Natural8

Natural8 is the Asian flagship of the GGPoker Network, the world’s largest poker network.

The platform offers a vast selection of games from micro to high stakes in USD & CNY (Chinese yuan), including cash games, tournaments, Spin & Gold (a.k.a. Spin & Go), and fast-fold cash.

Since its launch in 2016, Natural8 has become Asia’s leading poker site with a massive player pool, boasting huge traffic 24/7 on all stakes.

Our team, comprised of professional poker players and journalists, has spent vast hours testing the client so we can provide you with an honest and reliable poker room review.

In this extensive review, you will get to know the most significant features of the platform, looking to answer the weightiest question a poker player could have: Is Natural8 legit?

• Promotions: first deposit bonus & rakeback
• What is the best bonus code to maximize your profit
• Everything about the desktop and mobile apps
• Deposits & withdrawals
• How reliable is the site’s RNG?

How to open your Natural8 account?

The poker room has a modern client you can download directly from its website to Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS mobile devices as well.

Registration is easy, you only need your e-mail address.

To open an account and receive up to 60% rakeback, you just have to follow these step-by-step instructions.

1. Visit the official Natural8 website
2. Fill out the form and click ’Submit’ to create your account. Make sure to use the bonus code SMP in the field ‘Bonus Code’

   

3. Download the poker client by clicking ‘Download’ in the menu bar at the top of the page & install it
4. Deposit at least $10 to claim your welcome matched bonus, or $20 for the free bonus & choose your preferred promotion

Natural8 bonus code

After your first deposit on the site, you can choose between a first deposit bonus and a free bonus.

First deposit bonus

If you sign up now and make your first deposit using the promo code SMP, you will get up to 60% rakeback!

If you choose the first deposit bonus option (called ‘match bonus’ on the platform), you will also receive a market-leading 200% welcome bonus up to $1,000.

In the next 90 days, payments will be made in $1 increments for every $5 rake, so the bonus essentially gives you 20% rakeback.

For example:

• You deposit $100
• You get a $200 bonus
• $1 is released for every $5 paid in rake

Please keep in mind that Rush & Cash (fast-fold poker) games do not count for clearing the bonus.

We recommend this option for deposits of at least $100.

To get the most out of the welcome bonus, you should choose this option & deposit at least $1,000.

Learn more about the Natural8 bonus code here.

Free bonus

Another option you can choose is the free bonus, where you will receive $64.50 in All-in or Fold Sit & Go tickets over the next six days.

To get the remaining $35.50, you have to do the daily All-in or Fold Challenges. If you complete all challenges, you will get an additional $10.

For this option, the minimum deposit amount is $20, and you will have 30 days to use all your tickets.

We recommend this option for deposits less than $100.

Bonus8 $8 bonus

We will let you in on a little secret now:

as 8 is the luckiest number in Chinese culture, you will get an extra $8 if you deposit at least $10 & ask for it via the customer service.

Promotions

$500 first deposit freerolls

If you deposit at least $10, you will be eligible to play four consecutive freeroll tournaments with a prize pool of $500 each on Sundays at 08:00 (UTC).

Honeymoon for newcomers

For new players, the site offers a 30-day challenge called Honeymoon for newcomers.

To participate, you need to manually opt-in on the website by clicking ‘Start Honeymoon’

Most missions are quite easy to accomplish: for example, playing a certain number of hands in any game format or winning a hand.

By completing the daily missions, you can earn up to $350 in rewards:

Bad Beat Jackpot

To trigger the Bad Beat Jackpot, you must lose with at least AAATT in NLH (including Rush & Cash), four 2s in PLO4 (including Rush & Cash), four 8s in PLO5, four Jacks in PLO6, and four 6s in Short Deck.

All-in or Fold Jackpot

To trigger the All-in or Fold Jackpot, you must make at least a straight flush in Hold’em, or a royal flush in Omaha, with different jackpot payout percentages for each stake.

Your hand must go to showdown in Hold’em to be eligible for the jackpot.

