Natural8: detailed review

Natural8 is Asia's fastest-growing online poker platform offering a wide choice of poker & casino games for every single player type. The room focuses on recreational users from Asia and does not allow players to use third-party software, meaning its cash tables and tourneys are full of soft competition.

This platform is fully legalized and controlled by the government of Curacao. A functional lobby, lots of payment methods to manage game balance, lucrative welcome & regular bonuses, tournaments with massive prize pools reaching hundreds of millions of dollars, as well as the highest player traffic on the market are at players’ disposal.

Natural8 software at a glance

The poker room’s software is sleek, intuitively clear, and of high quality. Grinders will undoubtedly appreciate the client interface's dark colour theme as it’s a lot easier on the eyes. Each lobby has filters that allow you to quickly select a tournament or cash table of the desired type.

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Players have a wide range of features to make their poker sessions even more convenient and pleasing. For instance, one can customize game table layout appearance – select a suitable theme & background, felt shade, and deck style – according to their preferences.

This operator prohibits third-party software but offers in-built tools that players can make use of. Pokercraft, for example, saves all hands you’ve played, displays overall statistics of winnings and win/loss dynamics for each day you play in the poker room. Smart HUD provides users with information on their opponents' past table behaviour (tendencies) for use as a strategic advantage. Such innovative features as Snapcam, Tournament Staking, All-In Insurance, Bubble Protector, and Smart Betting are also at your disposal, to name a few.

Player traffic and cash games

Natural 8 has up to 80 000 active users and focuses on the Asian market; rush hours fall in the morning (ET time). At this time, one can meet more than 2 000 users at the tables, and half of them will be playing cash games. This poker platform is perfect for those who like playing during the daytime, as in most other rooms peak hours fall in the late evening.

The room offers both time-tested and much-loved classics – Hold'em and Omaha, as well as exclusive formats like Short Deck. There are also unique games such as Rush & Cash and All-In or Fold. We note a wide choice of tables at different stakes: low, medium, and high.

Texas Holdem & Omaha

Users can choose between 9 regular table limits in Hold'em – from $0.01/$0.02 to $5/$10 (all 6-max), between 10 variants in PLO, and 9 in PLO-5.

Worldwide traffic: NLH and PLO

Rush & Cash and All-in or Fold

Two similar and at the same time independent formats. Playing Rush&Cash, users move to another table immediately after they muck their hole cards (this way you spend less time, and your win chances increase). $25 000 is up for grabs daily on the leaderboard.

Worldwide traffic: Rush&Cash

Having received cards in AoF, one should decide whether to fold or go all-in. Hands are really dynamic, as participants’ actions are minimized. There's also an opportunity to hit the AoF Jackpot when collecting a straight flush in Hold'em or a royal flush in Omaha. All-in Race daily leaderboard guarantee amounts to $30 000.

Worldwide traffic: All-in or Fold

Rake structure

It is generally 5% to 10% of the pot in each poker hand, up to a predetermined maximum amount. All pots that reach flop are raked.

No Limit Hold'em Tables (6-max)

Pot Limit Omaha Tables (6-max)

Rush & Cash Tables (NLH & PLO, 6-max)

Short Deck Tables (5-max)

Flip & Go Tables (8-max; final stage – 9-max)

Natural 8 Poker tournament grid

Players who prefer MTTs over cash games will be on cloud nine as N8 has lots of options to offer. Such online tournament series as the GGMasters, MILLION$, and WSOP have garnered the poker community's attention over the past few years. Well, no surprise as it often happens that overall series guaranteed prize pools reach unprecedented amounts of up to $100 000 000. Several times a year the room hosts the Omaholic Series to suit any level Omaha fan.

Natural8 also runs a wealth of MTTs and satellites to qualify for major Asian live events. Probably most famous is the Asian Poker Tour. And of course, here are freerolls offered for players who are not yet ready to invest funds but are raring to give the online poker experience a go.

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GGMasters Series

MILLION$ Series

WSOP Online

The GG Network & World Series of Poker collaboration has come to fruition as the main online bracelet series, as well as Circuit-type festivals. The WSOP Spring Circuit and the WSOP Winter Circuit are two seasonal online series hosted by N8. By participating in them, you have the opportunity to win a prestigious poker trophy, namely the coveted WSOPC ring, in addition to cash prizes.

Sit&Go types

Users can choose between four SnG types: Spin&Gold, Flip&Go, AoF Sit&Go, and Battle Royale. Each variation is exclusive and has its own perks.

Spin&Gold

Spins on N8 are considered to be the most unusual among analogues. There are 3-max and 6-max tables to choose from.​

Blinds here change depending on the starting stack. They increase every 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 8 minutes. This makes the gameplay as dynamic and fast as possible. If the minimum multiplier drops, then there will be only one winner. Big wins provide two more finalists.

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Flip&Go

This format exclusivity lies in dividing into two stages: the qualifying “Flip” and the final “Go”. There are 4 buy-in options for choice: $0.05, $0.5, $3, and $20.

The Flip stage takes place every 10 minutes; one can play 8 games simultaneously. Each “Flip” stage winner automatically enters the “Go” stage prize zone, which starts every hour. It’s all about Hold'em 8-max with blinds growing every 5 minutes. The final table, however, is played full-ring.

The Flip&Go Daily Leaderboard guaranteed prize pool is $5 000.

