being said, I can confidently say that you can, indeed, trust 888poker. Let’s start with their background. Anyone who’s ever played online poker has probably heard about some of the scandalous incidents various sites have gotten themselves into. Since coming onto the scene, 888poker as a whole has mostly stayed away from any significant trouble.
Part of this is likely due to their involvement with the London Stock Exchange, which, if you didn’t know, is the largest, most dominant stock exchange in the UK. Because they are a part of such a large network of shareholders, it’s almost definite that they’d want to stay on their best behaviour and keep their stock prices high.
The other part of this is simply the company’s reputation. They’ve stated several times across their site that safety and security are of the utmost importance to them, and they only want to promote a fun and entertaining environment.
I have personally seen this at work as the website will not even allow players to create multiple accounts. They have tons of technical professionals on their team, monitoring the site and keeping your personal information safe.
Awards
Award-winning sites tend to catch my attention. When a site has won a wide array of awards, it lets me know that it’s legitimate. It means that they’ve caught the eye of the players and industry professionals who set the standards for excellence.
Over the last decade, 888poker has won many online gambling awards, such as the EGR Best Poker Operator of the Year. It has also won awards for being socially responsible and for having the best product for gammers.
US Restrictions
888poker is available in multiple countries, including the United States. However, since playing online poker for money is only legal in four states (New Jersey, Nevada, Delaware, and Pennsylvania), only residents of these states can play for real money.
Technically, you can create an account from anywhere in the country. However, you must be within one of the legal states to start betting and receiving real cash.
When you log onto 888poker, a dialogue box will automatically pop up to redirect you to the New Jersey website. The NJ site is the only 888poker site licensed for legal use in the country. However, 888 also means WSOP.com, which currently operates in both Delaware and Nevada.
With more states pushing to legalize online poker gambling, 888 will likely continue to add states within the US to its repertoire. For now, we have to work with what we have, and citizens outside of these states can play free poker games.
Conclusion
888poker is an online gaming website that offers a little bit of something for everyone. If you’re a beginner just testing the waters of online gameplay and betting, 888poker is a safe and reliable site that rids you of your worries. It also offers a wide range of resources, such as poker rules and poker playing tips.
On the flip side, experienced online poker players like myself can enjoy that this site includes all of the basics that we need. We want to play poker with both strangers and friends, and we want to have smooth transactions with our money. 888poker delivers both.Sprinkled into these two sides of the spectrum comes extras like an intuitive mobile experience, a fun rewards program, and tempting bonuses. 888poker truly makes it easy to have a global poker experience from the comfort of your own home.
