888poker is one of the oldest online poker rooms, live since 2002, licensed in the UK, Malta, and Gibraltar. It offers a real $8 free bonus, a 100% match up to $1,000, daily Mystery Bounty tournaments, and a published weekly rakeback ladder up to 50%.
I still play its tournament series every year, and in this review I explain where 888poker is worth your time in 2026 and where it no longer is.
$8 no-deposit bonus
Weekly rakeback up to 50%
Daily Mystery Bounty MTTs
Highly regulated site
Soft low-stakes games
No-deposit bonus
Plenty of freerolls
Convenient app Reviewed by Jonathan Little, a two-time World Poker Tour champion with $9 million in tournament earnings. See our 7-step review methodology.
Last updated: October 1st, 2026
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888poker Pros:
- Soft tournament fields
- $8 free on sign-up
- A 100% match up to $1,000
- Weekly cash game rakeback from 5% to 50%
- 50% Early Bird rakeback on tournament fees
- Plenty of freerolls, including a daily $640 freeroll
- Solid web and mobile
- Regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, Malta, and Gibraltar, operating since 2002
888poker Cons:
- Cash game traffic is thin, about 200 average players in 2026
- Games above $1/$2 rarely run
- Weekly rakeback only starts at $200 of rake a week
- No crypto deposits or withdrawals
- Withdrawals are slow if you have not verified your account in advance
- Not available in the US, Australia, or most of Western Europe
I want to be as honest about the cons as the pros. 888poker is where I send students for soft tournaments under a top-tier regulator. It is not where I send them to grind cash volume.
888poker Highlights
| Welcome bonus | $8 free, then 100% up to $1,000 |
| Rakeback | Weekly cash rakeback 5% to 50% |
| Game variations | Hold’em, PLO, PLO5, PLO6, Omaha Hi-Lo, SNAP, BLAST |
| Player traffic | Thin cash lobby, 5th worldwide for tournament entries |
| Competition level | Soft at low stakes, regulars sit at $1/$2 and up |
| Rake | 5% cash with $4 caps, tournaments 5% to 10% |
| Flagship tournaments | Sunday $109 Mystery Bounty, XL series, 888poker LIVE |
| Licensing | UK, Malta, Gibraltar, plus Spain, Italy and Ontario |
| Operator | evoke plc, formerly 888 Holdings |
| Not available in | USA, Australia, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Brazil and others |
888poker is a regulated, tournament-first room with a small but soft cash game lobby. I break down exactly who it suits in the verdict at the end.
888poker Promotions and Bonuses
888poker’s promotions fall into three groups: the welcome offers for new players, the rakeback and rewards that pay every week, and the loyalty Club that runs underneath everything. I have used all three, and I want to give you the numbers as they are, not as the banners put them. Check it out yourself.
888poker Bonus Code and Welcome Offers
There are multiple offer you can take when registering to 888poker, so make sure to understand what is available and use a proper code.
- The free bonus is $8, not $88. You will see “$88 free” on 888poker’s promotions page and in a lot of reviews, and I repeated it here until this update. The actual offer on 888poker.com, as written in its own terms, is $8 in tournament tickets: forty tickets of $0.10 and four tickets of $1. You get $2 worth when you claim it, $2 more after three days, and the final $4 after seven days. You have 14 days after registering to claim it, and each ticket expires 24 hours after it is credited, so log in on the days they land. There is no cash component. Treat it as a free tour of the software, claim it, and move on to the deposit offers.
- First deposit, option one: 100% match up to $1,000 with code WELCOME100. Deposit $10 or more and 888poker matches it. The bonus releases in $10 pieces each time you earn 100 Bonus Points, and you earn 2 Bonus Points per $1 of rake or tournament fees, so every $50 you rake unlocks $10. That is 20% back while you clear, and you have 90 days. To clear a full $1,000, you need to rake $5,000 in three months, which is a serious volume. Deposit what you will actually rake against; a $100 deposit needs $500 in rake, which a regular $0.10/$0.25 or $11 tournament player does comfortably.
- First deposit, option two: six $5 tickets with code GET30. Deposit $10 and receive one $5 tournament ticket a day for six days. Each is valid for 24 hours and only for exact-buy-in events. This is the right choice if you deposit small and want to play the $5.50 tournaments straight away.