In Omaha, if you hit a royal flush on the flop, but don’t go to showdown, you will still be eligible for the jackpot.

Leaderboards

You can compete for extra money on daily leaderboards. To maximize your chances, play as many games of your favored gametype in a day as you can!

Spin & Gold challenge

If you prefer to earn extra money with fast-paced poker action, the Spin & Gold challenge is just for you: you can earn up to 80% cashback this way.

You can opt-in for this promotion once every day, set how many hours you plan to play, and pick your preferred challenge.

For every challenge, you need to collect a set amount of gold by playing Spin & Gold.

Daily $100,000 ‘#’ ThanksGG flipout

GGCare & GGCheers are the platform’s way of compensating for an unlucky, and celebrating a lucky hand at cash game and tournament tables.

If you get very lucky or very unlucky, you will be automatically registered for the next day’s flipout with a $100,000 prize pool.

As it is a flipout, every player is by default all-in until the tournament ends, so you don’t have to make decisions or even be present when the flipout starts.

Live event satellites

The site regularly offers a wide selection of satellites to live events, for example the Asian Poker Tour (APT) and the World Series of Poker (WSOP).

If you win an entry for a certain event you can’t actually attend, you can also exchange it for cash.

Natural8 freerolls

There are two types of regular freeroll tournaments on the platform, where you can boost your bankroll without risking any money:

• $10 prize pool freerolls every hour from Monday to Saturday
• $1,500 prize pool in tickets freeroll every Saturday at 15:00 UTC

You can check all Natural8 promotions here.

Rakeback deal

The Natural8 rakeback program can be summed up easily: if you enter the bonus bode SMP during the registration process, you will receive up to 60% rakeback.

Actual rakeback is calculated in the Fish Buffet cashback system, where there are 8 levels divided into more than 20 ranks, each with different cashback and time limits.

To move up the ranks, you need to collect Fish Points (FP):

Learn more about Natural8 rakeback here.

Rake structure

The platform’s rake structure is nothing short of complicated, but it is designed to compensate the site’s ecosystem for the regular players’ presence in favor of recreationals.

The rake for cash games is 5% with caps from 0.5bb to 2bb (depending on the stake and the number of players), for MTTs usually around 10% with 0.5% of the prize as admin fee in some tournament series, and for Spin & Gold 7%.

All 3-bet pots preflop are raked, but there is no rake in Rush & Cash if the table is not full.

Player Value Index (PVI)

Here is where it gets tricky:

Player Value Index (PVI) is the factor determining how the rake paid at the tables is distributed. It ranges from 0.1 to 2.

Usually, winning regulars get lower PVI, and casual players are assigned higher ones, but the exact PVI formula is unknown.

Your PVI affects how many Fish Points you can accumulate:

after every $1 PVI rake paid, you get 100 FP.

For example, if you pay $100 in gross rake, but your PVI is 0.5, you will get 5,000 points instead of 10,000.

Natural8 traffic & game selection

GGNetwork has been leading the market in online poker traffic by a huge margin for many years now, so no matter what game format or stake you play, expect to see fantastic traffic 24/7.

There are, on average, over 100,000 online players on the platform with over 6,000 playing cash games.

Cash games

Cash game traffic is incredibly soft on the site, with many recreational players from Asia.

There is no limit on the number of free tables you can open in the client.

Stakes range from micro to high-roller:

• No-Limit Hold’em (NLH) & Omaha (PLO) tables from $0.01/$0.02 to $10/$20
• Rush & Cash (fast-fold poker) tables from $0.01/$0.02 to $10/$20 (NLH & PLO4)
• Short Deck (6+ Hold’em) tables from $0.02 to $10
• All-in or Fold from $0.05/$0.10 to $50/$100 (NLH) & from $0.10/$0.20 to $100/$200 (PLO4)

NLH cash games come in two variants on the site: 6-max (without ante) and full-ring (with ante).

