Bovada Poker Review 2013
Bovada Poker and Bodog Poker are a very established online gambling brand that offer a high quality poker room, which is available to US online poker players, and players from other countries. This effectively means that players located within the USA, who form a major chunk of the online poker playing industry, get a chance to play against players from their own country/states, excluding four U.S. states (New York, Washington, Maryland, and Utah) due to local state laws.
Software
The software used by Bovada Poker is fast and play at the tables happens at a rapid speed. There is a download and instant play version of their software. The poker room actually uses proprietary software and it was created and developed exclusively for Bovada Poker.
Bovada Poker’s software and table design is very minimal but the players that come to the site are very loyal. It may not have the most attractive software in the business, but it's very functional and user friendly. In fact, the look and feel of this poker room is quite a bit different to most rooms, and provides a much more relaxed atmosphere when playing online poker here.
One of the cool features when playing at one of their online poker tables is that there is a cool lightning bolt animation above the community cards and your hole cards whenever you make anything higher then a full house. The poker software client is available for PC and MAC poker players. Once you download the software and install the client you’ll be able to start playing within minutes.
Games
There is upwards of 5,000 real money players on the site during peak traffic hours, ensuring plenty of action at most games and stakes. The majority of the player traffic can be found at the No Limit Hold’em tables, with some action at Fixed Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha tables, and other poker games.
The recent addition of anonymous tables at Bovada Poker are not seen on many other poker rooms and has welcomed by many recreational players on the site since they feel winning players gain too much of an advantage when playing at regular tables, since opponents can very easily get stats on any player at the table. Most regulars have negative opinions about the anonymous tables since they dislike the idea that they don’t know who they are playing against and poker HUDs no longer work on the site. This has created much softer games across the board.
Promotions and Points Scheme
First time depositors will receive a $100 signup bonus up to $1000, which is unrivalled in the industry. The bonus is then released automatically into your account in $10 increments as you play in raked games and earn points.
It should also be mentioned that instead of a rakeback program for players, Bovada Poker has a VIP rewards program in place, allowing players to be compensated for their loyalty, money, and time spent playing the real money poker games.
Players at Bovada get to earn 3 points per $1 they pay in rake for cash games and tournaments, which is later converted into $1 per 100 points earned. The VIP point’s scheme translates into 3% cashback in addition to the deposit bonus cash back you will get on signing up at the room. Bovada Poker also offers several reload bonus promotions throughout the year.
Freerolls
Bovada Poker also offers plenty of freerolls to help boost poker players’ bankrolls. After creating a new account at Bovada, new players are eligible to participate in the $100K New Player Qualifier, giving players the chance to win a free seat into their Sunday $100k Guaranteed tournament. This particular freeroll tourney runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. To play in the freeroll you just need to have earned one player point at the tables. You’ll then be able to receive six invitations to the $100k New Player Qualifier Tournament.
Support
Responsiveness and friendliness are virtues that Bovada Poker’s customer support has and they give support through email, live chat and via a toll free telephone number.
Overall Review
Bovada Poker offers solid independent software, smooth game play, and plenty of tournaments with large prize pools. The games are very fast and the traffic levels are decent thanks in large part to their loyal player base.
Software
The software used by Bovada Poker is fast and play at the tables happens at a rapid speed. There is a download and instant play version of their software. The poker room actually uses proprietary software and it was created and developed exclusively for Bovada Poker.
Bovada Poker’s software and table design is very minimal but the players that come to the site are very loyal. It may not have the most attractive software in the business, but it's very functional and user friendly. In fact, the look and feel of this poker room is quite a bit different to most rooms, and provides a much more relaxed atmosphere when playing online poker here.
One of the cool features when playing at one of their online poker tables is that there is a cool lightning bolt animation above the community cards and your hole cards whenever you make anything higher then a full house. The poker software client is available for PC and MAC poker players. Once you download the software and install the client you’ll be able to start playing within minutes.
Games
There is upwards of 5,000 real money players on the site during peak traffic hours, ensuring plenty of action at most games and stakes. The majority of the player traffic can be found at the No Limit Hold’em tables, with some action at Fixed Limit Hold’em, Pot Limit Omaha tables, and other poker games.
The recent addition of anonymous tables at Bovada Poker are not seen on many other poker rooms and has welcomed by many recreational players on the site since they feel winning players gain too much of an advantage when playing at regular tables, since opponents can very easily get stats on any player at the table. Most regulars have negative opinions about the anonymous tables since they dislike the idea that they don’t know who they are playing against and poker HUDs no longer work on the site. This has created much softer games across the board.
Promotions and Points Scheme
First time depositors will receive a $100 signup bonus up to $1000, which is unrivalled in the industry. The bonus is then released automatically into your account in $10 increments as you play in raked games and earn points.
It should also be mentioned that instead of a rakeback program for players, Bovada Poker has a VIP rewards program in place, allowing players to be compensated for their loyalty, money, and time spent playing the real money poker games.
Players at Bovada get to earn 3 points per $1 they pay in rake for cash games and tournaments, which is later converted into $1 per 100 points earned. The VIP point’s scheme translates into 3% cashback in addition to the deposit bonus cash back you will get on signing up at the room. Bovada Poker also offers several reload bonus promotions throughout the year.
Freerolls
Bovada Poker also offers plenty of freerolls to help boost poker players’ bankrolls. After creating a new account at Bovada, new players are eligible to participate in the $100K New Player Qualifier, giving players the chance to win a free seat into their Sunday $100k Guaranteed tournament. This particular freeroll tourney runs on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. To play in the freeroll you just need to have earned one player point at the tables. You’ll then be able to receive six invitations to the $100k New Player Qualifier Tournament.
Support
Responsiveness and friendliness are virtues that Bovada Poker’s customer support has and they give support through email, live chat and via a toll free telephone number.
Overall Review
Bovada Poker offers solid independent software, smooth game play, and plenty of tournaments with large prize pools. The games are very fast and the traffic levels are decent thanks in large part to their loyal player base.