On top of this, 888poker runs different welcome packages on its licensed sites:
| Market | No-deposit offer | First deposit offer |
|---|---|---|
| Global (.com) | $8 in tickets | 100% up to $1,000 (WELCOME100) or 6 x $5 tickets (GET30) |
| United Kingdom | None | £50 in tournament tickets after a £10 deposit with code GET50 |
| Ontario (888poker.ca) | $20 free, no deposit | 100% up to $1,000, max bonus winnings $500 |
| Spain (888poker.es) | EUR 8 in tickets | 100% up to EUR 200 plus 50 BLAST tickets |
| Italy (poker.888casino.it) | EUR 8 in tickets and spins | See site |
Bonus terms that catch people are a strict policy of one bonus per person, IP, and device. Also:
- Bonuses can be forfeited if you withdraw before clearing
- 90 days of inactivity wipes your Bonus Points.
Register through our link and the offers above apply automatically. The codes are entered on the deposit screen.
888poker Rakeback in 2026: The Weekly Ladder Explained
Most reviews tell you 888poker has no rakeback. That was true for years, and it is not true now. 888poker publishes a Weekly Rakeback promotion on cash games, paid in cash within 72 hours of the week ending:
| Weekly cash game rake | Rakeback |
|---|---|
| $200 to $299 | 5% |
| $300 to $999 | 10% |
| $1,000 to $1,999 | 20% |
| $2,000 to $3,999 | 30% |
| $4,000 to $4,999 | 40% |
| $5,000 or more | 50% |
Conditions: funded players only, the cashback is calculated on your total poker rake for the week, you have seven days to claim it, and country restrictions apply, so check the promotions tab in your client.
Here is the coaching read. $200 of rake a week is roughly 25 hours at $0.25/$0.50 6-max or 10 to 12 hours at $1/$2, so a casual player gets nothing from this ladder and a part-time regular sits at 5% to 10%. The 30% to 50% tiers are for full-time grinders, and with about 200 average cash players on the site, finding enough tables to rake $2,000 a week is the harder problem.
This is a genuinely good program for a $1/$2 regular who already plays here. It is not a reason to move your cash volume to 888poker.
- High-Stakes BLAST rakeback. If you play BLAST at $50 buy-ins and up, you get a separate weekly ladder on your BLAST fees: 10% at $30 to $499 in weekly fees, 20% at $500 to $999, 30% at $1,000 to $3,999, and 40% at $4,000 or more.
- Early Bird tournament rakeback. Register for tournaments before they start, and 888poker returns 50% of those tournament fees in cash every Monday, as long as you paid at least $10 in fees during the week. The cap is $50 a week, late registration does not count, and it applies to direct buy-ins only. For a tournament player, this is the best standing deal on the site: I register for my Sunday schedule on Saturday night, and it costs me nothing.
- Daily Gems. Play nine tournaments from the Daily Gems schedule in a buy-in band during the week and receive a free ticket: $8.80 to $16.50 events earn an $8.80 ticket, $22 to $33 earn a $22 ticket, and $55 to $109 earn a $55 ticket.
888poker also runs short rakeback boosts through the year, such as 30% extra during Happy Hour weeks in January and June 2026 and 100% rakeback for PLO5 and PLO6 players in April 2026. They are worth catching, but I would not plan a bankroll around them.
Ongoing Promotions
888poker is running a lot of ongoing promotions to incentivize players to return to the tables and play more often. While these usually aren’t big bonuses, they can be quite lucrative for lower-stakes players, so worth exploring the options.
- Multiprize Wheel. A daily spin for small rewards: tournament tickets, bonus dollars, free bets on the 888sport side, and entries to ticketed freerolls. It is a login incentive, and it is worth the ten seconds.
- 24/7 Freerolls Festival. Free tournaments around the clock in several tiers. Some are open to everyone, and some need tickets you earn from the wheel or from Club levels.
- BLAST Leaderboards. Daily leaderboards for BLAST players with extra prizes on top of the game payouts. Opt in, play a set number of games, and your points count.
- Bet & Get. Place a qualifying sports bet and receive a daily freeroll ticket. I do not bet on sports, and I do not recommend it as a way to earn poker tickets.