All-in or Fold Sit&Go

These are simple and dynamic tournaments that start when 16 players opt in. There are 4 shootout tables, where each participant receives three stacks. You can play for one stack or bet all at once. The winner of each table ends up in the money. Rake 7%.

Battle Royale

Another hybrid Sit&Go type combines “all the best at once” and has already managed to assemble an army of admirers among regs. This hour-long 30-player battle is divided into three stages:

• The 1st round is a bounty rush phase that lasts 15 minutes. As a result, 15 players leave the race.

• The 2nd round is a 5-minute shootout. Each table seats 3 players; automatic all-in to select three finalists applies.
• The 3rd round is the final table with guaranteed prizes. Daily leaderboard prize pool amounts to $1 000.

You can enter the game for $0.25, $1, $3, and $10. Rake 5%.

Bonuses and promotions

Novices have two welcome offers to select from. Details are given below.

• Increase your first deposit from $10 to $500 fourfold (200% matched bonus). Bonus money is issued in installments: $5 in rake paid = $1 credited to your account. You have 90 days to play it through.
• Get $100 in rewards (C$ and AoF Sit&Go tickets). Minimum deposit required – $20. The tickets totaling $64.50 will be credited to your account within 6 consecutive days + additional $35.50 for taking on daily AoF Challenge. No wagering attached.

That's not all, keep reading 😉 New N8 players are entitled to get an $8 instant bonus in free C$ or T$, depending on their poker game preferences. It’s a one-time offer; a minimum of $10 deposit and account verification applicable.

On top of that, you can activate the Honeymoon promo and earn rewards by completing 30 daily missions as well. Cool prizes are waiting for you – up to $350 in rewards up for grabs.

Rakeback and loyalty program

Thanks to the dynamic Fish Buffet reward system, players can count on up to 60% cashback (this is a standard GG Network program). For every $0.01 in tournament fees or rake paid, you’ll receive 1 Fish Point (thus, $1 rake = 100 FP). Accordingly, the more points you manage to accumulate, the higher the status you will acquire, and therefore the higher rakeback percentage awaits you.

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Natural 8 official website

The portal is available at: https://www.natural8.com. It is translated into several languages, including English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese (which is understandable as they focus mostly on the Asian market).

By visiting the N8 website, anyone can check if the operator has special licenses (the corresponding icons are in the footer), as well as download the game client on their computer or phone. No instant browser play available.

They also always publish up-to-date information related to promotions held in the room. If there is no such on the portal you entered, and some buttons do not work, then most likely you’ve ended up on a fake site and it is better not to download anything there. The platform is not liable nor responsible for any improper downloads.

Mobile version

The room has developed convenient apps for Android and iOS, meaning you'll be able to enjoy playing poker on Natural8 no matter where you are. The only prerequisite is a fast & stable Internet connection.

Mobile and desktop clients share the same functionality, so there will be no difficulties in use. At the same time, simple and quick control with your fingers is granted. The graphics are equally awesome – we couldn’t take our eyes away.

To play from your portable gadget, just go to the original website and download the appropriate poker room version in two or three clicks max. For optimal program operation, pay attention to system requirements and ensure that your device meets the minimum essential parameters (this is necessary to avoid conflicts between the app and your operating system).

Technical flaws

Natural8 software is considered one of the highest quality on the market, but there is always room for improvement. For some users, banning third-party software may be a great disadvantage. Well, this is a controversial issue as fish (weak, inexperienced players), for example, will find it beneficial. Besides, PokerCraft and SmartHud partially compensate for the specified restriction. Yes, you can’t call them a full-fledged replacement for poker trackers and classic HUD, but both tools have the right to life.

Quite often, players complain about experiencing problems when launching the game client. Here it is really important to download the program from reliable and trusted sources, and it’s best to do it from the official website. Downloading apps from the first available link, you can get a corrupted file or a much worse – one infected with a virus, and this is indeed quite a dangerous thing and shouldn't be played with.

Deposit and withdrawal

Natural8 Poker offers both popular and relatively rare payment systems because players should feel comfortable topping up their account balance and withdrawing winnings. We note that available methods differ depending on the user's location. Also, previously inactive services may be added to the list, while formerly used ones will be excluded. For this reason, players should be alert to the need to change their usual payment method to an alternative one.

In any case, there are a number of general rules applicable when conducting financial transactions in the poker room. We’ve outlined them below:

Customer support service

Client support team work is a real pride for the poker room’s management. They assist with no breaks and days off, that is, 24/7. We believe the fastest way to get help is a live chat on the official website – your issue can be resolved in real time with just a few clicks.

But options for communication are not limited to online chat. One can also contact managers in the following ways:

We note that the agents respond quickly and professionally. We’ve contacted them several times via live chat when writing our Natural8 Poker review and each time got instant answers. It is also worth noting the operator’s politeness, as well as their understandable language in explaining answers or problem solutions, which will satisfy online poker novices.

Final thoughts

In ten-some years of existence, Natural8 has become a favourite place to play real money poker for thousands of Asian players. No matter the stakes, N8 caters to all. The room is home to high roller action in both cash games and tournaments. In the lobby, you will find tourneys of the following types: freezeouts, rebuys, progressive knockouts, satellites, freerolls.

The company is client-oriented and guarantees round-the-clock customer support, fast & secure access to the game account as well as low limits for withdrawing money. N8 is available on Mac, iOS, Windows, and Android devices, giving you the freedom to take your game with you everywhere you go.