NO PROMO CODE REQUIRED
Bill Grinstead
Founded in 1997, 888 is a powerhouse in both the online gaming and online poker industries. The Gibraltar-based company launched its original international poker site in 2002 under the name Pacific Poker (now 888poker), and currently boasts one of the biggest poker networks in the world outside of the U.S.
When New Jersey legalized online poker, the site quickly partnered with Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE) to open up a legal, intrastate cardroom inside the Garden State. Additionally, the company provides the software used by its NJ sister site, WSOP, along with another WSOP-branded site in Nevada. In 2014, the governors of Nevada and Delaware signed an agreement which allows 888-networked sites to share player pools across NJ, NV and DE making the 888 interstate network a one of a kind in the US market.
Create an 888poker account using the links on this page and get $20 absolutely free. When you make your first real-money deposit, you’ll receive an additional bonus of 100% of the deposit amount, up to $1,500.
| 888 Poker Bonus Code (NJ) | None needed — click here |
| No Deposit Bonus | $20 Free |
| Deposit Bonus | 100% up to $1,500 |
| Bonus Valid | November 2024 |
| Atlantic City Partner | Caesars Interactive |
| Online Since | 2013 |
When you register a new account at 888poker you’ll receive $20 free – $4 cash and $6 in tournament entry tickets, as well as an additional $10 for play at 888 Casino. 888’s deposit bonus is released in increments, with $10 released each time you collect 100 Bonus Points.
If you have played on 888 in recent memory, you have already seen all that the software has to offer. It hasn’t had any significant updates in years, but that is not necessarily a bad thing.
888’s software is known for being stable, and save for the occasional hiccup (e.g. inserting players into the small blind in tournaments when arriving at a table), it functions rather smoothly.
The Lobby has “Quick Seat” and “My Favorites” tabs which are used to thrust you into the action in just a few seconds. At the table, the visuals and sounds are slightly above mediocre, but still a step up from party/Borgata’s archaic offering. All the usual customizable options you’d expect from an online poker giant are there for you as well.
888 NJ offers your standard assortment of No Limit, Fixed Limit, and Pot-Limit games. But while Hold’em, Omaha, and Stud variants are all available, only the Hold’em and occasionally PLO tables see regular traffic.
888 is known to be beginner friendly and caters to the micro/low stakes player. Nightly tournaments include the $15 rebuy $5k, and the $100 buy-in High Roller $2,000. Over the weekend, the Weekend Warrior series comes to town, consisting of 10 MTTs with guarantees ranging from $4k to $40k.
888’s vividly colored virtual lobby displays the plethora of options available throughout, with each color representing a separate variation of poker waiting to be played. Turbo, deep stacks, step satellites, and freeroll options all make 888 the champion of the budget-friendly player.
The site also supports the BLAST format — a 4-man lottery SNG where prize pools can reach as high as 10,000x a player’s entry fee.
In an effort to bring bigger players to the table, 888 offers $100,000 in guaranteed tournaments every weekend.
888 offers nightly $10k and $5k guarantees that, in the past, have occasionally had slight overlays, but in recent times, have had no trouble covering the guarantee.
The site’s weekly flagship tournament, the Sunday Ultimate Warrior $40,000 Guarantee, is the highlight of the weekend, and with combined player pools, often crushes the guarantee.
The micro and low-stakes action is hot and heavy at 888 cash-game tables. The site consistently boasts the highest number of players at the $.25/$.50 stake and lower, while PokerStars and Borgata/Party/playMGM receive the lion share of the higher limit traffic.
Overall, 888’s traffic is comparable to the Borgata network, averaging right around 80 cash game players over a seven-day period. PokerStars NJ, in comparison, averages around 100.
888, like all online poker rooms, makes the majority of its profit by taking rake from real-money pots at cash-game tables. For every 18 cents put into the pot, one cent is set aside for rake. This comes out to a rate of 5.56%, which is the same as Borgata, but slightly higher than the 5% charged at PokerStars. The rake cap, or limit on the amount of rake taken out of each pot, is for the most part better than Borgata (especially at higher limit games) and practically identical to that of Pokerstars.
The promotions found at 888 are meager in comparison to its New Jersey competitors. The site offers average rakeback and modest freeroll tournaments in its 888rewards program with eligibility determined by status.
Before we get into those freerolls, let’s first make sense of the Status Points and rakeback offered. You begin your 888poker journey at the Blue level, and as you play and generate more rake, you automatically climb the status tiers. But while the next step on the ladder, the Iron tier, is just a short 50 points away, reaching the top levels requires some serious dedication.
Comparing the 888rewards Platinum level with its competitors, we can quickly see that the 888 program was not designed with the high-volume grinder in mind.
Here’s a look at the 888 freeroll awards:
A nice gesture (especially for lower status value hunters), but probably not motivating anyone to put in extra volume.
A welcome addition to the above list, not found elsewhere in New Jersey, is the return of PayPal to the US poker landscape. A longtime favorite payment processor of online poker players, the familiarity of having PayPal as an option may help soothe some players’ apprehension about depositing through bank transfers.
Withdrawals are quick and painless. If you had previously used them to make your deposit as you can withdraw via:
Support is usually quick to help with any cashier issues which may arise.
The bar is set low in New Jersey in terms of poker customer support, and 888 does nothing to distinguish itself in either direction. I went to download the online help app from their site and my anti-virus warned me of a potential virus (which it doesn’t do very often). To be sure, I don’t believe 888 is sending out infected downloads, but the warning could scare away potential new players.
Live chat is handy but only available from 4:00 PM until midnight. Email support is slow at times but helpful, with phone support being your best bet. All of my dealings with support have been friendly enough.