- Invite a Friend. $15 bonus for each friend who signs up and deposits.
- Play with Friends. Private home game tables inside the client, useful for a study group.
Early Bird rakeback and Daily Gems are covered in the rakeback section above, because they are worth more than everything on this list combined for a tournament player.
888poker Club Loyalty Program
The longstanding loyalty system at 888 is the 888poker Club, which is a level-based rewards program for all players. It’s a bit different from traditional poker VIP programs in that it’s challenge and mission-based rather than volume-tiered. Here’s how it works:
- All players are automatically in the 888poker Club. As you play poker (or casino games) and participate in site activities, you’ll see various challenges or missions in your account (for example, play X hands of a certain game, win a hand with a specific card, try a new feature, etc).
- By opting into and completing these challenges, you earn Club Points. You also accumulate points simply by generating rake, so everything you do on the site contributes to your points balance.
- As you earn points, you progress through levels of the 888poker Club. Each time you hit a new level, you are awarded Gold Tokens (the higher the level, the more tokens)
- Gold Tokens can be redeemed in the 888poker Club Store for various rewards: cash bonuses, tournament tickets, merchandise, etc. In practice, this works out to roughly an extra cashback of around 5-10% for most players.
888poker does not publish an exact points-per-dollar rate for the Club, but points arrive through the “Hit the Tables” and “Be Active” challenges every time you generate rake.
In addition to token prizes, reaching milestone levels unlocks exclusive freerolls:
- Level 20 and above: the $640 freeroll, every day at 19:10 GMT (two $320 tournament tickets as prizes)
- Level 40 and above: the $5,450 freeroll every Saturday at 15:45 GMT (50 seats into a $109 satellite that leads to a $1,050 event)
- Level 60 and above: a $5,000 freeroll on the last Saturday of every month
- Level 80 and above: a $10,000 freeroll on the last Sunday of every month
The levels run into the thousands, so “level 80” is not the top; it is where the freerolls stop scaling. I tell students to treat the Club as a way into these freerolls rather than as rakeback.
The daily $640 at level 20 is reachable in a few weeks of regular play, and a free shot at a $320 ticket every day is real value for a small bankroll.
888poker Rake Structure
888poker does not publish a dedicated rake page, but here are the numbers I was able to gather. Confirm the table info before you sit.
| Game | Rake | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| NLHE and PLO cash, $0.01/$0.02 | 6.25% | $0.50 to $1 heads-up, up to $4 at full tables |
| Cash, $0.02/$0.04 to $0.03/$0.06 | 5.88% | $1 heads-up, $4 at 3+ players |
| Cash, $0.05/$0.10 to $1/$2 | 5% | $1 heads-up, $4 at 3 to 10 players |
| Cash, $2/$4 to $4/$8 | 5% | $1 heads-up, $2.50 three-handed, $4 at 4+ |
| Cash, $5/$10 to $25/$50 | 5% | $2.50 at 2 to 3 players, $5 at 4+ |
| SNAP fast-fold | Same as regular cash at the stake (third-party) | Same |
| BLAST | 10% at $0.10 and $1 buy-ins down to about 6% at $100 | n/a |
| Tournaments | 10% at low buy-ins down to 5% at $1,050 | n/a |
Two things stand out. The 6.25% at the very lowest stake is expensive, so if you are starting from a tiny bankroll, move up to $0.05/$0.10 as soon as you can. And the 5% with a $4 cap at $0.25/$0.50 and $0.50/$1 is in line with GGPoker and slightly above CoinPoker or WPT Global, which is why the weekly rakeback ladder matters if you play enough volume to reach it.
Game Variety, Traffic and Competition Level
Two numbers explain 888poker in 2026. In August, it averaged about 195 concurrent cash game players, ranking 18th among networks and is down roughly 18% over three months. In the same month, its tournaments drew about 66,000 entries a day, fifth in the world. This is a tournament room with a small cash lobby, and everything I recommend below follows from that.
The games on offer are Texas Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha in four, five and six card versions, Omaha Hi-Lo, SNAP fast-fold, BLAST jackpot sit and gos, and progressive knockout tournaments.
The busiest hours run from 18:00 to 00:00 GMT, when the cash lobby fills out to $1/$2, and the tournament schedule is at its densest. Outside those hours, the cash games thin quickly.
