With land-based casinos in Atlantic City shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, gamblers in the Garden State are turning to online poker and casinos to satisfy their gambling urge. While the lockdowns continue, online gaming is one of the best ways to spend your time online; you could even win big!
Poker players in New Jersey and Pennsylvania have been especially enthusiastic, with PokerStars NJ and PokerStars PA seeing a big increase in traffic. However, up until now, online poker has been a rather solitary experience.
The truth is, poker players miss the social aspects of a live poker game during the COVID-19 shutdowns. The good news for poker players in New Jersey is they’re able to create their own private online poker games through PokerStars NJ’s Home Games feature.
While there are no other online poker websites in New Jersey offering private online poker games, that is going to change very soon.
Are you interested in playing poker online in New Jersey? Check out our in-depth reviews of the best poker sites in New Jersey: BetMGM, PartyPoker and Borgata.
What we cover
Play With Friends on 888poker
Recently, 888poker released the Play With Friends feature for poker players in the UK. 888poker makes it easy to play a private poker game online with your friends, even during the stay-at-home orders.
To make it really easy, 888poker spokesperson Chris Moorman created a YouTube video showing you exactly how to set up a private game or even a tournament through their website.
When will 888poker Launch Play With Friends in the US?
Unfortunately, 888 doesn’t plan to launch this feature in the US anytime soon. The good news is planning to offer this feature in the future, although there is no date set for the launch. When this feature is launched in the US, 888 will post it on their website.
One more point, since 888poker shares its player pool with WSOP.com, 888poker has a player pool across three states, New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada. When 888 does launch Play With Friends in the United States, it likely is accessible to players in all of those states.
How private poker games could work in New Jersey
While the Play With Friends features is not currently available in New Jersey, it’s very likely that when it does launch in the United States, it will look and work the same as the UK version.
Setting up an 888poker private game or tournament for cash is pretty straightforward:
• First, log in to the lobby and click the ‘Play with friends’ tab. If you don’t see that tab, click on “extra games” located at the top.
• Next, click on ‘Create New Game’ and choose either ‘Cash Game’ or ‘Tournament’
• Fill out the ‘Game name’, ‘Password’, ‘Starting time’, etc.
• Finish it by clicking ‘Create’
• Your new 888poker Home Game will now appear in the lobby
Now that you’ve scheduled a private cash game or tournament, you’ll need to invite your friends. You can invite your friends with two methods:
• Email:
• Type in your email address on the confirmation page
• Click ‘Send’ to receive a unique message with the game’s details
• Finally, forward this email to your friends and contacts
• Share:
• You can also copy and paste a link to your scheduled game on Facebook, Twitter, Zoom, Skype, or anywhere you like.
Joining a Friend’s 888poker Game
If you’re already a registered 888poker player:
• Login to the lobby and click the ‘Play with friends’ tab
• Click ‘Join a game’ and enter the game name and password you received in your email invitation or social media invite.
If you don’t have an 888 account, it’s as easy to register for one.
Once again, poker enthusiasts in New Jersey currently don’t have access to this feature. But 888poker could be launching the feature soon, so get ready to organize your own poker tournaments and private cash games.
