One of the first poker sites to launch in New Jersey, 888Poker NJ benefits from a shared-player agreement with WSOP.com. Thanks to the boost in traffic and softer-than-average cash game tables, 888 in NJ is a site worth looking into.

Top Online Poker Sites in New Jersey

888 Holdings was one of the first companies to enter the fenced New Jersey internet poker market, which was possible due to its ties to Caesars Entertainment, an international casino giant which owns a popular land-based gambling establishment in Atlantic City. The first iteration of 888poker NJ launched in 2013.

However, the site underwent major changes in 2015 when 888 signed a shared liquidity partnership deal with WSOP.com NJ, creating the WSOP.com/888 NJ network. Both sites have been working with a shared player pool ever since. This allows them to compete with the remaining major NJ-licensed networks, specifically PokerStars and Party/Borgata.

How to sign-up for 888poker NJ

Joining the action on 888poker NJ is quick and easy. Download the client, complete the registration process by filling out a simple form, and you’re good to go.

Keep in mind that even though you don’t have to be a New Jersey resident in order to play on 888poker’s NJ network, you must be physically present within the borders of the state. If you cross the border while playing, your session will automatically terminate.

It’s also worth noting that even though 888poker NJ shares its player pool with WSOP NJ, an 888poker NJ account won’t allow you to log-in to WSOP NJ – and vice versa. Both sites have separate welcome bonuses, recurring promotions, and member lists.

888poker NJ sign-up bonuses

Bonuses available at 888poker’s NJ site are different from the ones offered by the global version of this poker room.

You will receive this bonus as soon as 888’s staff successfully verifies your account. Here’s a breakdown of what you’re getting:

  • $4 in cash, to use for any ring games
  • Six one-dollar tournament tickets
  • $10 in cash, to be used for any 888 casino games

Any funds you win using your free tournament tickets can be cashed out immediately. However, you’ll need to clear the ring-game bonus by paying $6 in rake or tournament fees. This is equivalent to a 66 percent rakeback bonus, which is pretty impressive, but doesn’t last very long.

This bonus is available for first-time depositors who want to load up their account with at least $10. The bonus release in $10 chunks. Players can clear each chunk by paying $50 in rake or tournament fees.

This means that you’re essentially getting a short-term 20 percent rakeback deal, which doesn’t sound all that great when compared to PokerStars’ 55 percent rakeback for new players. However, due to 888’s maximum deposit size being so much higher than PokerStar’s, the two bonuses offer pretty much identical value.

888poker NJ traffic overview

888poker NJ shares its network with WSOP.com NJ, but it’s worth noting that some of the games hosted there are site-exclusive, which has a negative impact on the amount of traffic perceived by the player. This, despite the fact that the public stats are very similar to Party/Borgata and PokerStars. Fortunately, this doesn’t apply to low-limit cash games and big weekend tournaments, which generate most of the traffic on the network.

Cash traffic

The average number of cash-game players tends to fall within the 80-90 range on most weeks. Traffic usually peaks between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Eastern Time. The variance is significantly higher than on PokerStars.

On most days, you should expect between 180 and 250 players, most of whom will be congregating around micro-stakes No Limit Hold’em tables. This amounts to about 30 percent of New Jersey’s total cash-game traffic. The general population of all networks tends to oscillate between 600 and 700 around that time.

Tournament traffic

888poker’s NJ network slightly underperforms in terms of tournament traffic these days. The number of entries for big events is about 10-20 percent lower than on PokerStars NJ and Party/Borgata.

For example, the first November $215 888/WSOP Warrior tournament attracted only 205 players. Meanwhile, similar events hosted by Party/Borgata and PokerStars attracted 221 and 254 players respectively. The prize pools reflected the difference. While 888’s customers were competing for a slice of a $41,000 prize pool, players on PokerStars and Party/Borgata had $47,244 and $44,200 to fight for.

888poker NJ games

888poker NJ runs on 888’s classic software. However, unlike PokerStars NJ, this poker room doesn’t give you access to all the games which are available on its global sister network. What you see in the lobby is essentially what players in New Jersey are interested in playing, so there’s less frustration from browsing through completely empty tables.

For example, PokerStars NJ supports fast-fold games despite the fact that nobody in New Jersey plays them, while 888poker doesn’t give you that option even though their global client is perfectly compatible with this game format.