The platform offers exclusive, invite-only high-stake cash games under the ‘Exclusive’ tab (NLH/PLO4/PLO5/PLO6/6+Hold’em) up to $200/$400, where upon request, special rules can be applied, for example, bomb pot or double board bomb pot.

Tournaments

Natural8 regularly hosts massive tournament series with millions of dollars in guaranteed prize pools.

As its tournaments gained popularity worldwide, the platform signed partnerships with renowned global brands like the WSOP, the WPT, and the APT.

There are also tons of regular tournaments on the platform, like Omaholic, PKO (bounty), freezeouts, daily guarantees, Asian-specific events, and two mini-festivals held every week: GGMasters and GGMillion$.

World Series of Poker (WSOP)

Since 2020, GGNetwork has hosted WSOP Online in partnership with the World Series of Poker, making it possible for players on Natural8 to win WSOP Online bracelets every year.

The first WSOP Online Main Event made it even to the Guinness World Records for the largest online tournament prize pool ever!

Spin & Gold

The popular fast-paced SnG, also known as Spin & Go on other sites, has gained huge popularity on the site since its launch in 2020.

Buy-ins range from $0.25 to $200 (3-max) & from $0.25 to $20 (6-max).

You can also pay insurance before playing to avoid games with x2 multipliers.

In this game format, you can get up to 80% cashback by completing Gold Challenges.

Reliability and Trustworthiness

Since its launch in 2016, Natural8 has built a reputation as a reliable and secure poker site. The platform operates under a Curaçao eGaming license, and its RNG has been tested by BMM Testlabs.

Natural8 claims to focus on maintaining a balanced poker ecosystem and transparent play, with numerous measures to ensure both:

• all third-party software, including auto-seating scripts, is banned
• al GTO tools, including preflop charts, are prohibited
• predatory practices like bumhunting can result in a ban

Natural8 Software

Natural8 utilizes a cross-platform approach available for Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. Its clients meet modern-day requirements on all platforms in terms of graphics, speed, and functionality.

Lobbies are easy to see through, filters are functional, and observing games without sitting down to play is also an option. There are no limits on multitabling.

The in-client cashier allows you to access all deposit and withdrawal options, as well as to check the progress of your bonuses and your P2P history.

You can tweak everything to your taste in the settings: auto-rebuy, display stacks in big blinds, and you can fully customize the betting buttons too.

HUDs, trackers, and hand converters are not allowed on Natural8, and any use of illegal software can get your account blocked with your funds confiscated too.

The software’s PC optimization could be better, opening the client can take up to two minutes.

Mobile app

Natural8’s Android and iOS applications are similar to club-based apps like ClubGG, allowing players to play up to 3 tables in portrait mode on the go.

It supports all game formats and unique features like in-game emojis and throwables.

Downloading the client to your phone is very straightforward:

• On Android, go to Natural8’s website, download the APK file & install
• On iOS, install the app from the website, then verify the developer by installing an additional profile in your iPhone’s settings

Payment Methods

Many deposit & withdrawal options are available on Natural8, but they differ for Asian and Western players.

Western players can use:

• bank transfer
• QR payment
• MuchBetter
• ecoPayz
• Luxon Pay
• cryptocurrencies

Asian players can use:

• bank transfer
• QR payment
• WeChat Pay
• AliPay

If none of these payment methods suit you, contact customer service and they will give you a local option to deposit and withdraw.

Natural8 also allows the transfer of money between players (P2P), but you need to fulfill a playthrough requirement before doing so.

KYC verification

While you can register on the site with only an e-mail address, you will be asked to verify your identity on the first withdrawal.

This can be done quickly by simply providing one of these documents:

• valid ID card, passport, or driver’s license
• proof of address (recent bank statement or utility bill)

Please note that verification can take up to 24 hours.

Customer service

The poker site has reliable customer service which you can contact via e-mail ([email protected]) or its internal messaging platform on the website.

Conclusion

We recommend Natural8 to casuals & regulars, cash game & tournament players of all stakes who prefer a poker experience that feels like playing live.