Pacific Poker

Pacific Poker site

Pacific Poker is widely reputed to have the fishiest opposition on the net, owing to its association with a larger online casino. However, bad software, lack of text hand histories, and slow cashouts tend to send many serious players elsewhere.

Limit hold 'em
Everything through $15/30 seems to stay full round the clock.


 * $0.05/0.10
 * $0.25/0.50 - 7 or 8 to the flop
 * $0.50/1 - 4 - 7 to the flop
 * $1/2
 * $2/4
 * $3/6
 * $5/10
 * $10/20
 * $15/30
 * $30/60

Pacific also offers 6 max tables for each of these limits; at $10/20 and above they seem as popular or moreso than the standard 10-seat tables.

Pot-limit hold 'em

 * PL $10
 * PL $50
 * PL $100 - sparse
 * PL $200 - sparse

Limit Omaha high
Everything above $3/6 seems quite sparse
 * $0.05/0.10
 * $0.25/0.50
 * $0.50/1 - sporadic
 * $1/2
 * $2/4
 * $3/6
 * $5/10
 * $10/20
 * $15/30
 * $30/60

Omaha hi-lo
These games can take a few minutes to get into; there's usually one $0.25/0.50 or $0.50/1 and one $1/2 or $2/4 going in North American evenings, but they're often full and can entail up to about a 15 minute wait.


 * $0.05/0.10
 * $0.25/0.50 - 7 or 8 to the flop
 * $0.50/1
 * $1/2
 * $2/4
 * $3/6 - only peak times
 * $5/10 - pretty full
 * $10/20 - sometimes in the North American evening
 * $15/30 - not often going
 * $30/60 - not often going

Seven-card stud
As of mid- to late 2005, Pacific stopped offering $0.05/0.10 and $0.25/0.50 stud high and stud 8/b.

Most up to $5/10 -- and at times up to $15/30 -- stay active in the North American evening.


 * $0.50/1
 * $1/2
 * $2/4
 * $3/6
 * $5/10
 * $10/20
 * $15/30

7-stud hi-lo
As of mid- to late 2005, Pacific stopped offering $0.05/0.10 and $0.25/0.50 stud high and stud 8/b.


 * $0.50/1
 * $1/2 - NA evening: often either the $1/2 or $2/4 goes
 * $2/4
 * $3/6
 * $5/10 - NA evening: sporadic
 * $10/20
 * $15/30

Sit-and-gos
Pacific offers the strangest array of instant tournament configurations known to man, including 2- and 4-table SnGs. Most of the NLHE tournaments fill within 5 minutes round the clock.

Blinds for sit-and-gos (observed at $4 20-person sit-and-go)

10 minutes per level

Pacific $50K
Pacific used to offer a $100K guaranteed tournament, but apparently they found $50K a more viable level to guarantee.

Other regular tournaments
(Some may not be regular - please delete date of observation once we know they're regular)

All times Eastern Daylight (UTC-4, in other words add four hours for UTC).


 * Fast $150 Gtd- Daily 20:15 - $1 + 50c buyin - 5 min levels


 * Broadway Special- Daily 14:15 - $2 + 50c buyin


 * $___ Guaranteed- Daily 04:00 - $2.50 + 25c buyin, 10 min levels

Amount guaranteed appears to vary, possibly by day of week - $840 on Sunday (Saturday night), $570 on Monday (Sunday night), $580 on Tuesday, $500 on Wednesday, others unknown. (All observed starting July 10)


 * $___ Guaranteed- Note: Limit HE - Daily 09:00 - $2.50 + 25c buyin


 * Fast $250 Gtd- Sunday 00:31 (observed July 9) $2.50 + 50c buyin, 5 min levels


 * Fast $250 Gtd- Note: PLHE - Daily 16:15 - $2.50 + 50c buyin, 5 min levels


 * Barn Burner - Sunday 11:30 - $3 + 60c, 8 min levels


 * $888 Gtd- Note: PLHE - Daily 19:15 - $4 + 50c buyin, 8 min levels - with 340 first pays $340, 2nd pays $204, 40th pays $6.80


 * $700 Guaranteed- Monday 23:15 - $5 + 50c buyin - 5 min levels


 * Fast $2,000 Guaranteed- Tuesday 17:01 - $5 + 50c buyin - 5 min levels


 * $3,000 Guaranteed- Wednesday 00:01 - $5 + 50c buyin - 5 min levels

General payout structure
The number of places paid is varied so that roughly 10% of the tournament finishes in the money, although the percentage of the field in the money obviously decreases somewhere above a field of 600.

Payouts:

Rake structure
See Pacific's site.

Cashouts
These are notoriously slow; a week's wait is not at all uncommon.

Discussion threads

 * Opinions on optimal strategy at Pacific Poker? (RGP)
 * Pacific Poker Article and Question (RGP) - speculating on how they attract so many awful players
 * More Pacific Poker payout problems
 * Pacific SnG gone crazy, Pacific bug census

Other external links

 * From Zero To $10,000 on Pacific Poker - an enterprising hopeful blogs his journey.