888poker NJ cash games

Since PokerStars NJ is the go-to site for New Jersey-based Omaha players, the cash game action on 888poker NJ is pretty much limited to No-Limit Hold’em. Other poker variants are also supported, but you won’t be able to play them regularly, even during peak traffic hours.

Hold’em

Stakes range from $0.01/$0.02 to $50/$100, but you’re quite likely to be stuck with the micros and low-stakes up to $0.50/$1 if you play during off-hours.

People tend to get some medium stakes 6-max action going during peak traffic hours from time to time. Generally speaking though, anything beyond $0.50/$1 is almost exclusively heads-up. Fixed-limit games are supported by the software, but there are no tables listed under this category these days.

Omaha

As briefly touched on above, 888/WSOP NJ isn’t an Omaha-friendly network. The amount of Omaha traffic these sites get is pretty negligible. Getting any full-ring action going tends to be impossible during off-peak hours. For Pot-limit Omaha, available stakes range from $0.02/$0.04 to $5/$10.

Omaha Hi/Lo tables are currently disabled.

Stud

The situation is very similar to Fixed Limit Hold’em. The client does support this poker variant, but as of early 2018, the site does not list any tables under the category.

888poker NJ multi-table tournaments

People tend to expect a lot when you team up with WSOP and start offering MTTs. However, 888poker’s recurring tournament lineup in NJ is surprisingly mediocre.

Being able to participate in WSOP satellites is about the only advantage of picking this network over its rivals. When it comes to standard weekend majors, both PokerStars and Party/Borgata boast 10-20 percent arger prize pools and slightly more traffic.

Weekend Warrior Series

Weekend Warrior Series may not be as popular as PokerStars’ Sunday Majors, but $100,000 in cash prizes every week is still fairly impressive.

Satellite tickets are as cheap as $1, so even budget players can get a slice of that pie for themselves. The schedule and prize pool guarantees usually look as follows:

  • Friday, 6:00 p.m. – $10,000 The Ultimate Warrior
  • Friday, 8:30 p.m. – $4,000 Lightning Warrior
  • Saturday, 5:00 p.m. – $5,000 Warriors’ Opening Strike
  • Saturday, 6:00 p.m. – $10,000 The Ultimate Warrior
  • Saturday, 8:30 p.m. – $4,000 Lightning Warrior
  • Sunday, 4:00 p.m. – $10,000 Warriors’ Opening Strike
  • Sunday, 6:00 p.m. – $40,000 The Ultimate Warrior
  • Sunday, 7:00 p.m. – $10,000 Fierce Warrior
  • Sunday, 8:30 p.m. – $4,000 Lightning Warrior

Please note that buy-ins for these tournaments aren’t set in stone. They can range from $30 for smaller events to $500 for designated high-roller events.

All Lightning Warrior tournaments feature a Turbo structure.

Other poker offerings on 888poker NJ

Aside from standard cash-games and MTTs, 888poker NJ also supports Sit&Go tournaments. These come in two variants:

Sit & Go tournaments

888poker NJ supports standard Sit & Go tournaments for No-Limit Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and Pot-Limit Omaha Hi/Lo. Hold’em players can also enjoy Turbo and Super Turbo STTs, which sadly aren’t available for Omaha.

Buy-ins range from $1 to $10 for NLHE and from $1 to $5 for PLO. The action is generally all about 6-max and heads-up games. Players should not expect much in terms of 9-max gameplay.

Sit & Go Super-turbo BLAST tournaments

All BLAST STTs are 4-max and in Super Turbo mode. What sets them apart from standard Super Turbo S&Gs is the fact that the prize pool is generated randomly before the start of each game.

In most cases, players compete for two or five buy-ins, but if you get really lucky during the draw, you might nail the maximum prize pool, which is worth 10,000 buy-ins. BLAST buy-ins range from $0.10 to $30.

888poker NJ rewards program

How the 888poker NJ rewards program works

888poker NJ has a volume-based rewards program. Players earn Status Points, which determine their status tier. They also earn Reward Points, which players can exchange for cash at a fixed rate of 1,000 points for every $10.

The amount of RPs you get depends on your status tier. The higher level you are, the more points you get. Players always earn SPs at a rate of two points per $1 paid in rake or tournament fees. Unlike in the case of PokerStars NJ, your status resets every single month.

