Delaware became the third state to legalize online poker, doing so on Nov. 8, 2013. They’ve predictably remained the smallest internet poker market in the US, namely due to their small population of 962,000 residents.
The Blue Hen State’s three racinos each offer their own poker site. These are:
- Delaware Park
- Dover Downs
- Harrington Raceway
888 Poker runs the software/network for all three internet poker rooms.
Delaware online poker has been underwhelming thus far. They received a small boost after sharing liquidity with Nevada, starting on March 24, 2015. And they just recently began sharing liquidity with New Jersey at the time of this review.
Sharing a player pool with larger states gives Delaware residents access to larger tournaments. But 888 DE could stand to improve in terms of software and options.
Summary
Delaware has three racinos that all use 888’s poker platform. The state shares liquidity with New Jersey and Nevada, which helps boost the market. But 888 Poker DE still suffers from the same problems that plague tiny markets, including low traffic, limited game selection, and few banking options.
The most damning part about 888 Delaware is that they don’t offer a mobile app. Positive points to this site include a solid tournament selection and good security.
888 Poker DE bonus
Delaware’s online poker sites each offer the same welcome bonus. You receive a 100 percent match bonus up to $500 on your first deposit.
The first $20 is released in $5 increments whenever you earn 40 Status Points. The remaining bonus is released in $10 chunks when you generate 80 Status Points.
Two Status Points are awarded when you pay $1 in tournament or cash game rake. Therefore, you must pay $20 in rake to get the $5 increments and contribute $40 in rake to get the $10 chunks. You have 60 days to earn as much of the bonus as possible.
888 Poker Delaware network
Delaware Park, Dover Downs, and Harrington Raceway run their sites through the same network via 888 Poker. Players can access the 888 network by signing up and depositing at any one of the three racino online poker sites.
Delaware residents now have access to the 888 New Jersey and Nevada networks too. This has helped increase what would have been even more paltry traffic than what’s already there. The shared interstate network features around 200 cash game players per hour, less than a sixth of which is contributed by Delaware. These volumes aren’t incredible by any means, but they should allow you to find a decent number of active low-stakes Texas hold’em cash games.
888 Poker DE software
888 Poker offers download clients for the three racinos. The fact that they don’t yet offer an instant-play option for PC and Mac players is somewhat disappointing. What’s worse is that they don’t offer a mobile app at this time. This makes 888 DE poker somewhat of an outlier in today’s market.
888 uses proprietary Dragonfish software, which helped them win online poker awards years ago. But it’s clear that the company has done little to improve their software from a visual standpoint.
The 888 Poker software retains the same basic look at each poker site. However, the lobby and table colors change based on what racino site you’re using. For example, Delaware Park’s software is brown and beige to match their website.
The best thing about 888’s software is that it offers good security. Their poker server is protected by encrypted SSL technology, which does the job in keeping players’ information safe.
888 Poker DE Android/iOS app
888 Poker doesn’t offer an Android or iOS app for Delaware players. All you’ll find if you search for mobile poker at any of the racino gaming sites is the online casino app. This isn’t helpful if all you want to do is play mobile poker.
Games at 888 Poker DE
888 Delaware offers one of the smallest poker markets in the world. Therefore, it’s hard to find good cash game action here. But you will have access to a decent volume of mid and low-stakes poker tournaments.
Cash games
Delaware’s online cash game scene consists almost entirely of low-stakes Texas hold’em. Their tables range between $0.01/$0.02 and $0.05/$0.10 NL hold’em. We’ve also seen a couple $0.05/$0.10 Pot-Limit Omaha games running outside peak hours. 888 DE offers Stud cash games too. However, these tables were completely empty at the time of this review.
Multi-table tournaments
Delaware’s poker market offers decent tournament action to make up for the limited cash game tables. You can look forward to plenty of multi-table tournaments, ranging from $350 daily events to the $25,000 Weekly Sunday event. Tournament buy-ins range from $1 to $1,000 high rollers.
Sit & Go tournaments
Sit & go’s (SNGs) at 888 Poker DE include nine-handed, heads-up, turbo, and super turbo. The nine-handed and heads-up SNGs feature normal blind structures, while the turbo and super turbo events have faster blind levels.
888 Poker DE loyalty program
888 offers both Status Points and Rewards Points on your play. Status Points are used to determine your status within the VIP program.
Rewards Points can be converted to cash. Players receive $10 cash back for every 1,000 points they exchange.
888 Poker DE deposit options
Here are the deposit options at 888 Delaware:
- Visa
- MasterCard
- ACH bank transfer
- Neteller (Delaware Park only)
Deposit options are very limited at all three racinos. But you get the addition of Neteller when depositing at Delaware Park.
888 Poker Delaware customer support
Delaware’s racinos offer their own individual contact information. You can reach each racino through e-mail or phone support. We’d like to see live chat offered, but it’s not in the cards right now. You’ll find FAQ sections on the racinos’ websites that answer many common questions.
DELAWARE PARK CONTACT
– Toll Number: (+1) 302-261-9517
– US Toll Free: (+1) 888-201-4603
– Email: [email protected]
DOVER DOWNS CONTACT
– Toll Number: (+1) 302-261-9732
– US Toll Free: 888-201-5301
– Email: [email protected]
HARRINGTON RACEWAY
– Toll Number: (+1) 302-380-3691
– US Toll Free: 888-201-4083
– Email: [email protected]