888poker Tournaments in 2026
The daily schedule is built around four named formats: The Big Shot (classic freezeouts from $5.50 to $109 and up), The Rumble (daily PKOs), The Voyage (deepstacks), and Mystery Bounty events. 888poker is the only major site running Mystery Bounty tournaments every single day, and they are where the softest fields are.
Sundays in 2026:
| Event | Buy-in | Guarantee |
|---|---|---|
| Mystery Bounty Main Event | $109 | $100,000 |
| Big Shot 525 | $525 | $25,000 |
| Mystery Bounty | $55 | $25,000 |
| Big Shot and Rumble events | $5.50 to $215 | Various |
Several times a year, 888poker runs a Sunday Sale that halves the buy-ins on the Sunday majors and keeps the guarantees. Register early on those days; the Early Bird rakeback still applies.
- XL series. 888poker’s flagship series runs three times a year. XL Winter (January 18 to 27, 2026) and XL Spring (May 3 to 12) each guaranteed more than $1.5 million across 60 events with a $250 rakeless Mystery Bounty Main Event at $500,000 GTD. XL Autumn (September 20 to 29, 2026) is smaller: 41 events, a $300,000 Main Event and about $900,000 in total guarantees. The guarantees shrank through the year, which tells you something about the traffic trend, but the fields are still soft and the satellites start at one cent.
- Other series. The 888poker Global League (June 15 to July 18, 2026) with country freerolls, and regular Daily Gems ticket promotions.
- 888poker LIVE. The live tour visits Madrid, Glasgow and Barcelona each year and finishes in London at The Vic, October 8 to 18, 2026, with a £1,250 Main Event. Online satellites at $109 award $2,500 packages, with feeders from $0.01. The UKPL and Noche de Poker regional tours run alongside.
Structures are good, with reasonable starting stacks and late registration in most events. My honest read after playing the 2026 XL series: the $5.50 to $55 Mystery Bounties are the best value tournaments on the site, the $109 Main is beatable but full of regulars at the final table, and anything above $215 draws the same fifty players every week.
Cash Games
Cash games are the quieter side of 888poker, but the games that do run are soft, and there is a lot to like here for a low-stakes player.
No-Limit Hold’em cash tables run:
- from the micro stakes with $0.01/$0.02 blinds
- all the way up to high stakes with $25/$50 blinds
You will find $0.05/$0.10 to $0.50/$1 tables at most hours, $1/$2 during European evenings, and $2/$5 and above only occasionally. Treat $1/$2 as the top of the consistent traffic and plan your bankroll around it. When I review student hands from 888poker cash games, the low-stakes 6-max tables are still populated by casino crossover players who call too much, and the winning adjustment is simple: value bet thinner and bluff less than you would on GGPoker. The problem is not the softness, it is finding more than two or three tables at once.
You can find both full-ring (9-handed) and 6-max tables for Texas Hold’em, with the 6-max option being significantly more popular in the lobby.
888poker also offers a fast-fold poker variation called SNAP. You can join the SNAP pool at various stakes instead of a fixed table and enjoy this format for high volume and convenience.
Omaha runs in four, five and six card Pot Limit versions plus Omaha Hi-Lo, mostly at $0.05/$0.10 to $0.50/$1. The PLO5 and PLO6 tables are the softest games on the site when they run, which is mainly in the evenings.
BLAST Jackpot Games
Apart from multi-table tournaments and cash games, 888poker also caters to fans of shorter tournament formats, offering their popular BLAST Jackpot SNG variant. These games are a big attraction on 888poker and offer 3-player hyper turbo tournaments where the prize pool is determined randomly at the start.
Buy-ins range from $0.10 to $100, with a chance to hit a huge multiplier up to 10,000x.
These games start as soon as 3 players register, and they are extremely fast, with blinds going up every few minutes. That said, if you are lucky enough to spin a higher multiplier, you will get more chips and longer levels.
These games also have a twist, and if it does not end after three levels, the tournament enters a forced all-in mode where every hand all players are automatically all-in until there’s a winner. This ensures the games finish quickly.
Is 888poker Safe To Play?
