Lucky Ace Review

Overall 90 Ease of Competition 95 Tournaments 88 Customer Service 78 Software 85

(Click photo to enlarge.)

Overview
Lucky Ace Poker is a part of the 888 network which is also home to Pacific Poker. This network is notorious for it's easy competition. Unfortunately, they have a lackluster rake system that at least partially offsets the potential to profit off of the bad players you're likely to run into.

Their software includes 3-D player avatars and is translated into German, Swedish, Spanish, French, Danish, Dutch, Italian, and Portuguese.

Bonus
The first time deposit bonus at Lucky Ace is 100% up to $400. In addition, PokerTips readers will receive $10 free upon making a deposit.

This first time deposit bonus is nicer than bonuses at many other sites because some of the money is released to the account immediately upon depositing. 25% up to $100 is immediately placed in the account.

The remaining 75% up to $300 is a pending bonus. To receive this bonus, a player has to collect 14 comp points for every $1 in bonus money. This pending bonus expires 30 days after the first deposit. It should also be noted that the comp points required to release the pending bonus are calculated across the entire bonus. So while $100 of a $400 bonus will be released immediately, one will need to earn comp points on $400, not $300, before the pending $300 is released to the account. So for example, if one takes advantage of the full bonus offerings, they will need to earn 5,600 comp points (14 x $400) within 30 days of their deposit in order to receive the pending $300. At mid- to high-stakes, earning this many comp points shouldn't be too hard. However, small stakes players might have a tough time accomplishing such a feat within 30 days.

Promotions
Anyone who creates a money account at Lucky Ace through a link from PokerTips will receive $10 credited to their account for free. To withdraw this money, one must first wager $200 at the poker tables. This is obviously a very awesome promotion since it's free money with an entirely reasonable clearance requirement.

Tournaments
This is a small stakes tournament player's paradise. Their events are soft, frequent, and cheap. Because they offer so few large buy-in tournaments, there are very few strong players on this network mopping up the money. Lately there have been consistent overlays in their regularly scheduled tournaments with guaranteed prize pools.

Each Sunday, they hold a $88+$8 buy-in $80,000 guaranteed event. The most popular sit-n-gos on this site are played 3-6 handed, as opposed to 9-10 like most other sites.

Software
Lucky Ace Poker has fast, crisp software with appealing 3-D graphics. In the past, people have complained about getting disconnected from this network. But generally speaking, this place has good software and deserves bonus points for offering it in 9 different languages.

Rake
It should be noted that Lucky Ace Poker charges a higher rake than most online poker rooms. Notably, instead of a standard 5% up to $3 rake, the maximum rake is $4 in limit games of $3-$6 to $30-$60 and for all no-limit and pot-limit games. Furthermore, most poker rooms cap the rake at $2 for 4- or 5-handed games, but Lucky Ace caps the rake at $2.50.

Table Statistics
They display the flop percentage and average pot which is nice.

Competition Level
Soft competition is the main reason to play here. This is a good online poker room for players who have never played for real-money before. The players are fishier here than at most sites. There are a lot of calling stations and some maniacs exist. However, this may skyrocket the frustration level if your premium hands are cracked. If you can put up with their poor rake structure and customer support, you might be able to profit consistently from this site.

Customer Service
They offer 24/7 phone support, live chat support, and email support. It doesn't get much better than that. However, just because the communication lines are always open doesn't mean their service is top notch. Historically, the 888 network has had luckluster albeit regularly available customer service.

Ring Games Offered
Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha hi-lo, 7-stud, 7-stud hi-lo

Fixed Limits: $.02-$.04 to $75-$150
NL & PL Blinds: $.01-$.02 to $10-$20

Tournaments Offered
Both Single-Table and Multi-Table

Single-Table: $0.25 to $750
Multi-Table: $0.01 to $215

Minimum Deposit
$30