The above means that as soon as you start playing, you are enrolled in a fairly straightforward rakeback program. We crunched the numbers for each status tier and here’s what we came up with:

  • Blue Tier – 0 SPs required – 2.5 RPs/1 SP earned – 5% rakeback
  • Iron Tier – 50 SPs required – 4 RPs/1 SP earned – 8% rakeback
  • Bronze Tier – 200 SPs required – 5 RPs/1 SP earned – 10% rakeback
  • Silver Tier – 3,000 SPs required – 7.5 RPs/1 SP earned – 15% rakeback
  • Gold Tier – 6,000 SPs required – 10 RPs/1 SP earned – 20% rakeback
  • Platinum Tier – 20,000 SPs required – 17.5 RPs/1 SP earned – 35% rakeback

Comparing 888poker NJ to other NJ sites

As you can see, it’s very easy to reach the Bronze status and secure a 10 percent rakeback deal. However, climbing up to Silver is impossible for most players. Reaching the necessary volume of play is pretty much out of the question these days unless you’re a high roller, because most of the people playing on 888/WSOP NJ focus exclusively on low- and micro-stakes.

What’s more, paying the $100 required to reach Bronze would net you five percent more rakeback on PokerStars, so it’s hard to recommend 888poker NJ over any other major network based on the merits of its loyalty system.

However, the competition on 888poker is softer than on PokerStars, so such direct comparisons are never going to be perfectly accurate when it comes to determining the more profitable site.

888poker NJ deposit/withdrawal options

888poker’s NJ customers have several banking methods at their disposal, but some of them simply aren’t all that useful. In particular, we advise against using MasterCard or Visa to fund your poker account. There’s a very high chance that your transaction gets blocked due to banks’ general aversion to processing gambling-related payments.

Deposits

  • ACH bank transfer – Quick and reliable.
  • Neteller or PayPal – Instant and completely hassle free.
  • MasterCard or Visa – not recommended, as about 30% of legal gambling-related transactions get rejected.
  • Online banking – Direct deposits are available for the customers of:
    • Bank of America
    • BB&T
    • Chase
    • HSBC
    • ING Direct
    • PNC, Regions
    • SunTrust
    • TD Bank
    • US Bank
    • Capital One 360
    • New York Community Bank
  • Casino cage – You can make a deposit at the casino cage in Caesars Atlantic City.
  • PayNearMe – print your pay slip and take it to the local 7-Eleven.

Most deposits are processed in less than 10 minutes, but in certain cases this time limit may be extended to 24 hours.

Withdrawals

The time frames for the supported cash-out methods are as follows:

  • ACH bank transfer – up to six days
  • Neteller – Three business days
  • PayPal – 4-5 business days
  • Casino cage – Instant
  • Check by courier – Up to seven days

Please note that 888poker does not charge any fees on withdrawals.

E-wallet cash-outs are available exclusively to players who used the method in question to deposit in the past.

888poker NJ support

888poker’s NJ customer support is available 24/7 using the following methods:

888poker’s NJ site also has a well-rounded Support Center section, which contains helpful articles pertaining to bonuses and promotions, banking, poker games, account management, and registration. It also addresses basic technical issues that can be solved without the assistance of 888poker’s support staff. We recommend that you consult this section before contacting a support representative. Chances are high an answer to your question or problem will be available there.

Other 888poker NJ promotions

888poker’s NJ customers have access to an extensive selection of freeroll tournaments, with prize pools ranging from $50 to $3,000. Some of them are open to anyone who has a real money account, while others are exclusive to people with the highest account levels. The largest recurring freeroll runs on the last Sunday of each month.

888poker NJ isn’t big on reload bonuses, but when they do appear, they’re usually worth checking out. The Big Game Bonus is a good example of such a promotion. It offered players a 10 percent match on any deposit exceeding $20 for up to $100 in bonus cash.

Conclusion

Once you crunch the numbers, it’s hard not to conclude that the overall 888poker’s NJ package is mediocre. It doesn’t really disappoint, but it fails to excel in any category that matters. However, when it comes to online poker, numbers typically don’t tell the whole story. The most popular sites tend to be packed with tight players, and the seemingly underperforming networks give you plenty of opportunities to prey on weaker, recreational players.

In the end, your attitude towards both 888poker NJ and WSOP NJ will most likely be determined by how you answer the following question:

Are you willing to sacrifice some rakeback in order to have a go at some of the softest games in the entire state? If the answer is yes, you should definitely give 888poker a try.