888poker is operated by evoke plc, the London-listed group that renamed itself from 888 Holdings in May 2024 and also owns William Hill and 888casino. In June 2026, Bally’s Intralot agreed to buy evoke for £243 million; shareholders approved the deal in August, and it is expected to close around the end of 2026 or early 2027. The brands keep their names, and nothing changes for players in the short term, but you should know that 888poker is about to have its third corporate parent in three years.
The poker room holds licenses from the UK Gambling Commission, the Malta Gaming Authority, and the Gibraltar Gambling Commissioner, three of the strictest regulators in the industry, and its RNG is independently audited under those licenses.
I have played on 888poker since before most of my students started playing poker, I have cashed out from it many times, and the games are fair. The complaints you will read online are about withdrawal speed and support, not about the cards, and I deal with both below.
Licensing and Regulation
As touched on above, 888poker operates under a strict framework of licensing and regulation that ensures its legitimacy. Here are some key points about the licensing:
- United Kingdom: 888 UK Limited, licensed and regulated by the Gambling Commission under account number 39028
- Malta and the EU: Virtual Digital Services Limited under Malta Gaming Authority license MGA/CRP/121/2006-09
- Gibraltar and the rest of the world: Virtual Global Digital Services Limited under Gibraltar Remote Gaming Licenses 112 and 113
- Ireland: 888 Eire Limited
- Local licenses: Spain (888 Online Games España, DGOJ), Italy (888 Italia, ADM concession 16045) and Ontario (VHL Ontario Limited, AGCO and iGaming Ontario). Players in those markets use ring-fenced sites with their own offers.
In summary, 888poker’s licensing and regulatory compliance are top-notch. It operates transparently under the watch of some of the world’s strictest gaming regulators, which should give players a lot of confidence.
Can You Play 888poker in the USA?
No. 888poker closed its Delaware rooms in December 2023 and left New Jersey in June 2024 when it sold its US consumer business to Hard Rock Digital, so there is no 888poker-branded site in any US state.
Its software still powers WSOP.com in Nevada, New Jersey, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which is why the WSOP client looks familiar to anyone who has played on 888, although that supply deal was reported in June 2026 to be at a decision point.
Other excluded markets include Australia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Brazil. US readers should look at my Stake.us and ClubWPT Gold reviews.
Software Quality and Features
While it lags behind the best software available to other clients such as GGPoker, 888poker offers a modern and relatively fast client filled with useful features that enhance the playing experience.
The main lobby is divided into easy sections by game type: Tournaments, Cash Games, SNAP, Sit & Go, BLAST, etc., each accessible with one click from a top menu. This makes finding your desired game very simple, and with the addition of customizable filters, you can set everything to your liking.
You can expect to find all of the most popular features:
- Table and deck customization
- Auto top-up
- Adjustable bet slider
- Built-in HUD since January 2025 with VPIP, PFR and 3-bet
- Note taking
- Up to six cash tables at once on desktop under the House Rules, four on mobile
- Third-party trackers: 888poker has no published policy page in English. PokerTracker 4, Hold’em Manager 3 and Hand2Note all report compatibility and I know regulars who use them, but confirm with support before you do, because scripts, data mining and seating tools are prohibited
The built-in HUD changed my view of this client. It gives a recreational player the three stats that matter without installing anything, and it is the feature I point beginners to first. 888poker did a great job creating a user-friendly poker client that is convenient for both casual and more serious players and is on par with what you could expect to find.
888poker App (iOS and Android)
For those who prefer playing on their phones or tablets, 888poker offers a robust mobile app available on both iOS and Android. The mobile experience has been greatly improved with the new software generation, making 888poker one of the better mobile poker apps in the market.
888poker app is designed for portrait mode play, meaning you can hold your phone as you usually would rather than turning it sideways. This orientation allows one-handed play and feels more natural on a phone screen, making it easy to use.
The app allows you to access pretty much everything you would find in a desktop client. You can play cash games, tournaments, BLAST SNGs, SNAP poker, etc. You can also partake in promotions via the app and even multi-table.
I play most of my 888poker tournaments on the app when I travel, and the portrait layout is the best of the big rooms for one-handed play.
888poker Deposits, Withdrawals and How to Avoid Delays
888poker’s official payment page lists these methods on the global site. Limits and timings are not published officially, so the figures come from PokerListings and GipsyTeam and match my experience.
| Method | Deposit | Withdrawal | Typical timing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visa / Mastercard debit | Yes | Yes | 3 to 5 business days (up to 8) |
| PayPal | Yes (supported regions) | Yes | 1 to 2 business days |
| Skrill / NETELLER | Yes | Yes | 1 to 2 business days |
| Luxon Pay | Yes | Yes | 1 to 2 business days |
| MuchBetter / ecoPayz | Yes | Yes | 1 to 2 business days |
| Interac e-Transfer (Canada) | Yes | Yes | 2 to 6 business days |
| Apple Pay | Yes | No | Withdraw to another method |
| Paysafecard / PurplePay / Oxxo / regional bank transfers | Yes | No | Deposit only |
| Bank wire | Yes | Yes | 4 to 7 business days |
| Cryptocurrency | No | No | Not offered |
Minimum deposit is $10 for most methods, and the minimum withdrawal is $5. Withdrawals go back to the deposit method under anti-money-laundering rules; if you deposited with a method that cannot receive funds, you choose an alternative.
About the withdrawal complaints. 888poker has a 1.3 out of 5 on Trustpilot from more than 1,700 reviews, and most of the 2026 complaints are about withdrawals pending for weeks and repeated verification requests. I have cashed out from 888poker many times without a problem, and every student case I have looked at came down to the same two things: documents uploaded only after the withdrawal request, and a deposit method that cannot receive withdrawals.
So here is my rule. Verify your identity and address in your first week, before you have anything to cash out; the process takes one to two days when you are not in a hurry. Deposit with Skrill, Neteller, Luxon Pay, or a debit card, not with a prepaid voucher. Keep your account details identical to your documents. Do that, and your money arrives in one to five business days. Skip it, and you will be writing the next Trustpilot review.
How to Register an Account on 888poker
Getting started on 888poker is a quick and easy process. You’ll be up and running in minutes by following these steps:
- Visit the 888poker website using this link
- Click “Sign Up” and fill in your details exactly as they appear on your ID
- Agree to the terms and confirm your email address
- Download the software or open the web client
- Claim your $8 free tickets within 14 days
- Upload your ID and proof of address now, not later
- Make your first deposit ($10 minimum) with code WELCOME100 for the 100% match or GET30 for the tickets
- Start playing
Now you’re ready to hit the tables! The whole sign-up should take just a few minutes, and it’s very beginner-friendly. If you encounter any hitches, 888’s support is available to help, but most users find registration very straightforward.
Also, be prepared to verify your identity by uploading a copy of your ID and a recent address document when 888poker asks. It’s a one-time process that, if done correctly, usually takes only a day or two to complete. Plan ahead so that when you’re ready to cash out your first winnings, you won’t be caught by surprise. After verification, you can enjoy 888poker with peace of mind, knowing your account is secured and future payouts will be expedited.
Who Should Play on 888poker?
After another year of playing the XL series and reviewing student hands from these tables, here is my verdict by player type.
- Tournament players at $5 to $109: yes. The daily Mystery Bounties, the Sunday $109 Main, the XL series, Early Bird rakeback and the Club freerolls make 888poker one of the best-value tournament rooms for a small to mid bankroll, under a UK license.
- Recreational cash players: yes, in the evenings. The $0.05/$0.10 to $0.50/$1 tables are soft, the built-in HUD helps you, and the $8 plus the match bonus give you a cheap start. Play European evenings, or you will be waiting for tables.
- Cash game grinders: no. About 200 average players is not enough to multi-table, the weekly rakeback ladder needs $200 in rake before it pays anything, and games above $1/$2 are rare. Grind cash on GGPoker or CoinPoker and come to 888poker for the tournaments.
- BLAST players: yes. 888poker built the format, the leaderboards run daily, and the high-stakes rakeback ladder covers $50 buy-ins and up.
- Players who value regulation above all: yes. UK, Malta, and Gibraltar licenses and a listed parent company. Just verify your account on day one.
US players cannot access this site, so check ClubWPT Gold, CoinPoker, or even Stake.us instead.
If you play tournaments and you can access it, 888poker still earns its place in 2026. Check it out yourself.
FAQ
